Power outage and food spoiling

Peta22

Hi All!

We had big storms where I live yesterday and our power has now been out for more than 10hrs. It's 'supposed' to be back on in the next hour or so but I'm very concerned about all the food in my fridge and freezers. The freezers, in particular, are fully stocked with food including meats, ice cream, portioned homecooked 'ready' meals ect. There is also 3 meals (leftovers from last nights dinner) that I put into our drinks fridge hoping it would cool enough in there to be safe before the power returned. It's bolognaise and spaghetti. So its now been about 6hrs since that food was hot and I'm not sure if the chilled drinks would have cooled it safely or whether it just heated up the drinks!!

It's winter here though so the temperature in the house has probably been about 18 degrees celcius.

I've never experienced a power outage this long before but I'm figuring plenty of people out here have... What are the general guidelines on food safety in these cases?

Xenastrah

Im not sure about food saftey etc, but don't open your freezer, keep it closed. Opening the freezer after a power cut will cause your freezer to defrost quicker than if you leave it closed. If you have milk in the fridge pop it into a bucket of cold water, it will keep it from heating up and turning too fast. Other than that, im not sure what else to tell you. Normally if you lose food because of a power failure, your company may reimburse you for the food lost. But im not sure if all companies do.

I hope your power comes on soon and you don't lose to much! )

Peta22

Thanks Triquatra... I just check the company's website and there is a Claims process. I was momentarily excited as the site said our power should be reinstated on the hour but as that time elapsed, I checked again and now its saying 'unknown' again... I guess they found more damage

XXXMinnieXXX

Oh no :-( after all that cooking! Hav you not got family locally where you can ring around and ask them if they have freezer space? Normally only over a small area when its out. So sorry! That's rubbish! I reckon it might be ok for a few more hours but that's all x

Trutra

We have frequent power failures, sometimes up to 10 days. The food that is in the freezer should be ok if the door has not been opened. By leaving the door closed you seal all the cold air in and it will stay cold. When the power comes on, just check if anything has started to soften. Last year our power was off for 2 days and most food was still solid. Anything that has started to defrost can be thawed, cooked and then frozen again. e.g. mince you can make a basic sauce and then freeze in batches. . I would also leave the fridge closed as much as possible, and hope for the best.with the stuff in their, milk etc. can also be floated in cold water. Ice cream may be a gonner though, because I am not sure if you can refreeze that :-(
Good luck, I hope your power comes back soon

Peta22

Yey!! Its back on again thankfully! Ohhhh.... I have no idea how people deals with this happening frequently although I guess you learn to notrely on it so much.

Thanks for the advice. I've checked the contents of fridge and both freezers and it all seems ok, albeit several things in the freezers are a little soft around the edges.

Phewwww (huge sigh)... Enough worrying - Now to see if I can get some sleep before the sun comes up in a few hours...