The storm hit at 3:30 this morning,power was out for a large area in eastern MN. and the Hudson area in Wi. 9 hours later we finally got our power back. Lots of trees down ,schools canceled ,but then I had the dreaded task of cleaning out my refrigerator.
Usually this would have been bad,but I had just gone to the store and stocked up on eggs,soymilk for my wife and lunch meats and a nice large round beef roast.
I had cut the roast in half yesterday ,we peeled a huge batch of potatoes and ended up with enough roast,mashed potatoes and gravy for 3 meals.At least we got to enjoy one of the meals.
Besides having to throw out the rest of the roast,potatoes and gravy, I had to throw out the chocolate cream pie I had made,all the eggs,milk,soymilk,sour cream,sald dressings,lunch meats ,polska keobasa and a lot of other good stuff.
While all this was kind of hard for me to take, it brought to mind all those people that were recently hit by the hurricane and many of them lost everything.It brings up the point--when we think things are bad for us----others are,or had things a lot worse .
Went to the store tonight,so I think I will make a banana cream pie this time. Just lucky the power wasn't out longer and affected the freezers.
Tom

You threw out all the food in your fridge because you were without power for 9 hours?

Tom, unless Im missing something, I cant imagine how those foods went bad that quickly. That fridge should have acted just like a cooler for 9 hours with no problem. ..the fuller the fridge, the longer it should have lasted?

You need a new fridge if you had to throw all that out after only nine hours. Keep the door closed as much as possible and you should’ve been good for up to 24 hours. Freezers if you don’t mess with them are good for several days.



Owl

Get some chicken then nothing will go to waste on you.

I did a lot of checking, everything I read said --4 hours max without power and many of the foods would be unedible. once the temp reaches 40 degrees ,things are downhill.
there are lists available on what can be kept and what should be gotten rid of.
Tom

I just got back from 9 days with fridge out. I ate the eggs, sour cream, and cut the mold off the cheese and ate it. No stores here.

Owl,I never opened the door. I also never saw anything where freezers were good for several days.24 hors on half full freezers and 48 hours on full freezers.
Tom

I've used stuff that's been in a fridge without power for 3 days. A few things, like raw chicken, I probably wouldn't trust that long though. I can see eggs and cheese being fine for 9 days. And I guess sour cream is already sour so... lol.

We keep two 1 gallon jugs of water in our freezer for this purpose. When our power goes out, if it reaches 5-6 hours we put the jugs in the fridge.

Soy milk can spoil? Its not even milk

So , if the power goes out for 6 hours, I have to throw out 4 gallons of unopened Milk that I have in my side by side Refrigerator/ Freezer ?

Couldn't you have put some of that food in the Freezer until the power came back on ? That is what I have done. The ice basket in the Freezer helps to maintain the cold, when the power goes out.

I have done that with my chest freezer in my barn. Jugs of water frozen in there among my deer, elk, beef, and other things. If power goes, a few of those jugs can be stowed in the frige.

Wrangler look up what foods are safe to eat after a power outage--soymilk is one of those listed.
Would you take a chance if your wife was 75 and in poor health and the experts say you may be at risk eating or drinking certain things from your frig after a 9 hour outage?
As you can see I wasn't going to take that risk.
Tom

Bog i just ssked if it could even spoil, its your money and i understand if you choose not to take a chance. Just remember who ever wrote those guidelines was also worried about liability. Was is extremely warm in your area today?

It was in the mid 80s yesterday and still warm when I went to bed at 1;30 am. Cold front blew in causing the storm at 3:30 am.So house was still in the mid 70s . FDA and usda both gave the same advice on what should and shouldn't be kept.The same thing was said by other sources--.
Tom

Eggs would have lasted for days. And no one would ever throw out that pie.

I have to thank you, I got the wife wanting to make some banana cream pie just mentioning this thread

I cant see throwing out everything for such a short outage. That is like the people that throw things out if the best if used by date has gone by.

Better safe than sorry Bogmaster, but I think you were overly cautious. In my opinion none of that food was spoiled after nine hours, especially if you kept the fridge door closed.

I keep thermometers in all my fridges and freezers so I know what's going on.

Given your wife's poor health, getting rid of some food was probably worth the peace of mind.

I own a small generator just for that reason. You can plug in and run the fridge and freezers every so often as needed.

Yeah, we have power outages on a pretty regular basis here. Ones lasting 5-10 hours are common. Ones lasting days occur every other year or so.

I've had a Generac 5500 for twenty-five years. One of these years I'll upgrade to whole-house generator.

Without commenting on the wisdom of the food disposal, I'll second what trapdog1 said. A freezer or fridge is easily run by a small generator. No need to run continuously. An hour or so every 6-8 hours is plenty if you keep it closed.

Well , there ya' go!

I would trust the food telling me it’s bad way before the whole lot of lawyers on the planet.

Dang it Tom, I think you're going daft....9 hours is nothing....A beaver can be dead under water for 10 days, you can skin it, put the carcass in the fridge for a week and still eat it... lol, you first though.

You keep wasting food like that you could have afforded a generator long ago.

The warnings you read are for the same reason there’s a warning on a curling iron for external use only. It has a massive safety factor built in for protection of the manufacturers.

Every situation and circumstance is different, you did what you needed to do. I see power outages a lot working for the power company, mine was just real world experience both witnessed and personally experienced. Last winter we were out for 19 days, I got home every couple days to run the generator and other things, no problems with the fridge or freezers contents.



