[dianak9938]

We lost power two days ago and not sure how much longer it will be. We got a generator yesterday but we live in apartment so only could run it a couple hours here and there(not overnight or when we left). I have a deep freezer packed and a regular fridge and freezer. The freezer stuff feels cold but is soft.. Can anyone tell me how to figure what will still be good or what to throw away? There's so much good I don't want to loose thanks!

[lexco86]

If there is still ice crystals in the frozen food, then it should be fine to refreeze..but if the meat is thawed then it is not safe to refreeze. You can cook everything and then refreeze..all of the stuff in the regular fridge should be tossed...its not worth it in the long run.. if your electricity doesn't come back on soon, then I would toss all of it..including the stuff in the freezer.

[SLance68]

Just a FYI after hurricane Charlie in 2004 we found out the best thing to get the bad smell out of your frig and freezer - put in a small bowl of fresh ground coffee. I know it sounds strange but it works a lot better than baking soda. The only bad part is you will want coffee every time you open the frig.

After 2 days of intermittent power I would toss everything. Food poisoning is much worse than replacing groceries.

[dianak9938]

Even if we've been usin a generator to run them?

[babyfordawn1983]

I think the standard times are:

12-18 hours in the fridge
24-36 hours in the freezer
4-6 days in the deep freezer

This is assuming you don't open the doors once the entire time. If you do then you cut those times down by at least half.

[tinahas2kid]

Any chance you have renter insurance? If you lose t all you may be able to make a claim.

[lexco86]

Originally Posted by dianak9938

Even if we've been usin a generator to run them?

Even you said you haven't been running the generator all the time..I know its expensive to replace everything..but food poisoning is not something to mess around with..sorry we dont have better news

[kpender]

You've been using a generator.... how many hrs/day has it been running?

[dianak9938]

No we use to have renters insurance, should of kept it . Power went out Friday at 5pm, we got the generator Saturday morning at 9 ( everything was still good) we ran it til 3pm then ran it again 9-11pm, today we've been running it since 8am .. This morning the freezer was cold but mushy, I'm not worried as much about that stuff, the fridge was cold still, the sliced cheese I had on the door was cold to my face.. The deep freezer was all still frozen besides one pack of brats half way frozen on top but everything is very full, well starve if we throw it ALL away!

[Goddessoflubbock]

The most important thing is to stop checking it!!! Every time you open the door it heats up considerably. The standard is a full freezer off power 48 hours, half full 24 hours. Once the power is back you can check everything.

Remember some things you freeze are fine just in a fridge so they'll last longer, including frozen veggies, butter, precooked items like hot dogs and most hams, bread.

Things in the fridge that last include cheeses, juice drinks, fruits and veg, butter, bread, eggs, and condiments such as ketchup, mustard, pickles...but not mayo!

[endlesoul]

Lots of great advice here! One piece of advice I have is to a thermometer. Believe it or not I have a small indoor outdoor receiver in my fridge. Long story but a few yrs back we had lots of power outage and fridge problems. Now I keep it in the new fridge just to keep track of the temp. But most people have a digital meat thermometer with a probe. I have used that when the power went out in my coolers and in the fridge.

[lexco86]

Sounds like you have your mind made up about keeping all the food.. It has been with and without power for so long...there is no way to accurately judge how the food will keep...I know its expensive to replace everything but sometimes its not worth the risks you take with eating bad food.. I am also in school food service so food safety is a top priority for me so I tend to air on the side of caution ..good Luck

[dianak9938]

Originally Posted by Goddessoflubbock

The most important thing is to stop checking it!!! Every time you open the door it heats up considerably. The standard is a full freezer off power 48 hours, half full 24 hours. Once the power is back you can check everything.

Remember some things you freeze are fine just in a fridge so they'll last longer, including frozen veggies, butter, precooked items like hot dogs and most hams, bread.

Things in the fridge that last include cheeses, juice drinks, fruits and veg, butter, bread, eggs, and condiments such as ketchup, mustard, pickles...but not mayo!

Thank you! I was trying to figure out what things in the freezer are
Okay if they end up a little thawed out and refrozen, my deep freezer was fine, I only
Checked it
One time and everything was frozen except one which I'll throw away, in my regular freezer I threw away
Any meat items and kept some pretzels and cheese pizza rolls.. My cheese and butter in the fridge still felt cold.
Power was out a total of 48 hours but the fridge and freezer
We're
Run on the generator for about 15 of those hours!

[sarahboo1979]

I'm still without power in WV and after 48 hours I started tossing. We had it packed in ice but then the ice melted and you could not buy ice anywhere, even restaurants ran out. Its better to be safe when it comes to spoiled food. I know its a big loss but I rather lose it than get sick later.

[dianak9938]

Well I had a full gallon of milk on the top shelf of my fridge and it didn't go bad so wouldn't everything else be okay if the milk was? I'm getting rid of the beef and bologna to be safe either way

[babyfordawn1983]

It actually takes a while for milk to go bad. If you feel safe keeping everything, that's your decision but I think most of us would err on caution and toss most of everything.

[dianak9938]

I would toss it if everything was off the full 48 hours but they were running on the generater about half the time.. I know the deep freezer was still frozen, and I didn't check the fridge too often since I didn't want to let the cold air out but I know the cheese on the fridge door was still cold enough and there are some things that take a while to go bad... Thanks everyone for the advice!!!

[Z and G's Mom]

Remember that even in grocery store freezers, the temperature fluctuates often to keep ice crystals from forming inside so the food they keep in them goes up and down in temperature too.

To be safe, I threw out everything that was a milk product. Ice cream, frozen yogurt bars, etc. But things like waffles and frozen veggies, I kept. Any meats that partially defrosted you should cook up as soon as you can, however.

[dianak9938]

Originally Posted by Z and G's Mom

Remember that even in grocery store freezers, the temperature fluctuates often to keep ice crystals from forming inside so the food they keep in them goes up and down in temperature too.

To be safe, I threw out everything that was a milk product. Ice cream, frozen yogurt bars, etc. But things like waffles and frozen veggies, I kept. Any meats that partially defrosted you should cook up as soon as you can, however.

And even the grocery on a hot day I have freezer items that start defrosting by the time I get them home to the freezer!

[Ashley621]

Originally Posted by tinahas2kid

Any chance you have renter insurance? If you lose t all you may be able to make a claim.

Renters Insurance does not cover spoiled food. Not in my area anyway... I had a similar situation with power loss and lost all food in the fridge/freezer and nothing was covered.

[mithrril]

We lost power too. We lost it late Friday night and just got it back this evening. We didn't even bother with adding ice to keep try to keep it all good since the last time we lost power for a few days the ice didn't much help. We just threw away just about everything other than some condiments, pickles, soda, beer, and canned fruit. How annoying!