I have a couple tricks I've used... One is, when we aren't there, I load up the fridge with all the extra gallons of water I have on hand, to increase the thermal mass. That water needs to absorb a lot of BTU's to allow the fridge to warm up.... And in the freezer I keep 2 liter bottles filled up and frozen for the same reason. (as many as I can.)
In addition, I keep a little (cheap) digital theremometer with a min / max temp in the freezer. That way I know if it actually defrotsted and re-froze.
Since the freezer is very cold, it can really go a long time with nobody opening it. On the 3-5day outage last year, the center of it (where the thermometer was) got up to +9F if I remember correctly.. I tossed the stuff at the perimeter. It appeared most melted on the door. The ice cubes in the middle still had their bubbles and hadn't dripped out of their non-level tray.
I did try the milk in the water packed fridge, and it was still ok.
The food safety folks would say I'm in great error... I know becayse I read all sorts of gloom about how I should throw out all my food... If I get a 2nd thermomter with min/max for the fridge, I'll be more confident still. (I did pitch more than I hoped to, because I didn't have that 2nd thermometer and couldn't verify the fridge.)
This hasn't happened often -- such an extended outage.
One more thing, In the past I've found that NHEC is great, and their automated phone service actually calls you back when they think your power is on... to confirm. Very slick.
Welcome to the Island !
We're psyched the ice is out and the weekend trips are back!