Food safety: Power outage edition
July 29, 2023 7:32 AM Subscribe
Due to a huge thunderstorm, my power was out for 51 hours, and I can't find answers to all of my questions online. Can you help?
I'm interested in official or science-based info, not that you personally ate a hamburger left in a hot car for four days and it was fine or that our ancestors ate spoiled food all the time and none of them died.
This foodsafety.gov has the most comprehensive information I can find, but there are still some things I'm not sure about. Throwing this stuff out isn't financially devastating to me (once it would have been), but I really hate the thought of wasting food. Also, I'm moving across the country in a month, and I don't want to buy a lot of food I won't be able to use - that applies mostly to condiments.
Sites seem to use "more than four hours" and "more than six hours" as reference times, and 51 hours is obviously a lot more than that. Does that matter? (Looking at you, pickle relish.)
The freezer was opened maybe three times the first day to take out some things I was going to use (bread, banana, blueberries). The refrigerator was opened more than that to take out fruit and use my water pitcher.
Refrigerator:
The site says butter is fine, but I use Miyoko's vegan butter. That appears to be mostly coconut oil. Is that OK?
Site doesn't mention hot sauce, liquid smoke, Better Than Bouillion (vegan version if it matters). Does anyone know enough to extrapolate from ingredients?
Does it matter if the temperature for shelf-stable tofu changed like that?
Do I need to replace my Pur pitcher water filter?
Does it matter that my vinegar is the Bragg organic stuff that looks kind of scary anyway?
Freezer:
I can't use the general rule of looking for ice crystals because I was at the cancer center when the power came back on and so when I got home, it had been on for three hours. Freezer was about half full.
I buy huge bags of frozen fruit - there's probably at least $60 worth in there - blueberries and berry mix. This goes into oatmeals and smoothies, so texture doesn't matter. This is the thing I'm most sad about possibly needing to throw out, but as an immunocompromised person, I know I have to be careful.
I also have frozen spinach. If it's OK, would it matter if the bag had been opened?
I have a LOT of bags of bananas I froze myself. Some them seem to have melted into a goo, so maybe that indicates they just got too warm (maybe that's a way to figure out how warm the freezer got?). I already threw out celery and peppers I'd chopped myself, figuring my kitchen is not sterile. I make a lot of nice cream though, and the bananas make me sad (not a good reason to risk food poisoning, I know).
Thank you for any help you can offer.
I'm interested in official or science-based info, not that you personally ate a hamburger left in a hot car for four days and it was fine or that our ancestors ate spoiled food all the time and none of them died.
This foodsafety.gov has the most comprehensive information I can find, but there are still some things I'm not sure about. Throwing this stuff out isn't financially devastating to me (once it would have been), but I really hate the thought of wasting food. Also, I'm moving across the country in a month, and I don't want to buy a lot of food I won't be able to use - that applies mostly to condiments.
Sites seem to use "more than four hours" and "more than six hours" as reference times, and 51 hours is obviously a lot more than that. Does that matter? (Looking at you, pickle relish.)
The freezer was opened maybe three times the first day to take out some things I was going to use (bread, banana, blueberries). The refrigerator was opened more than that to take out fruit and use my water pitcher.
Refrigerator:
The site says butter is fine, but I use Miyoko's vegan butter. That appears to be mostly coconut oil. Is that OK?
Site doesn't mention hot sauce, liquid smoke, Better Than Bouillion (vegan version if it matters). Does anyone know enough to extrapolate from ingredients?
Does it matter if the temperature for shelf-stable tofu changed like that?
Do I need to replace my Pur pitcher water filter?
Does it matter that my vinegar is the Bragg organic stuff that looks kind of scary anyway?
Freezer:
I can't use the general rule of looking for ice crystals because I was at the cancer center when the power came back on and so when I got home, it had been on for three hours. Freezer was about half full.
