Power just came back on and I haven't opened the freezers...

[Phentex]

It's been out since Thursday dinner time. I opened the fridge yesterday to rescue my half and half and a few other items. Stuff was still cold. We put those in a cooler with ice. Haven't touched the freezer side or the big standing freezer. How should I proceed? Wait for stuff to refreeze? Check it and see what's up (damn it, ice cream was buy one, get one free! so I stocked up).

I think the meats will be okay. What do you think?

[Warpy]

1. If the freezer was full, they'll be fine

since they will have been kept frozen by sheer mass. If they did partially thaw, you'll see a degradation in texture but they'll be safe to eat with proper cooking. If you want to eat anything that's partially defrosted for supper, it'll take less time to defrost the rest of the way.

Ice cream does get nasty unless its buried deep and surrounded by other stuff.

[Kali]

2. probably ought to check it fairly soon to see what the ice cream and meat feels like

when it refreezes (if stuff thawed) you won't be able to tell until you serve up that ice cream and it is all separated and gross.

I suspect as long as the meat stayed fairly cold it will refreeze ok - may be a little drier and lose some flavor but unless it actually got warm it will be fine.

[Phentex]

4. I just opened the one in the house...

the chicken at the bottom is still frozen! The ice in the maker had started to cling together so I dumped it out. The berries are mushy and the ice cream is soup. Looks like most of the items in the very bottom are all frozen.

Gonna give the outside freezer a little more time.

[Kali]

5. berry milkshakes!

sorry you lost the ice cream, if it happens again put blankets over the spots that got warmer to add more insulation. (of course hoping it doesn't ever happen again)

[maddezmom]

3. I have read if the freezer is full stuff stays frozen for 36 to 48 hours, if not maybe 24.

As long as the power is on I would go ahead and check. Good luck, was on a vaca when the power went out for 3+ days and came home to a huge melted mess.

[Phentex]

6. so far, so good...

a little mush here and there. The meat is the stuff I really care about! And I really have not been stocking up much lately except for the ice cream so we'll see.

[maddezmom]

10. Good deal

Due to power outages here in the summer and preparing for hurricane season I also try to keep my meat and higher cost items in my freezer to a minimum.

[pinto]

7. For future reference - tightly, tightly rolled up Sunday papers.

I used to live in an area with frequent power outages. I finally got a bunch of Sunday NY Times, rolled up tight, tied tight and wrapped in the then ubiquitous plastic shopping bags. Any vacant space got stuffed with the Sunday "rolls". Seemed to help during power outages.

I suppose tightly sealed plastic half-gallon bottles of frozen water would pack well and help, as well.

[Phentex]

8. don't get any papers any more...

looks like most stuff was okay. I remember someone here talking about keeping bags of ice and I used to have some but took it out to make room for real stuff.

We used to lose power a lot but it seems to have been better the last few years, just a few hours here and there. I guess this was so widespread, there wasn't any way to restore it faster.

[pengillian101]

9. Losing power sucks.

We have had this happened so many times, we finally broke down and got a portable generator. Not only for the food in summer, but in the winter it runs the furnace.

Glad to hear your expensive meat was saved.

[cbayer]

11. I would wait until it refreezes.

One of the huge problems after Katrina were the refrigerators full of food.

As there was no electricity for a very long time, they were oozing rotten food. Really, really gross.

But yours might be fine. At any rate, just in case it isn't, I would refreeze just to avoid the mess, smell and to make clean up easier.

[cbayer]

12. Oops. Didn't notice the date on this before I replied. Hope it all worked out.