Owl

One of those stand by natural gas powered electric generators, could have powered your whole house while the power was out. Figure they only cost 1 to 3 % of what the house is worth. Peace of mind knowing the power will not go out , even if the electric company power goes out. Stand by whole house generator also would add value to your house , when you decide to sell.

I have a generator that's saved me many times it's cost, it runs 2 freezers a large Fridge, the attic fan and the TV/VCR/DVD. You could have bought a few sacks of ice or maybe a chunk of dry ice.

Tom-As in many things in life you did what you figured was best for you and your wife. So be it.

Moosetrot

We get power outages in my area frequently. Out of power many storms for 9 hrs to 36 hours at times. Keep your fridge door closed as much as possible. Never lost any food yet nor have I died yet. Wife is 76 she eats anything. like me. Never would throw a pie away for any reason.

My sister does the same thing. Every month she throws food out in her pantry. Can goods and bagged goods. I get enough goods from her worried about code dates to keep us going for months at times.

"Best if consumed by whatever date" has been one of the best marketing schemes ever come up with. IMO



"Use-by dates are contributing to millions of pounds of wasted food each year.

A new report from the Natural Resources Defense Council and Harvard Law School’s Food Law and Policy Clinic says Americans are prematurely throwing out food, largely because of confusion over what expiration dates actually mean.

Most consumers mistakenly believe that expiration dates on food indicate how safe the food is to consume, when these dates actually aren’t related to the risk of food poisoning or foodborne illness.

But according to the new analysis, words like “use by” and “sell by” are used so inconsistently that they contribute to widespread misinterpretation — and waste — by consumers. More than 90% of Americans throw out food prematurely, and 40% of the U.S. food supply is tossed–unused–every year because of food dating.

Eggs, for example, can be consumed three to five weeks after purchase, even though the “use by” date is much earlier."

Lived here 36 years,this was by far the longest power outage we have encountered.Usually if they take place,they usually run a couple of minutes.For this reason,I wouldn't consider buying a stand by generator ,also the reason I didn't bother going and getting ice . I was expecting things to be rectified quickly. That is also the reason,when the power came back,I went on line to see how long food should be good.
Tom

Maybe keep a sack or 2 of ice in the freezer against the next outage. Generators are not too expensive compared to 2 freezers full of food, and have other uses too. I'm looking into converting mine to a duel fuel, and am storing tanks of propane which will never go bad.

This is how I lived in college, lol. My grandmother would throw food out about a month (for canned goods, etc.) BEFORE the use by date, lol. I had her set them all in a box for me. Freezer foods and meats she had a special shelf in her freezer just for my expired foods. I hardly EVER had to buy groceries.

Maybe Gammy was doing it just to feed you? Grammy's are like that!

No, because she did the same thing all my life when I lived there growing up, lol.

Something to be said about crying over spilled milk.
You made a decision, done deal.

WS

My one grandmother would throw out the lunch meat every day after lunch. She wouldn't make sandwiches but lay out stuff to make your own then throw anything left away.

I'm with you, Tom.

nine hours is outside my comfort level.

No worse than what a former neighbor did one time for a get together, she was planning. Made one batch of egg salad one day, Made the 2nd batch the 2nd day , Made the 3rd batch the 3rd day, The FOLLOWING DAY!!! She combined batches 1 , 2 and 3 together ; and served it at her party. 50 people she had there. By the end of the day, ALL the portable toilets she rented from the septic tank pumper, were filled to capacity Ran out of toilet paper , too !! The next day , she complained to her friend , " I don't know what happened. I thought that was how you ALWAYS prepared large batches of Egg Salad for a Party !!! "


She never did that again!!!!!!!!!!!

9 hours without power and not opening the fridge I would eat it all and not blink an eye.

When I was young we did not have electricity until I was 10 years old and neither did neighbors for miles around. No refrigeration! Everyone in my family survived and my grandparents and great grand parents lived longer than their children and grandchildren. Some of the foods we ate tasted bad at times and we often trimmed or scraped edges but I do not recall tossing anything out.

mostly lies from the do gooders who need to be able to say if it ever goes below 40 it is all bad



the reality is you could have made something with a lot of that

eggs,milk,soymilk,sour cream,sald dressings,lunch meats ,polska keobasa and a lot of other good stuff.

I let eggs sit on the counter for days , they would have been fine

the plska klelbasa , you were going to cook them through they would have been find unless they were already old.

salad dressing , so somehting that is shelf stable till you open it goes bad in a couple hours below 40 but not hot , shoot the stuff at the salad bar sits out longer then that.

that leftover roast up it was already cooked killing anything on it

most any thing that could have grown in a few hours is easily killed by cooking

sour cream gets cultured by being 115 degrees for hours , it would have been fine it may not have lasted as long as it would have other wise.

I make a lunch meat sandwich and it often sits in a bag till noon from 6 hasn't killed me yet it gets slimy when it is going bad



if you as a food manufacturer how they can guarantee something stays good they will say if it goes below 40

they are avoiding liability

sniff test and taste test , you can alwasy spit if it tastes bad go a very long ways.

I would have cooked up all the iffy stuff and invited the neighbors over.
Because of a difference in the Pasturizing process, only in the US and Canada is milk is kept refrigerated. In Europe it's kept room temp.

Bog. sorry for your loss. It is never good when things happen like that ,better to be safe than sorry. Nute PS it is realy nice that a few like to hit with a stick.