It’s actually summer and you might be left without power due to weather changes. If a summertime wind leads to a power outage, the foods in your refrigerator and freezer is at risk of spoiling. A little planning can help maintain your shopping healthy and clean until the power returns.
Losing a cooler full of food is expensive, uncomfortable and can be dangerous if you’re running low on meals and can’t afford to buy more. While you may not be able to protect everyone, depending on the length of the interruption, there are ways to maintain most of your perishables clean when the refrigerator stops running.
Read on to learn how to save your refrigerator’s food during a power failure.
For more energy failure ideas, learn all you need to know about home generators and consider whether a home device copy may be a better choice.
How much is food fine in refrigerator without power?
According to the Food and Drug Administration ( FDA ), food in the refrigerator will stay cold for about four hours as long as your keep the doors closed, while a full freezer can stay frozen for up to 48 hours.
If you want to be more secure, you can maintain an appliance thermostat in your freezer, which can help ensure the refrigerator stayed below 40 degrees Celsius during the power outage. If it did, all of the meal is healthy to be refrozen, the FDA says.
Create a plan to keep your meals before a power interruption strikes
Before you face a power outage, it’s best to get a few steps to prepare in case you need to save your meals. The advice from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is to have the following things on finger :
- Appliance thermostats for your kitchen and fridge, so you can check if their temperatures rise and you need to begin removing meals. The kitchen should never rise above 40 degrees Celsius, and the fridge does not rise above 0 levels F.
- A cool and frozen gel packages, in case you have to get food out of the refrigerator to keep it warm.
- Dry snow or prevent ice to keep food cool inside the kitchen, if you think the electricity will be out for a long time.
Perform this first to keep your foods when the electricity goes out
When an interruption hits, stay your fridge and freezer doors closed– don’t open them up unless you definitely need to, and even then, attempt to do so immediately so as not to let the warm air out. If the doors remain closed, your meal can be healthy for up to four hours in a fridge, 48 hours in a whole freezer and 24 hours in a half-full freezer, according to the CDC.
Once you’ve passed the four-hour mark ( or if you see the temperature inside the fridge has risen to over 40 degrees Fahrenheit ) and the power is still out, it’s time to start moving food out of the fridge. If perishable food has been left in the fridge after that point, you’ll have to throw it all out.
The exception here would be if you have dry ice. You can put dry ice on the top shelf of your freezer and the bottom shelf of your refrigerator, and it will keep your perishables cold. You need about 3 pounds of dry ice per cubic foot of freezer space, which should keep food cold for at least two days. Just make sure you’re aware of how to safely handle dry ice before using it.
Separate your food into two groups
First, you will make two piles: food that absolutely must be kept cold, and food that is safe to leave on the counter until the power is back on.
Foods that do not need to be kept cold
The following foods can be safely kept out of the fridge :
- Butter ( for 1-2 days )
- Peanut butter
- Most cooking oils, except for nut oils
- Herbs
- Potatoes
- Most fruits and vegetables
- Bread
- Coffee
- Honey
- Ketchup, mustard and hot sauce
Foods that need to be kept cold
The following foods must be kept at 40 degrees Fahrenheit or lower to prevent bacteria growth and spoilage :
- Dairy products ( cheese, milk, whipped cream, sour cream )
- Eggs
- Meats, poultry and fish ( cooked or uncooked )
- Cut fruit and vegetables
- Leftovers
How to keep your perishable food cold without a refrigerator
Once you’ve got your pile of perishable food, it’s time to pull out your cooler and ice packs. Put a layer of frozen food at the bottom. Then put a layer of foods from the fridge on top of that layer. Top it off with another layer of frozen foods. If you don’t have any ice or ice packs, go to the store and buy some if it’s safe to do so.
Layer ice or ice packs around the food in the cooler– don’t just throw it all on top or bottom. Distributing the ice will keep the food at a more consistent temperature. Move your fridge thermometer inside the cooler to monitor the temperature.
If you don’t have a cooler, you can use your freezer instead– it’s insulated and will keep your food cold as long as you leave the door shut and keep a fresh supply of ice in it. To prevent melting ice from turning your freezer into a pond, put ice in bowls and place them around the food.
You should never taste food to see if it’s gone bad– when in doubt, throw it out, the CDC advises. Throw away any food with unusual odors, colors or textures right away. In terms of frozen foods, you can safely refreeze or cook thawed frozen food that is at 40 degrees Fahrenheit or below, or that still contains ice crystals.
For more tips on how to prepare for natural disasters, check out how to pack an emergency bag, and how to recover important documents after a natural disaster.
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