I buy huge bags of frozen fruit - there's probably at least $60 worth in there - blueberries and berry mix. This goes into oatmeals and smoothies, so texture doesn't matter. This is the thing I'm most sad about possibly needing to throw out, but as an immunocompromised person, I know I have to be careful.
I also have frozen spinach. If it's OK, would it matter if the bag had been opened?
I have a LOT of bags of bananas I froze myself. Some them seem to have melted into a goo, so maybe that indicates they just got too warm (maybe that's a way to figure out how warm the freezer got?). I already threw out celery and peppers I'd chopped myself, figuring my kitchen is not sterile. I make a lot of nice cream though, and the bananas make me sad (not a good reason to risk food poisoning, I know).
Thank you for any help you can offer.
Best answer: The thing is that it theoretically could vary based on how cold it all was to begin with and how well insulated the freezer was, but your situation isn't theoretical - you have the evidence of your bananas to show this stuff has been at ambient temperature for a while.
If it were me: I'd cook the spinach well; and maybe cook the blueberries well, with sugar, into a syrup for oatmeal, and toss the rest. But you're immunocompromised, and honestly I think if I were immunocompromised I wouldn't mess with any of it (except the hot sauce and liquid smoke and vinegar. I keep liquid smoke and vinegar in the pantry for years. I think the better than bouillon vegan stuff is mostly salt so I wouldn't worry about that either.)
posted by fingersandtoes at 8:11 AM on July 29, 2023 [2 favorites]
If it were me: I'd cook the spinach well; and maybe cook the blueberries well, with sugar, into a syrup for oatmeal, and toss the rest. But you're immunocompromised, and honestly I think if I were immunocompromised I wouldn't mess with any of it (except the hot sauce and liquid smoke and vinegar. I keep liquid smoke and vinegar in the pantry for years. I think the better than bouillon vegan stuff is mostly salt so I wouldn't worry about that either.)
posted by fingersandtoes at 8:11 AM on July 29, 2023 [2 favorites]
Best answer: I’m sorry, but your food is way beyond the margin of safety. The only things safe to keep are those that don’t require refrigeration in the first place — the vinegar, the shelf-stable tofu (if in its sealed container), and any hot sauces or condiments NOT marked “refrigerate after opening”. Everything else needs to go — I’m sorry.
posted by ourobouros at 8:31 AM on July 29, 2023 [4 favorites]
posted by ourobouros at 8:31 AM on July 29, 2023 [4 favorites]
Response by poster: Ok, I’m convinced (and feel kind of dumb for thinking it could be saved). You guys are awesome. Out it all goes.
posted by FencingGal at 8:34 AM on July 29, 2023
posted by FencingGal at 8:34 AM on July 29, 2023
Best answer: Glad we could help you make up your mind!
For further confirmation (and other readers), a rule of thumb I've seen (and used) for refrigerated items is to count one hour outside the fridge as a day inside. In this case, you would adjust the best before date by 51 days.
(I think this was intended to be used for short periods, so think of this as a best case estimate.)
For the freezer, I've seen a lot of packaging stating that the item should be consumed within 24 hours if stored in the fridge instead of the freezer. I'd err on the side of caution and assume that you're past that.
posted by demi-octopus at 9:18 AM on July 29, 2023 [1 favorite]
For further confirmation (and other readers), a rule of thumb I've seen (and used) for refrigerated items is to count one hour outside the fridge as a day inside. In this case, you would adjust the best before date by 51 days.
(I think this was intended to be used for short periods, so think of this as a best case estimate.)
