Posting from my phone, so I apologize for any typos.
Our power has been our for a little over 5 hours now. I'm starting to wonder about the food in the fridge and freezer. Fortunately there's not a lit because I wad actually going to go grocery shopping today. I know fruit in the fridge us ok, and at this point the milk will probably have to go. What about things like cheese, salad dressing, pasta sauce, etc? I also have some prepackaged pork BBQ in the fridge. After how long will I have to throw all that away? What about chicken, fruit, and veggies that are in the freezer? I opened the fridge once, but the freezer has been closed. The last time it was this long without a functioning fridge I lived at home so I dong remember what's salvageable. Thanks for your help!
Re: Power is out....
The FDA publishes guidelines (http://www.fda.gov/Food/ResourcesForYou/Consumers/ucm077023.htm, http://www.fda.gov/food/resourcesforyou/consumers/ucm076881.htm) but they are always on the conservative side, and you likely don't have a thermometer in your freezer.
I'm pretty sure I recall that if your freezer stays shut it will keep things cold/frozen for 2 or more days. But again, just check when the power is back on and see what remained frozen. Meat and dairy that thawed you should throw out.
We got power back after about 8 hours. Growing up the power didn't go out often in the summer, and if it did, it was only two or three hours. It seemed to happen more in the winter (ice), but there was the option to put things outside.
I live in Africa, and the power goes off all the time here(once it was off for 6 days). For future reference. If you just keep the doors closed and everything. Everything should keep for a day or two. We always keep bottles of water or ice packs in the freezer so we can put them in the fridge if it's off for more than a few hours, to keep it cold enough.
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