About how long will our food last?

[MomOfOneFunOne]

AMDG

 

Last night around midnight a storm rolled through.  We haven't had electricity since.  Do you know how long I can expect food in the fridge, freezer, and deep freeze to last?  

 

In about 6 hours it'll be 24 hours.  I definitely don't expect electricity today.  If it's not back on tomorrow I'll start on the fridge, I guess.  What about freezer and deep freeze?

 

 

[Ravin]

It depends on the efficiency of the insulation, the density of packing stuff in there, and how hot it is in the space where they are. I would check the internal thermometers or stick one in there to check as soon as the power comes on.

[Arcadia]

Refrigerator food usually last at most 4 hours.

http://www.fda.gov/Food/ResourcesForYou/Consumers/ucm077023.htm

For freezer and deep freeze it depends. I've been told if there were ice packs in the freezer, the food can last longer. This link says 48 hrs for freezer

http://www.foodsafety.gov/blog/power_outages.html

 

These two charts will help too

http://www.foodsafety.gov/keep/charts/frozen_food.html

http://www.foodsafety.gov/keep/charts/refridg_food.html

[StephanieZ]

If your freezer is fully loaded and very cold to start with, it can last at least two or three days. I've had ours go three days without any melting. If I know a bad storm is coming, we turn our freezers down as cold as they go (starting a day ahead) and we will also add gallon jugs full of water to fill all empty space. It can take a couple days to freeze gallon jugs, though, so that just works if you know you are in the path of a major storm. 

 

If you can buy ice, we will go buy several big bags of ice and use the fridge as a giant cooler by packing it with the ice bags. You can also add them to any empty space in your freezer(s). That'll buy you a lot of time, and you can keep buying more ice every day or so. 

 

The main thing is to minimize air space in the freezers and to avoid opening them if possible. Go grab bags of ice and fill any spaces.

 

After 2 days, I'd see if you can find somewhere to take your good frozen things. At day 4 this winter, we decamped to a friend's house with freezer space, and none of our frozen things were melting yet, but it was winter, the heat was also out, and the freezers were in the garage, so just maybe 40-50 degrees. In the summer, I'd not want to wait more than 2 days.

 

(((hugs))) and I hope your power comes back soon!!

[ThisIsTheDay]

We lost our electricity last summer for 5-1/2  days.  The temps were in the low 90s.  It was miserable.  No ice to be had anywhere, even an hour or more away.

 

We did clean out most of our fridge, saving only a few condiments.

 

We were quite creative with our freezer, which was packed with mostly meats.  We bbq'd a lot and used pots on the (gas) grill.  I was greatly surprised at the number of things in the freezer that did make it through.  Much of the meat was packed in grocery-sized packages tightly together on the bottom two shelves, with a lot of other stuff packed on the upper shelves.  Some of the meat was still entirely frozen solid after that time. 

 

I have learned to be less rigid with the "rules" and go by common sense.  As food begins to warm, you'll need to decide what to do.  Don't think that all is lost just because a website says that it's bad after a set number of hours.

 

I feel for you.  It was quite awful, especially after our water company shut down for two days during the outage while waiting for emergency generators to arrive from out of state.

[Lizzie in Ma]

Too late now but an fyi for the next time.  The bottom of our deep freeze is always lines with gallons for frozen water for situations like these.  I also line the freezer with 1/2 gallon bottles and move them into the fridge as needed when the power goes out.  We've easily made it 5 days like this.

[MomOfOneFunOne]

AMDG

 

Thanks, guys!  It's a bit disheartening.  That's our food.  I'm having a bit of a pity party about it, I guess.  For shame on me b/c I know that it is an abundance but it is such a money saver and 

 

anyway blah blah blah . . . I need to just get over it.  

 

They announced yesterday 3 - 5 days but I have more hope than that b/c ppl just 5 blocks away got turned on last night.

 

I love you guys.  I'm feeling so sad about the loss of our food . . . is food a love language? . . . and I appreciate your helpful ideas.

[Amber in SJ]

This happened last week to someone I know.  She was moving to a new house where the new refrigerator would not be delivered for four days.  A friend said, "I have an extra refrigerator in our garage."  The friend's dh (not knowing the situation) thinking to save $$ turned off the power to the "empty" fridge in the garage.  Everything in the fridge was a total loss. I borrowed 3 extra crock pots and in two days I cooked everything in the freezer that was still even slightly frozen.  I made 2 meals worth of pulled pork and 2 meals of green chile pork, 4 meals worth of seasoned chicken strips, 2 meals of taco meat, 2 meals of sloppy joes, 4 meals worth of bolognase sauce, 2 meals of shredded pesto turkey and 2 meals of italian sausage with peppers & onions.  And it all went back into her freezer.

 

Clearly my recommendation is when you get power back if it is still even a little bit frozen in the middle; cook it!

 

Amber in SJ