food safety during power outages

JaniceM

JaniceM

Well-known Member
Location
still lost between two shores..
The main problem with anything I do a web search for is conflicting information. So I thought I'd ask you guys.

Electricity was off from around 11 a.m. to around 9 p.m.
The refrigerator part itself isn't a concern as I didn't have much perishable food in there anyway. The concern is its freezer. Items in there range from foods that were frozen when I bought them (like chicken patties and fish filets) to foods I prepared and then froze.

Logically I kept the door closed during the power outage.
Do you think the food in the freezer is still safe?
 

Is there still frost on the foods? Or are they completely thawed? If they're still partially frozen they should be fine. The stuff you cooked and froze I'd be careful about. That you might want to pitch.
 
When that happens I make sure never to open the doors. When the power comes back I feel the frozen foods for temperature. If the food is room temperature I toss it. If it is still cold I don't worry about it. Your food was in for 10 hours so it should be OK. It takes about six hours to bacteria to start forming on food at room temperature.
 
Food in a freezer should not be a problem, for 10 to 12 hours....IF you leave it closed. In a power outage, a person Must resist the urge to "check" on the freezer....opening it, even for a few seconds...sharply reduces the time the food will remain frozen.
 
Damaged Goods said:
Got tired of throwing food away during several hurricanes we had in the early 2000s so I bought a Kohler home generator in 2005 along with biannual maintenance contracts. So far it still works.
Click to expand...

Yup, having a generator ready to go is about the Only way to keep everything ok during and after a major storm and power outage. When we moved to the boondocks, that was one of the first things I bought....have only needed it 3 or 4 times, and a few hours....knock wood.

This last storm, and the high winds with, it have knocked out power to thousands, and it may be several days before everyone is restored. There will be tons of good food thrown away.
 
I decided to take the "better safe than sorry" approach and discarded everything that was perishable. I hate to be wasteful!!! The only item important enough to need to replace, though, was margarine- so I'll be trekking up to the convenience store soon.
 
As a data point, I put an instant read thermometer probe in our refrigerator during the last power outage we had. The temperature went from 39 degrees to 42 degrees in 8 hours.
BTW, I think that quarter idea is great!
 

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