Can I eat it? Open fridge edition

November 19, 2019 6:48 PM

The fridge where I'm staying has a tendency to pop open if you don't close it right. I got some groceries and then noticed, nearly two hours later, that the door was open and an alarm was beeping. Should I chuck my food (which would be a huge blow given how broke I am), or assume that it'll be OK?

I left the grocery store at 6:50. I noticed the fridge beeping at 8:40. The thermometer at the top of the fridge read 64 degrees F. An hour later, it's already gone back down to the safe temperature.

Most of the stuff in the fridge is just drinks and things that are being kept chilled. However, there is some freshly purchased: milk, eggs, two blocks of cheese (Swiss, cheddar), grated Parmesan, and a bag of shredded Mexican cheese blend. There is also some leftover chicken from dinner. I'm not worried about the butter, at least.

I'm assuming it didn't get to 64 F immediately, but I'm also assuming that everything was in the danger zone for an appreciable amount of time. Do I chuck what I bought for safety (which is a nightmare, because I am very, very broke and basically can't afford to replace these groceries), or will I be OK considering what everything is? Like, at least there's no raw chicken, right? I can toss the leftover chicken, since there isn't much anyway.

posted by shapes that haunt the dusk to Health & Fitness (21 answers total)

All cheese is guaranteed fine. Milk will spoil faster but is fine right now.
posted by jessamyn at 6:56 PM on November 19, 2019 [5 favorites]

Your new groceries were all still sealed? Your eggs, milk, and all cheeses will be just fine. I would toss the chicken out of an abundance of caution.
posted by coppermoss at 6:56 PM on November 19, 2019 [2 favorites]

Cheese and eggs don’t need to be refrigerated. Milk will be fine in that kind of timeframe. Chicken is suspect.
posted by rodlymight at 6:57 PM on November 19, 2019 [1 favorite]

Under two hours? Assuming not ill, elderly, or a small child, there's nothing I wouldn't eat left out for that period.
posted by praemunire at 7:02 PM on November 19, 2019 [18 favorites]

What time was dinner? Chicken from tonight is fine. Yeesh.
posted by notsnot at 7:02 PM on November 19, 2019 [4 favorites]

Everything is totally fine; even well within the very conservative USDA danger zone guidelines.

Food doesn’t generally turn to poison within a few hours of being kept cool-but-not-quite-fridge-cold. If it did we’d all have gone extinct.
posted by SaltySalticid at 7:06 PM on November 19, 2019 [11 favorites]

I would eat any of that stuff. If I packed a picnic with cold chicken - a not uncommon picnic food - I'd expect it to have sat out a bit by the time I had lunch, so I see no reason to worry about it having come up to a cool temperature briefly. FDA recommendations are very conservative because they are intended to cover people of all ages and conditions of health coming and going.
posted by Frowner at 7:06 PM on November 19, 2019 [5 favorites]

When I was growing up, we lived an hour's drive from the nearest grocery store, and buying groceries was not typically the last thing we did before we left town. Which meant that basically everything I ate for 17 years was left out at least that long. I didn't die even once.
posted by jacquilynne at 7:08 PM on November 19, 2019 [38 favorites]

Also, I don't know how long you're staying there but this is a problem you can almost certainly fix: your fridge probably has 2 little front feet that you can in some way spin or otherwise adjust to raise up the front of the fridge. You want your fridge to lean ever so slightly backwards, and they don't always get installed right in this way. See if with 5 minutes of futzing with it you can raise up the front a bit, and then it should close more automatically and not pop open so easily.
posted by brainmouse at 7:11 PM on November 19, 2019 [20 favorites]

I would say some bad words and move on. Wouldn't even consider throwing anything out
posted by chasles at 7:29 PM on November 19, 2019

I recently woke up in the wee hours of the morning to find my husband had left the fridge slightly ajar the previous night before bed, probably 6 hours prior. The stuff was cool to the touch but not cold. I gave it some real thought, but the only thing I wound up throwing away was some leftovers that had been in there a few days. Everything else we've since eaten, because I couldn't really afford to chuck it all.

Had it only been two hours I wouldn't even have given it a second thought.
posted by Serene Empress Dork at 7:35 PM on November 19, 2019 [2 favorites]

Two hours? In all honesty I probably would have just closed the door and not even have thought twice except to be annoyed at the dumbnut who left it open (ie me).
posted by cgg at 7:47 PM on November 19, 2019 [4 favorites]

It's less then the four hour danger zone, it's all good. Likely only the topmost shelves spent very much of that time over 40 degrees anyway.

Note, international commenters: eggs in the US purchased anywhere outside a farm/backyard/the chicken's immediate proximity are washed clean of their protective coating and must be refrigerated, it is not optional, you cannot keep them on the counter as is totally normal in many countries, and is acceptable for farm eggs. I am a fast and loose participant in food safety and would eat American eggs that had been out for some hours, but not a whole lot of hours. USDA isn't big on cheese being stored out, either, though if you live northerly enough it's probably something people could do with little consequence in winter.
posted by Lyn Never at 8:02 PM on November 19, 2019 [1 favorite]

I can confirm that a hard cheese like cheddar can go for a week or more without refrigeration. It's preserved milk. It gets oily, maybe grows some mold (that you cut off), but otherwise just fine.

Even your chicken is fine: it's cooked. I've had lunches that sit out longer than two hours.
posted by jb at 9:48 PM on November 19, 2019 [1 favorite]

oh: my cheese is out for a week when camping in summer. it's fine. that's why hard cheeses are great camping food.
posted by jb at 9:49 PM on November 19, 2019 [2 favorites]

As others have covered the food safety aspect I wanted to share a tip about your fridge. Our fridge did this as well and it turned out our floor is on a slight incline so the door tilted slightly forward. Try wedging something under the front of it. Just an inch did the trick for us.
posted by like_neon at 1:25 AM on November 20, 2019

I would make an effort to use up the chicken and milk in the next couple days. The eggs and cheese are totally fine at room temperature- often in Europe neither item is refrigerated for days.
posted by nouvelle-personne at 5:42 AM on November 20, 2019

Assume the chicken and milk will spoil more quickly so consider that in your meal plans
posted by koahiatamadl at 7:02 AM on November 20, 2019

Seeing a couple comments that eggs don’t need to be refrigerated—this is not true in the U.S. and a few other countries, because eggs have their protective film washed off.
posted by Automocar at 7:14 AM on November 20, 2019 [3 favorites]

I would eat all of it, including the leftover chicken. To be honest, when I would bbq when I lived in a tropical climate, we would leave cooked chicken, raw fish (poke!) and other perishable items covered with lids to prevent pests but otherwise unchilled for 3 hours plus. Ambient temp over 80F, usually more like 85F.
posted by spamandkimchi at 9:11 AM on November 20, 2019

Related, see if the front of the fridge has a screw adjuster on each corner. You may have to remove a kick plate to access, but lengthening those leveling feet could help the door stay closed.
posted by a halcyon day at 2:53 PM on November 20, 2019