Should it stay, or should it go??

[Kaleigh]

We lost power, and got it back at the 24 hour mark.... Gotta love it.

I threw out everything in the freezer, it was mush...

The Fridge?? It stayed cold, go figure.

We haven''t gone without power for this long.

So should all condiments be tossed??

Eggs??

I am thinking it will be nice to do a clean sweep, but don''t want to throw out anything that may be ok??

If this has happened to you, what did you do??

TIA.

 

[Gypsy]

24 hours huh. Anything that feels only cool or room temperature to the touch that is sensitive to temperature. So Mayo, raw meats and eggs. I wouldn't throw out mustard or ketsup, but anything that is known for food poisoning or bacteria would get tossed. As long as it is cool: yogurt should be fine, cheese should generally be okay, but I'd throw out the milk.

 

[FrekeChild]

If any of the first 3 ingredients are: sugar, salt, vinegar, fat (oil, butter, etc.)...

...they should be fine. All natural preservatives. Don''t bother throwing out butter--it basically has to go rancid for it to be bad. Ketchup, mustard, dressings, etc should be just fine.

 

[JulieN]

eggs are fine. condiments like store-bought condiments? those are fine.

I would just check your milk and meat, but I expect it to be fine.

 

[TooPatient]

We had no power for 8 days a few years ago. I was impressed at how long stuff stayed cold.


Biggest rule of thumb --
When in doubt, throw it out.


In the freezer, anything smallish was gone (frozen veggies, fruits, etc.). Larger stuff (sausage) that was still really cold but partially thawed I let finish thawing and cooked it within a day (2 at most). The whole turkey we had in there took a few more days to thaw and then we cooked it (on the BBQ since power was still out)

Refigerator stuff was fine for about 36 hours. After that, I started tossing mayo and other perishable stuff. Salad dressings (vinegar, olive oil based) were fine. Anything unopened is usually fine (since most only require refrigeration after opening). Eggs, butter, cheese, etc. I didn''t worry much about.
Leftovers from dinners got tossed at 36 hours. Raw meat was cooked that day (if possible).

At 36-48 hours, I shifted everything left into a big cooler. The freezer stuff kept the other stuff cold enough to be safe.



ETA: starting with a freshly scrubbed and empty freezer/refrigerator was SOOOooo nice. (not that I want to do it again, but... it was nice)

 

[Little Monster]

Kaleigh,

Having gotten food poisoning

this week due to "Oh, it has to be fine" logic... I''m going to be the lone dissenter & say TOSS IT!

Granted, last week I would have happily said... keep it! Amazing what a week will do to your attitude

Glad you have your power back!

 

[movie zombie]

eggs are the best wrapped natural product and can go for a really long time w/o refrigeration...in fact, in some places they are not refrigerated at all.

anthing that still has ice crystals in it i''d keep....or cook up and refreeze.

breads, cookies, etc. can be thawed and refrozen w/o a problem.

24 hours in my book isn''t anything to worry about....unless the frozen items were completely thawed and there were not ice crystals at all, which might be the case for frozen veggies.

mz

 

[MichelleCarmen]

A good thing to do is keep a bag of ice in your freezer, so next time that happens, you can put everything on ice. That said, replacing mayo and other similar items doesn''t cost that much. I''d toss everything except ketchup & mustard.

 

[Hudson_Hawk]

I''d just like to point out that in Europe eggs are stored on the counter, not in the fridge. They should be fine. I''d toss out any leftovers, raw meat and sandwich meat just to be safe. I''d chug the milk so it doesn''t go bad.

 

[elrohwen]

As some of the other posters said, pretty much everything should be fine. Eggs are ok at room temp. Store bought condiments and things are fine. Butter is fine. I would probably throw out any meat and maybe the milk if it doesn''t feel cold.

 

[whitby_2773]

ditto tossing the meat and milk, altho big milkshakes sound like a good option butter has salt in it which works as a preservative which is why it''d be fine, tho unsalted butter would still be fine after only 24 hours and still cool.

glad your power is back...

 

[Amber St. Clare]

As someone who has had {diagnosed} food poisoning twice

, I say THROW EVERYTHING OUT AND START OVER. I can get sick at the slightest sign of something being stale, my husband has eaten 2 week old lasagna and not gotten sick {I probably would have felt like I was dying}. It''s not worth the chance of someone getting sick.

 

[Tacori E-ring]

I''ve had food poisoning but I would still keep the eggs, condiments, cheese, oil based dressings, fruits and veggies. I would throw out leftovers, meat, mayo (or mayo based dressings) and milk

 

[yssie]

Date: 3/15/2010 1:41:27 AM
Author: FrekeChild
If any of the first 3 ingredients are: sugar, salt, vinegar, fat (oil, butter, etc.)...

...they should be fine. All natural preservatives. Don''t bother throwing out butter--it basically has to go rancid for it to be bad. Ketchup, mustard, dressings, etc should be just fine.

This is good to know!

 

[PumpkinPie]

Date: 3/15/2010 8:16:07 PM
Author: Tacori E-ring
I''ve had food poisoning but I would still keep the eggs, condiments, cheese, oil based dressings, fruits and veggies. I would throw out leftovers, meat, mayo (or mayo based dressings) and milk

ditto

 

[Kaleigh]

Thanks ladies!!!

I decided to do a clean sweep. I just didn't want to worry about this or that...


I had fun restocking the freezer... Here's the thing about the freezer. I will throw something in there, if we decide to go out, but it's kinda a black hole. Once it goes in, it never comes out!!!!

So all new condiments, etc...

Did I waste anything, perhaps....

But I would lay awake worrying about it, and have had bad food poisining, so was cautious....

I scrubbed it from top to bottom, so am guessing I am ahead of my spring cleaning...

Oh and it rained all day... Enough!!!!!