[zaysmom]

My Oldest son who has moderate autism. Left the freezer door open last night when he got out a Popsicle. I noticed it this morning. EVERYTHING was still cold and the Popsicle were just a little dethawed. How can I tell of the food is ok? I had just went to the store about two hours before and it is stocked.

[endlesoul]

You said everything was cold but the question is anything thawed out. If not it should be O.K. If the door was slightly ajar then the freezer must of really been working overtime and keep it O.K. But if something is thawed out I'd cook it up as long as it was really cold.

I know they sell temperature gauges that you can put in your freezer/fridge that will set off an alarm if it goes above a certain temperature in case this happens often enough.

[iheartsales]

If you just put everything in the freezer before he left it open Id be a bit more worried than if it were left open after everything was in there for a few days - When leaving the store things thaw out a bit so its possible things were already a little dethawed to begin with. Was the door wide open or just slightly?

Was everything still frozen solid or was some of it slightly unthawed?

[zaysmom]

The door was left only slightly open about an inch and it is an upright with the freezer on top. The things were slightly dethawed. about like they would be when they are in the store.

[clogs1228]

Here is a cheap trick. Fill a container with water and freeze it then put a penny on top of it and place it back in the freezer. If the penny is still on top everything stayed frozen and if it is in water you can tell how much thawed and if the penny is in the middle and frozen over you lost power and regained it and everything froze back up. My friend's father used to do this for their vacation house that they went to on weekends so they would know if they lost power. It is a good idea to see how much things thaw if the door is left open and then noticed and closed later by someone being helpful but not really knowing how long it had been open and everything freezes again!

[iheartsales]

This may help.

Help! I Left My Freezer Door Open Overnight! | Apartment Therapy Unplggd


"Depending on the temperature of the food and how long it went without refrigeration, it could all still be safe to eat. Use a food thermometer to measure the temperature on the inside of your food. If it's below 41°F, it's safe to eat. If not, it could still be OK, as long as it's only been above 41°F for less than 2 hours. If you don't know for sure, the best idea is to shed a wasteful tear and toss it."

[conniel18848]

if they all were partially frozen yet should be o.k. if the popsicles were still partly frozen
meats should be o,k, ice cream is the first to check it melts faster.
be thankfull my side by side broke down the week before thankgiving while i was at moms for a few months. shes 82 and fell with multiple broken bones.
my husband eats out when i have to be away. he found it because the whole house stunk. it was packed full and had all my holiday foods in it. it was a real mess.
had to chuck it all. the wild animals had a feast. 5# of shrimp a 24# turkey-steaks- roasts -pork tender loins-chicken-bacon-sausage ect almost all meats. 2 large trash cans full.
and the whole refrigerator side was worse i had it hauled away and got a new one wich is happily full again.

[tweakinreaper]

being the situation , an easy tip would be to put a screw in the top of the door(4"-6" from the door hinge) with enough of the screw sticking out that you can attach a small bungee cord to it. then take the cord toward the back of the unit until you get some tension on the cord and put another screw there to hold tension on the door at all times no matter how lightly it is closed. if the bungee cord looses tension over time you can unhook it an wrap it one or more times around a sewing string spool to add as tension as needed.

think of this as a backup plan/preemptive measure to make sure no food gets spoiled

to clogs1228
i love that frozen water with a penny on top idea for leaving a freezer for extended periods of time to know it there was power failure

[StLouisClipper]

There were several times when our kids were younger that they would get something out and not make sure they closed the freezer door completely. I believe they thought it was like the fridge where it would pretty much close on its own once they pushed it a little bit. After those first few "is it safe" moments I asked DH to install a lock on the freezer door only to find there was actually one already there from the factory (we got the freezer second hand from DHs grandma). All DH had to do was locate a key for it at the hardware store which was simple because it's one of those round ones like you see for a thermostat lock box. We hung the key on the side of the freezer so anyone/everyone still has access, but you know they have to shut it completely to lock it again. Kids are 18 and 21 now and we still keep it locked!