can i eat this - several thousand dollars edition
September 6, 2021 6:33 PM Subscribe
We have a chest freezer in our basement. At some point in the past week or so, it became unplugged. How screwed are we?
About a week ago, I got something out of the freezer and noticed that it seemed to be a little thawed. Without pointing fingers, I’ll just say that leaving the door slightly ajar isn’t unusual around here, so I didn’t think much of it. Our freezer has an alarm for if the temperature goes above freezing, and it wasn’t going off, so I shut the door and moved on. On Friday, I took some chicken out and made sure the door was closed. Nothing seemed unusual, no alarm or anything. Today, I was in the basement doing laundry and noticed an extension cord with nothing plugged into it. I looked around and realized it was the extension cord for the freezer. I opened the freezer and it was dripping.
A lot of the meat was still frozen solid. Some of it on the top shelf was thawed but still cold. A lot of the non-meat stuff (frozen veggies, bread, Trader Joe’s rice, tater tots, and stuff) in the door had also thawed. We threw away ice cream on principle because refrozen ice cream is gross. Everything is sealed.
I’m assuming that it’s been unplugged since I first noticed the thawing, but I’m not actually sure that’s the case. It could have been unplugged after Friday. When I got the chicken out on Friday, I didn’t notice any more thawing than I did the first time, so maybe it was still on then.
I assume (hope) that everything still frozen solid is OK. My question is a two-parter about the thawed-but cold meat and the non-meat. Are they still OK?
About a week ago, I got something out of the freezer and noticed that it seemed to be a little thawed. Without pointing fingers, I’ll just say that leaving the door slightly ajar isn’t unusual around here, so I didn’t think much of it. Our freezer has an alarm for if the temperature goes above freezing, and it wasn’t going off, so I shut the door and moved on. On Friday, I took some chicken out and made sure the door was closed. Nothing seemed unusual, no alarm or anything. Today, I was in the basement doing laundry and noticed an extension cord with nothing plugged into it. I looked around and realized it was the extension cord for the freezer. I opened the freezer and it was dripping.
A lot of the meat was still frozen solid. Some of it on the top shelf was thawed but still cold. A lot of the non-meat stuff (frozen veggies, bread, Trader Joe’s rice, tater tots, and stuff) in the door had also thawed. We threw away ice cream on principle because refrozen ice cream is gross. Everything is sealed.
I’m assuming that it’s been unplugged since I first noticed the thawing, but I’m not actually sure that’s the case. It could have been unplugged after Friday. When I got the chicken out on Friday, I didn’t notice any more thawing than I did the first time, so maybe it was still on then.
I assume (hope) that everything still frozen solid is OK. My question is a two-parter about the thawed-but cold meat and the non-meat. Are they still OK?
I agree with sevensnowflakes. As long as there are things inside the freezer that are still frozen solid, any melting will be happening at 0°C and unless the lid is open the interior of the freezer will be only negligibly warmer than that. Which is obviously warmer than the -18°C you want for best preservation of quality, but still not warm enough to let stuff spoil fast.
So yeah, transfer anything that's already thawing to the fridge and let it finish thawing there, so you don't ruin the texture of it by growing new ice crystals through it, and use that up first.
posted by flabdablet at 7:56 PM on September 6, 2021
So yeah, transfer anything that's already thawing to the fridge and let it finish thawing there, so you don't ruin the texture of it by growing new ice crystals through it, and use that up first.
posted by flabdablet at 7:56 PM on September 6, 2021
Also, use gaffer tape to stick the freezer plug into the extension cord, and the upstream end of the cord into the wall outlet, and put a bit over the wall outlet switch if it has one, to stop this happening again.
posted by flabdablet at 7:59 PM on September 6, 2021 [5 favorites]
posted by flabdablet at 7:59 PM on September 6, 2021 [5 favorites]
This University of Maine bulletin, "Safety of Frozen Foods During a Power Outage," has guidelines for completely thawed foods.
posted by Iris Gambol at 10:27 PM on September 6, 2021 [4 favorites]
posted by Iris Gambol at 10:27 PM on September 6, 2021 [4 favorites]
I had a similar question a few days ago, and I am happy to say we have now eaten all the chicken that was still frozen, and it was delicious. We are all safe and sound.
We discarded all fish products, but no vegetables. I have tried some peas, and they were sad, won't recommend, but I didn't get sick. Maybe one could use the thawed vegs in a vegetable stock.
posted by mumimor at 12:56 PM on September 7, 2021 [1 favorite]
We discarded all fish products, but no vegetables. I have tried some peas, and they were sad, won't recommend, but I didn't get sick. Maybe one could use the thawed vegs in a vegetable stock.
posted by mumimor at 12:56 PM on September 7, 2021 [1 favorite]
This thread is closed to new comments.
I’d eat the thawed meat this week though, for quality reasons more than anything.
posted by sevensnowflakes at 7:10 PM on September 6, 2021 [7 favorites]