Fridge/freezer after power outage

[JTsMom]

Our power went out yesterday for about 6.5 hours. Before I could stop him, Jason opened the fridge and freezer, so of course that brought the temp up. When the power came back on, I went to check on the stuff inside. The fridge stuff felt pretty cold, but who knows what the exact temp was. In the freezer, the ice (in the door) had melted slightly- it was sticking together, but still in cubes. Meat had some crystals on the outside of the packaging, but was still hard. Frozen veggies were frozen, but a little softer than normal. What would you keep/throw out?

[brittone2]

Does this help?
http://www.fsis.usda.gov/factsheets/focus_on_freezing/index.asp#16

[elephantmeg]

the frozen stuff sounds fine to me as does the others unless you had some iffy stuff anyways (leftovers towards the end of their life etc). I tend to throw those away in that case

[JTsMom]

Thanks guys. I tend to be super paranoid about food safety. My motto is "When in doubt, throw it out!", but even I feel pretty safe about almost everything in there. I did see the site you linked to Beth, but the fact that the doors were open briefly made me nervous.

The freezer stuff is probably ok, but the ice melting worries me a little. We're having both boys' b-day parties, so I have a lot of ice cream in there.

I don't have a ton in the fridge, but I do have a lot of dairy substitute products in there- almond milk, coconut milk, df margarine, etc. There's probably a pound and a half of lunch meat that I'm on the fence about, and I had just bought 2 dozen eggs (lots of b-day baking!) that I'm probably going to toss.

I'm guessing the fresh produce is safe, but something about refrigerating stuff, then having it gets warm freaks me out.

[brittone2]

THe USDA says it is safe to refreeze meats thawed in the refrigerator (not on counter, which I don't think most people do these days anyway). It compromises quality, but otherwise it is safe. If it wasn't even completely thawed, it obviously wasn't warmer than the fridge anyway, right?

(from the USDA site I linked to above)
Refreezing
Once food is thawed in the refrigerator, it is safe to refreeze it without cooking, although there may be a loss of quality due to the moisture lost through thawing. After cooking raw foods which were previously frozen, it is safe to freeze the cooked foods. If previously cooked foods are thawed in the refrigerator, you may refreeze the unused portion. Freeze leftovers within 3-4 days. Do not refreeze any foods left outside the refrigerator longer than 2 hours; 1 hour in temperatures above 90 °F.

If you purchase previously frozen meat, poultry or fish at a retail store, you can refreeze if it has been handled prop erly.

[JTsMom]

I don't know- the fridge is supposed to be around 40 degrees, right? Even if it was 70, it would take a while thaw out- probably several hours. So it could have been at, say, 45 for 3 hours, and still been frozen I think.

This is what years of restaurant work does to you. :rotflmao:

I figured you all would tell me that you wouldn't throw out a thing b/c normally I'm the one freaking out that someone here is considering eating something questionable. Meanwhile, Zachary regularly licks shoes and eats off the floor, so my paranoia isn't even consistent. :tongue5:

[elephantmeg]

eggs are OK out for a while so I would think they'd be OK. Crack them in a seperate bowl and see

[ABO Mama]

I'm sure the eggs are fine.