Lost power for 31 hours - what to keep/toss in fridge/freezer?

[Tiana4]

Power was just restored after being out for approximately 31 hours. It pains me to think of having to toss most of my food in the fridge/freezer but obviously don't want to keep it if it's not safe to eat. A lot of my freezer items thawed - frozen veggies, hot dogs, waffles, chicken nuggets, meatballs, fish fillets. Would you toss all of that? How about fridge items, condiments, eggs, mayo, butter. Any of that safe to keep? I cringe thinking about my grocery budget this week, but at the end of the day we are okay and food is a small price to pay!

 

[Alesia]

Most condiments are still safe. Pickles are safe. Butter is safe. Everything else has to go.

All meat absolutely, positively has to go.

 

[TwoMisfits]

Here's a website that should help - https://www.foodsafety.gov/keep/charts/frozen_food.html.

I doubt you were above 40 degrees for 6 hours for the veg, so rather than toss them, I'd make a veggie soup. I'd feel all the proteins and do what the site says. Apparently, all the carbs can be frozen again. I'd take a sharpie and mark anything you do save and use it within 2 weeks...

 

[Arkansan]

Homeowners insurance usually covers a certain amount for situations like this. I wouldn't file a claim is this is your only loss (don't want to get cancelled and your deductible is probably higher than the minimum), but if you have other damage I would check with your insurance agent and add it to the claim.

 

[Missy1961]

Most condiments are still safe. Pickles are safe. Butter is safe. Everything else has to go.

All meat absolutely, positively has to go.

Yes to all this. And to anything else, when in doubt, toss it. It's not worth it. After we lost power for a week during Sandy, I had to toss everything. And I almost cried when I had to toss the spaghetti sauce I had made the week before, but I couldn't take the chance that it had spoiled.

 

[HeatherC]

All meat should not have to be thrown out as long as it was still cold. It would be like defrosting it in the fridge for a few days. I would just cook some meals with it and re-freeze. If you didn't open the fridge and the stuff was cold, it should seriously be fine. If it was warm, that's a different story.

When you think about it, it was probably still frozen for several hours after the power went out and then defrosted slowly.

I am talking about things like chicken breast, roasts, ground beef, etc.. Things you can cook a meal from and re freeze.

 

[wilkeliza]

Eggs are okay. They don't actually need to be refrigerated.

 

[ellie05]

If the meat still cold you can cook it, but don't freeze it again. We had a storm a long time ago that made us loose power I didn't open the freezer at all. After the power came back some of the chicken wasnt even fully de frosted yet. I cooked all of it made enchiladas and froze that.

 

[tvguy]

Here's a website that should help - https://www.foodsafety.gov/keep/charts/frozen_food.html.
..

This chart is very helpful. Really doesn't matter how long the power was out, what matters is whether the food stayed frozen. I only dealt with this once, it was 30 hours and we stayed out of the fridge and freezer the entire time because we knew if would be an extended outage. Everything was still frozen solid in the freezer, and it was still 38 degrees in the fridge when the power went back on. We threw nothing out and nothing spoiled and nobody got sick.
Ever see those Schwans frozen food trucks? There is no refrigeration system operating in that box on the back of the truck, they are just well insulated and filled with frozen food. They are out here on 100 degree days for 12 hours, and everything inside is still below 0.

 

[Alesia]

Eggs are okay. They don't actually need to be refrigerated.

That's true in other countries, but not in the US. Eggs naturally have a protective coating that keeps them from spoiling, but US companies are required to treat the eggs with chlorine which washes the coating off.

 

[maxiesmom]

We lost power for 2 days this summer after a tornado. I tossed almost everything. But it was hot and the majority of stuff was mushy. To me it wasn't worth risking someone getting sick. I had 3 coolers with ice and anything in those I did keep.

 

[tvguy]

That's true in other countries, but not in the US. Eggs naturally have a protective coating that keeps them from spoiling, but US companies are required to treat the eggs that washes the coating off.

I refrigerate eggs. Yes, they wash off the natural coating, but they put a tougher synthetic coating.
And slightly off topic, why don't refrigerators come with a place for eggs anymore. We bought a new refrigerator 6 years ago and NONE has the egg holder built into the door.

 

[Alesia]

I refrigerate eggs. Yes, they wash off the natural coating, but they put a tougher synthetic coating.
And slightly off topic, why don't refrigerators come with a place for eggs anymore. We bought a new refrigerator 6 years ago and NONE has the egg holder built into the door.

Because storing the eggs in the door doesn't keep them cold enough.

As far as the synthetic coating goes, some manufacturers use it, some don't.

 

[tvguy]

Because storing the eggs in the door doesn't keep them cold enough.

As far as the synthetic coating goes, some manufacturers use it, some don't.

My mom's fridge had the egg holder as a pull out compartment inside the body of the fridge, they don't do that anymore either.

 

[kymom99]

I refrigerate eggs. Yes, they wash off the natural coating, but they put a tougher synthetic coating.
And slightly off topic, why don't refrigerators come with a place for eggs anymore. We bought a new refrigerator 6 years ago and NONE has the egg holder built into the door.

My fridge is almost as old as I am. Thankfully it has the egg holder. It's probably not the most energy efficient but they don't make em like that anymore

 

[Ali]

We lost power from 10:45 PM Thursday until 2:30 PM Saturday. I threw out everything in the fridge because it wasn't cold at all. My freezer still had ice, but partially melted, and the stuff under the ice side was much colder than the other side (4 baskets in Freezer) so I threw out the thawed stuff on the non frozen side. I feel safer that way. Went to Publix today and restocked on stuff needed this week. Safer is better than potentially dangerous foods to save money

 

[wilkeliza]

That's true in other countries, but not in the US. Eggs naturally have a protective coating that keeps them from spoiling, but US companies are required to treat the eggs with chlorine which washes the coating off.

upon further research it does appear if you refrigerate them from the start then you have to keep doing it so they don't sweat. I still think it is meh to refrigerate or not. I've left a set or two on the counter over night and never had an issue with using them in backed goods or cooking later..

 

[DisneyMandC]

To further the egg conversation, if you begin refrigerating washed eggs (so everything you buy in the store), you must continue refrigerating them. However, you can check to see if your eggs have gone bad. Place each egg in a bowl of water. If it sinks to the bottom and lies horizontal, it's fine. Sinks but stands vertical, hardboil only. If it floats, throw it out.

 

[Tiana4]

Thanks for the info everyone! I tossed the dairy and meat products and I only had a few eggs left so I tossed them .

 

[hsmamato2]

upon further research it does appear if you refrigerate them from the start then you have to keep doing it so they don't sweat. I still think it is meh to refrigerate or not. I've left a set or two on the counter over night and never had an issue with using them in backed goods or cooking later..

In many other countries they don't refrigerate eggs,and you don't have to at home. What I've read says if they have been refrigerated at all, then they must be after that for food safety. Since they're all bought from fridges here, we have no choice. OT I know, but I guess if I got them locally from a non refrig. farm I just wouldn't put them in the fridge at all.
That said, we have lost power for days in the past,(actually it was like 5-7 days I think) we just don't open the deep freeze at ALL for 3-4 days. After that,depending on the weather, we had to check. If it was still cold inside, we cooked what we could,and ate it. The times this happened it was also pretty cold outside,and we used ice etc to keep things cool while using. anything left after that was thawed (not cold anymore in freezer) we had to toss. We actually ate a LOT of our freezer food during that outage, lots of roasts etc to be sure we used as much as we could before it became unusable....