Freezer turned off by mistake - advice please

Katsmum2

Hi,
Having some building work done. Builders by mistake been turning freezer off for power. Spotted it just now, but don't know if this has been all week.:(:(:(
Goes against the grain but will probably have to chuck everything (soft meat, prawns , fish etc ) Murphy's law had done big shop.
Don't want DD DH getting food poisoning.
Am I right to chuck it all?
Ta
X

McKneff

If is has defrosted then yes, I would first of all tell the boss of the builders though.

theoretica

How warm is it inside? If it is still as cold as the fridge or they haven't completely thawed then I, personally, would treat them as though they had defrosted in the fridge. This would mean I would be happy to cook and eat things, and refreeze it once it had been cooked. Fruit and veg I might just refreeze, but not meat.

If things felt room temperature I wouldn't risk it.

jackyann

If it hasn't been opened, then 24 hours is usually fine. 48 and it will be defrosting, but still usable so you can salvage things that you can use up quickly (once stayed up into the small hours cooking all the defrosted meat in order to re-freeze!). As theoretica said, if you know it hasn't got warm (ie, the freezer hasn't been off and on again, just off) then I would cook the meat, but not risk stuff like ice cream.
However, I would err on the side of caution, as the toxins caused by spoiling food in this situation don't always give the same warning signs as usual.

Do you have cover in your household insurance? Might be worth investigating the exact terms & conditions. When I claimed, I got £200 to re-stock and it didn't affect the premium.

milasavesmoney

I had a freezer go out and claimed the loss on insurance and taxes. I live in the US. I don't know what can be deducted using UK tax code.