Help! Freezer left open!

[Hannah.s]

Hi everyone,
I have a problem. I opened my freezer this morning and I saw that there was ice/freezer burn on top of everything in my freezer. I'm worried because there is meat in it. I checked the tempature and it was at -5. Everything is still frozen. I touched it all and I could feel that the meat had not thawed at all (or it has a little but not enough to tell).
What should I Do? Do you think all the meat needs to be thrown out or should it be fine since it wasn't thawed out?

 

[usnuzuloose]

How long has the door been left open? If everything is still frozen it should be fine.

 

[BridgetBordeaux]

You will be fine. We have had 24 hour power outages (with both deep freeze and fridge closed), and all items were fine. In your case, your unit kept running to compensate. .. ........your food is good to go.

 

[Hikergirl]

I wouldn't worry about that at all.

 

[Hannah.s]

How long has the door been left open? If everything is still frozen it should be fine.

That's the problem. I haven't been home much so it could be anywhere between 1-3 days. But I'll take your word for it

 

[usnuzuloose]

If it would have been 3 days it would have thawed out. So would of the ice cream. If it were me I would be fine with it.

 

[supersnoop]

What type of freezer? If it's a chest freeze, I wouldn't worry about it.

 

[kandb]

I am a health inspector. No need to throw out your meat if it is frozen. The danger zone of food begins at 45 degree and above, so no need to worry.

 

[cglaura]

This is after the fact so won't help much, but a tip I was given (I think on these boards!) was to keep a bag full of ice cubes in the freezer. If they are still in cubes then you are good to go. If they melted then refroze into one chunk, then better to be safe than sorry and discard any food that would be a health risk if not kept cold enough.

 

[Sadie22]

Is it a frostfree freezer? That feature may have stopped working - unless you know for sure the door was left ajar for a period of time.

 

[osopecoso]

The way I look at it, when in doubt throw it out. It's not worth getting sick over. I just had a nasty case of food poisoning which was hell for 48 hrs. I lost 15 lbs total over those 2 days.