After two power outages forced me to pitch a couple hundred dollars' worth of groceries in the trash, Jackery's HomePower 2000 Plus v2 gave me a way to keep my fridge running. There's no shortage of climate catastrophe, power grid problems, or the never-ending onslaught of minor inconveniences. It seems like the moment you get settled in, that's when Murphy's Law rears its ugly head.
I don't expect that this will change anytime soon. And in fact, I've learned this lesson, twice, in rapid succession. Which is why when Jackery reached out and asked if I wanted to check out the new Home Power 2000 Plus v2 Red Cross edition, I took it as a sign from the universe.
Home Power 2000 Plus v2 review: The case for backup power There are plenty of cases for keeping a giant backup battery around. If you're the average person, odds are, the best case is going to be your refrigerator. Chances are, for the average power outage, your freezer is going to be fine.
A well-packed freezer can survive a 24-hour power outage with no problem. A refrigerator will not. There are a few reasons for this, but the biggest is that your refrigerator already is barely keeping your food at a safe temperature.
The gap between 'frozen' and 'microbial swamp' isn't that big. If your fridge is set to 37 degrees, it only needs to climb four degrees before the 'this is for sure going to give you food poisoning' timer begins. That, plus the fact that your refrigerator is, essentially, a big box of non-insulating air surrounded by insulation, means you've got three or four hours, tops assuming you don't open the door.
Then, everything goes into the trash. This has happened to me twice in recent history. I've lived in my city for 14 years so far, and for 13 years, I'd never had a power outage for more than two hours. 2026 changed that in the worst way.
In June, I got hit with a six-hour power outage that led to me pitching $50 of groceries into the trash. Jackery Home Power 2000 Plus v2 review: the display shows you the current charge levels, as well as input, output, and if it is connected to wireless or Bluetooth Fortunately, the outage happened in the middle of the day, and I was able to transfer my most expensive items into the freezer. Sure, I lost condiments, leftovers, and some mostly-used dairy products, but it wasn't the end of the world.
But then on September 3, five days before the unit arrived, my city was buffeted by the worst storm I'd experienced here. Not only did the storm knock out the electricity, but it also dislodged a tree that threatened to hit my house. I didn't think to move my groceries to the freezer.
The fridge was essentially in the direct line of where the tree would hit if it continued to lean. The outage lasted for nearly 10 hours. I lost all my groceries.
Again. This time, unfortunately, I had bought groceries earlier that day; about $150 worth of groceries would need to be discarded. But if I had the Jackery Home Power 2000 Plus v2, I feasibly could have kept my haul alive for three times longer than the actual powe...
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