No power for 10 hours

[joannqn]

Per the USDA, a refrigerator will keep food safely cold for 4 hours if the door remains closed. No one opened the door to the fridge even once during the power outage. DH insists that the food is fine because the fridge wasn't opened and it was cold in the house.

 

Would you feed it to your kids? Or is this a hill to die on?

[JudoMom]

Per the USDA, a refrigerator will keep food safely cold for 4 hours if the door remains closed. No one opened the door to the fridge even once during the power outage. DH insists that the food is fine because the fridge wasn't opened and it was cold in the house.

 

Would you feed it to your kids? Or is this a hill to die on?

 

I'd agree with your dh.

[Mejane]

If the food was still cold when you opened the door, it should be fine. I'd eat it.

 

ETA: The four hours is a general guideline. It also depends on the type of food, the temp of the room, and how good the seal on the door is.

Edited November 16, 2010 by Mejane

[2cents]

Hummm, It is ify. It depends on what it is and how cold the fridge was when the power came back on. I would toss milk and products with milk. Eggs would prob be ok. Butter would be ok. I would toss meat unless it was semi-froz in the fridge (I defrost in fridge). HTH's!

[joannqn]

Little one finally let go of me (the no power last night freaked her out) and I checked the food. The milk is cold so I guess it's fine.

 

I've never lost power for more than a few minutes. Always lived in larger cities where power rarely goes out before moving into this house 2 weeks ago.

[Julie in CA]

As long as the food was still cool, I'd eat anything *except leftovers that were on their last legs before the power outage.*

[Jennifer in MI]

If that ever happens again, get bags of ice and stick them in your fridge to keep things cold. We've even taken a frozen chicken and stuck it in the fridge with the other food surrounding it. Then, we eat the chicken for dinner when electricity comes back on.

 

Unfortunately, we live in an area that loses electricity on a regular basis and for 24 hours at a time. This year alone, we've had to call friends three times to borrow their freezer!!! :glare:

[JaniceO]

Ours was out for 11 hours a couple of weeks ago. I was really worried about the stuff in the fridge but everything was fine. It was still cold when I opened the door. I was relieved because it was right after we did our big payday shopping trip.

[joannqn]

It's not unusual for us to have a couple hundred dollars of meat in the freezer because we buy large packs from a local butcher. Our fridge is often full too.

 

 

Fortunately, we probably only have about $100 of food between the two right now. We haven't been able to restock after moving.

[Unicorn.]

We've had power go out for more than 24 hrs, and never had to throw anything out. If the milk is still cold, then everything should be fine. Think of it like a camping trip and a cooler (ice chest). Your fridge will keep things as cold as the cooler.