For the freezer, I've seen a lot of packaging stating that the item should be consumed within 24 hours if stored in the fridge instead of the freezer. I'd err on the side of caution and assume that you're past that.
posted by demi-octopus at 9:18 AM on July 29, 2023 [1 favorite]
Foodsafety.gov seems to be saying you can refreeze the berries. Couldn't you, as an extra safety measure, boil the hell out of them, throw in sugar and cornstarch, and make blueberry and mixedberry pie fillings out of them? Buy or make a bunch of piecrusts, divide filling and crusts into single-pie amounts, freeze all but one set, dump that one filling into a piecrust, bake, enjoy pie for a day (if you're me) or several days (if you're a normal pie-eating person)? Defrost the next crust and filling pair when pie 1 is nearly consumed, dump, bake, repeat 'til it's used up? You wouldn't have to feel sad about the waste and you'd have an excuse to eat a ton of pie while you're gearing up to move. Assuming I'm not missing something in that food safety chart and that boiling them forever renders berries safe.
posted by Don Pepino at 10:15 AM on July 29, 2023
posted by Don Pepino at 10:15 AM on July 29, 2023
(Or you could make all the pies at once and give them to friends and family. Be transparent, call them Power Outage Pie, and fully disclose the freeze-thaw-refreeze part of the recipe process, and say "do with this pie what you like," and then they can toss it if it appalls them. I'm just thinking there's a nonzero chance somebody among your family and friendset is like me, and if it were me getting one of these pies, I'd be eating that pie, and likely in a single day. That is because I am an extreme risk-taker when it comes to free dessert.)
posted by Don Pepino at 10:22 AM on July 29, 2023
posted by Don Pepino at 10:22 AM on July 29, 2023
Response by poster: Anyone near Ann Arbor is welcome to come pick up eight pounds of power outage blueberries to make risky pie.
posted by FencingGal at 10:49 AM on July 29, 2023 [13 favorites]
posted by FencingGal at 10:49 AM on July 29, 2023 [13 favorites]
You don’t need to refrigerate liquid smoke.
posted by samthemander at 3:12 PM on July 29, 2023
posted by samthemander at 3:12 PM on July 29, 2023
The power was out for 51 hours; the fridge stayed cold for some part of that time. A lot depends on how hot it was.
vegan butter. fine, hot sauce, liquid smoke, Better Than Bouillion (vegan version if it matters). fine.
Does it matter if the temperature for shelf-stable tofu changed like that? might change texture, not a safety issue.
Bragg organic vinegar fine, vinegar doesn't require refrigeration
posted by theora55 at 7:23 PM on July 29, 2023
vegan butter. fine, hot sauce, liquid smoke, Better Than Bouillion (vegan version if it matters). fine.
Does it matter if the temperature for shelf-stable tofu changed like that? might change texture, not a safety issue.
Bragg organic vinegar fine, vinegar doesn't require refrigeration
posted by theora55 at 7:23 PM on July 29, 2023
Also, not your question but many homeowners insurance companies will reimburse for food lost during an outage. I did not know this until just a few years ago… I lost about $500 worth and I was reimbursed in minutes once a friend told me to investigate this policy. Definitely helps take the sting off a bit.
posted by pearlybob at 4:54 AM on July 30, 2023 [3 favorites]
posted by pearlybob at 4:54 AM on July 30, 2023 [3 favorites]
To expand on pearlybob's point, some local power utilities will also reimburse for spoiled food. (I know ComEd here in Illinois does.) If that's an option, it might be better to go that route rather than your homeowner's insurance (no deductible, won't impact your claims history etc.)
posted by Larry David Syndrome at 5:08 AM on July 30, 2023
posted by Larry David Syndrome at 5:08 AM on July 30, 2023
If the Better Than Bouillon is the paste type (not the shelf-stable dried kind), it needs to be discarded — it requires refrigeration after opening.
posted by ourobouros at 7:11 AM on July 30, 2023
posted by ourobouros at 7:11 AM on July 30, 2023
This thread is closed to new comments.
The rest of it? Honestly the cost of making a mistake is too high. 51 hours is a long time, way past guideline durations to where it's clear that things defrosted and have had two plus days as a culture for bacteria. If it were me I would toss the food.
posted by canine epigram at 7:36 AM on July 29, 2023 [7 favorites]