Freezer been switched off / door left open - will food be ok?

sunshinesheli

Brilliant. Thank you! Sorry to ask silly questions

jinky67

sunshinesheli wrote: »

Brilliant. Thank you! Sorry to ask silly questions

Not silly at all, better to be safe than sorry;)

BitterAndTwisted

Eh, there's no such thing as a silly question: just ones we don't know the answer to until we ask.

Hope your frozen food is OK

zippychick

Hi SUunshineSheli :hello:

I wouldn't worry! I'm sure in that short time everything will still be frozen

There is a similar thread - freezer been switched off for 24 hours - do have a read and see how others coped with theirs being off longer

I'll merge this for you later

thanks
Zip

hotcookie101

I have had to get a new fridge freezer (side by side american style) which has come today, and they have just told me it needs to stand for 8 hours before switching on (the last one was 4 and I was expecting that)

Problem is-freezer was pretty full, I have managed to put frozen veg and ice cream in our other freezer, and the rest of the contents (mainly meat, home made ready meals and more meat!) are in a large plastic cool box, a polystyrene box (that was used for a meat postal delivery) and a waitrose insulated shopping bag, with some freezer blocks in with them.

They are tightly packed, with not much air. There are some large joints of meat and portioned meat too.

Are they likely to stay frozen for the 8hours? I have no other freezer to use :eek: and I do not want to waste all that money :(

zippychick

Hi Hotcookie:hello:

Ok, first thing - DO NOT PANIC!

There is a thread i read recently - freezer been switched off for 24 hours will food be ok? So you could read through that for previous discussion

Worst case scenario is your meat and goods start to defrost. You will know if meat is starting to defrost by the feel.


If your meat has started to defrost - it's not the ideal situation, but you could always cook it all up in one or two goes, and then freeze it cooked. This is perfectly safe as long as you cool correctly , cook properly and then refridgerate as soon as it is cool enough

Do let us know how you get on, and I'll merge this later with the previous mentioned thread.

Do you have any neighbours or family who could lend you some freezer space

I lost the entire contents of my freezer a matter of weeks ago - the food was being stored at a lower temperature over a couple of weeks, and i had to sadly bin the lot, so at least you have options

Thanks
Zip

hotcookie101

Thanks reading the manual I am able to switch it on after 2 hours, so its on now, on power freeze so it gets nice and cold nice and quick
Frozen stuff that I got out of freezer this morning and has been sitting on the side all day is still pretty solid so I am hoping my stuff in the freezer bags will be fine...

bestyman

I woke up this morning and found a big puddle on the kitchen floor from melted ice cubes. The freezer door had been left slightly open for around 12 hours.

The food had started to thaw a little but was still cold and frozen in places. The wife says to throw the lot out as if we eat it we will all be ill. I think it should be ok.

Is it safe to eat? or should certain foods like fish or chicken be thrown and other stuff kept? Im sure ice lollies are safe to re freeze.

Thanks in advance

Butterfly_Brain

Ice lollies and Ice Cream are NOT safe to refreeze
Cook as much as you can then it can be refrozen but everything else will have to go I am afraid But that is far better than having Salmonella, Ecolli, etc

Penelope_Penguin

Butterfly_Brain wrote: »

But that is far better than having Salmonella, Ecolli, etc

I think it's hightly unlikely that you'll get food poisoning from food that's still cold - the bugs won't have been able to grow and multiply You may get deterioration in quality, though.

Take a look at this older thread for more opinions, and I'll merge this later.