Freezer Meltdown - need advice

[Mind_your_head]

We were gone for the whole day yesterday and apparently the freezer door was slightly ajar the whole time. When we returned, we found the ice cubes in the ice cube maker were all stuck together and the ice cream had literally turned to soup.

It was late and I was tired, so I just shut the door and everything is refrozen again. But I feel 'funny' about using anything in there now.

My question, do I have to throw everything out? The ravioli, the frozen vegetables, the turkey breast, the frozen pizzas? It's been so long since something like this has happened, that I'm not really sure anymore. There's a small fortune in food in there.

Any advice would be appreciated.

TIA

[Karenca]

1. Some people refreeze, but there's a risk involved.

Small risk, but nevertheless it's there.

[jobycom]

2. After Katrina, the rule was if the freezer was full and there were still

ice crystals on the food, or if it generally felt cold still, it has stayed frozen enough to be safe. If not, if the food seemed to have thawed above forty degrees, it was ruined. There is of course leeway for heavily processed foods, less leeway for meat and leftovers. Meat can thaw on the edges enough to ruin the whole thing.

Sounds like with the ice cream melted and the ice still frozen, you've got mixed signals. Did you happen to notice the ice crystals, or whether the food still was cold to handle?

[Warpy]

10. Don't eat anything in that freezer uncooked

and don't cook any of it rare. That's if it still felt cold.

If it was all at room temperature, heave it. That's the safest thing to do.

[Karenca]

3. Definitely get rid of the meats........ nt

[Lindacooks]

4. Please throw away anything that is potentially dangerous, like

meats or dairy. The frozen vegetables, if they aren't in a sauce, will be find. But the turkey breast and frozen pizzas should be discarded.

I know it's hard to do that, but getting sick from food poisoning could be much more expensive than replacing the food.

If this happens again, don't refreeze the food. Go through it; if there are still ice crystals in the food, you can refreeze it. The problem here is you don't know how much the food thawed, and it doesn't take long for bacteria to start growing again.

[BOSSHOG]

5. I would err on the side of your health

and get rid of the stuff or inventory real carefully. If the poultry was thawed out a lot please chuck it. A little trick we learned after last years hurricane; don't keep much in the freezer and use it as you go. Fill the empty space up with bottles of water. If the power goes out the frozen bottled water will prolong the cold temperatures in your freezer and if the power stays out for a long time, you'll have a source of cold(cool) water. If you discover that soon enough, chuck what you can on the grill and you might have meals for a long time. Good luck.

[Gormy Cuss]

6. The general rule is if it's still mostly frozen, it's OK to eat

but you don't know now which things were still coated in ice crystals so you can't test it. In general things that are slow to spoil like frozen veggies are good to eat but not refreeze because the quality degrades with refreezing. Fully cooked items that will be heated for a long time or at high heat before consuming are general OK if they had ice crystals on them before you shut the door last night.
The diciest stuff is raw or partially cooked meat but don't trust me -- take it from the USDA. There's a chart on frozen food rules on this Q & A page.

http://www.fsis.usda.gov/Fact_Sheets/keeping_food_Safe_during_an_emergency/index.asp

[uppityperson]

7. Quality will decrease, some stuff you can eat.

Most stuff can be thawed for a day and refrozen. The quality may decrease, and you may have to change how you cook it, but most should be ok.

Cook the meat now, then refreeze cooked meat, can use it in soup, sauces, etc. Thawing for a day, it should be ok unless it got warm (vs thawed), but I would cook it and eat it now to stop anything further from growing on it. Cooked meat is less likely to rot than raw, by the way.

Ravioli, thaw before cooking so you can pull them apart as they probably refroze in a lump. Pizza may be odd, try 1 and see.

Veggies and fruits are fine. They probably refroze in chunks (like ravioli), but should be ok.

1 day, door slightly ajar, no biggie.

[Sequoia]

8. Toss the ice cream. Not good refrozen.

[Mind_your_head]

9. Thanks for all the REALLY GREAT advice everyone!

As usual, DU'ers come through with great advice and knowledge.

In hindsight it was stupid of me not to poke around a little bit more and see how thawed/not thawed things were. But that was because (I left this part out before) I knew the ice cream was 'soup' b/c when the door was opened, it tumbled out and there was melted ice cream EVERYWHERE...so I had to clean that up last night, of course. It was a real mess and a huge job. I think that ice cream container was what was holding the door ajar in the first place.

I'm gonna throw the meat out, since I "just won't be happy/feel good" about serving it to my family thinking that we all could get sick. (Good bye turkey breast and chicken Wahaaa :cry: What a waste!)

I guess I'm gonna be busy the rest of this afternoon sorting through and cooking or tossing the rest of it all. *sigh* At least garbage day is tomorrow....

Great idea about putting the frozen water bottles in the freezer in case of power outage or other mishap (like mine).

Thanks again.

[RedEarth]

11. When in doubt, throw it out....

...that's the advice that I've always heard when it comes to food safety.