Power Outage Last Night - How long does food last?

[grumpy28]

Hey all. We had a power outage last night, and I was just trying to find out how long fridge/freezer food lasts? TIA

 

[ducklite]

It depends on how long the power was and how warm the fridge got (or didn't get!).

If your popsicles melted in the freezer, toss it all out.

Anne

 

[holcomb-mania]

Not very long if I'm around!

But if you don't open the doors, you should be fine. Depending on where you live, they should have it up within a day at least, IMHO.

 

[eyeheartgoofy]

If you still have the manual that came with your fridge/freezer, it should give you a guide as to how long to food will stay cold without opening the doors. It may also have guidelines as to adding dry ice, etc to maintain freezer temp over a number of days.

 

[grumpy28]

Thanks for the replies. Of course this past weekend, I stocked the fridge/freezer high (triple coupons! ), so now I am panicked that all that food will be wasted. The power was off for a little more than 3 hours. Boy was I unhappy to see the power go...........and so happy to see it back on!

 

[ducklite]

As long as you didn't open the doors, it should be fine after three hours.

Anne

 

[HelenePA]

I believe the rule is 24 hrs in the fridge 2 days in the freezer(with out opening and closing either!)... glad it only lasted 3 hours!

 

[Cheshire Figment]

Also, the fuller the refrigerator or freezer is, the longer it will last since you don't have much air circulating. The importasnt thing is to keep the doors closed. And three hours is not a problem at all.

 

[girli565]

Last time we had a hurricane (Rita) she wiped out power at our house for 4 days. We never opened the freezer and the stuff in the freezer was perfectly fine, we even had ice left in the tray. We would periodically open the fridge and eat things before they went bad and we had a grill so anything that needed cooking from the fridge really didn't go to waste.

So if you don't open the freezer at all it should last a few days. Fridge, I'm not so sure.

 

[ducklite]

Here's a trick to tell if your freezer has thawed and refrozen.

Put a couple of ice cubes in a Zip Lock bag in your freezer. As long as they keep their shape, your food has stayed frozen.

Anne

 

[Local_Girl]

That's a great idea, Anne, especially for those of us who take 2 week vacations to WDW, LOL! Thanks for the tip!

 

[atisikitabasket]

Also remember that for certain reasons for you power going out your home owners insurance might cover the food you had usually upto $500.00 or so depending on your policy and many don't have a deductible towards this part but once again it depends. If it is ruined you could call and check I would if I had my freezer stocked with a lot of meat and stuff.