defrosted food safety

Romola

My freezer had been moved from the garage into my workroom when I was ill, so that I could access it more easily. But a carer unplugged it in order to use the vacuum cleaner. By the time I realised, it was an absolute disaster, with blackcurrants and other things leaking onto the carpet. No chance of rescuing anything. I had to ask my very best friend to help me cope with it. We had to ditch a casserole she had brought. I felt awful.

How awful

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My freezer had been moved from the garage into my workroom when I was ill, so that I could access it more easily. But a carer unplugged it in order to use the vacuum cleaner. By the time I realised, it was an absolute disaster, with blackcurrants and other things leaking onto the carpet. No chance of rescuing anything. I had to ask my very best friend to help me cope with it. We had to ditch a casserole she had brought. I felt awful.

Years ago we were without power for a week. No heating whatsoever. We had lots of mint ice cream in the freezer. I remember me and the kids sitting on the sofa covered under duvets eating it. I don’t think any of us have ate mint ice cream since.

I have always understood that once ice cream has defrosted it should never be refrozen. Even if mine soft when bringing home from the supermarket throw it away.

This has just reminded me to freeze some water in the freezer and place a coin on top of it. That way you can ascertain just how much things in the freezer have thawed out (I’m going to do it now before I forget: I had a panic the other day when my freezer temperature was -15 and I thought it had stopped working…no idea why it happened but it was ok)

I would never cook or re-cook defrosted meat or fish. It is honestly not worth the risk. The same goes for soup and gravy.

It is less dangerous to re-freeze bread, but the result may well not be all that appetizing,

Can't you just put it all in plastic sacks and hand it in to the renovation company?

48!,

Up to 4 hours if full it should be alright

It’s happened to me a couple of times. We mostly have meat and fish in the freezer as well as veg etc.
I cooked all the meat and fish and re froze it. Didn’t rush to eat it, all was well.
My friend refreezes without necessarily cooking it beforehand and she’s always been ok too.
If it’s still half frozen then maybe just refreeze but I Woukd always cook it first.

We re away but our electric went off on Friday evening and didn’t come back on until 11pm on Sunday. Obviously the freezer doors haven’t been opened but am I going to have to throw everything away

Grannyjacql -
The freezer which kept being left open was an old one with a badly fitting door. I made a big notice saying SHUT THE DOOR and stuck it on top.
We've got rid of it now.

Thanks for all your comments. We risked the pumpkin soup for lunch and the spag bol for dinner and still alive with no problems! The freezer door was left partially open for about 12 hours - but cold day in garage - and now all re-frozen (I was waiting for black bin day next week to chuck stuff). Will try to take on board all your advice.

Did everything actually thaw fully?
I would have no qualms about refreezing most things, including raw meat, if they were only partially thawed. In fact, after a lot of research a couple of years ago, I did exactly that when my freezer very mysteriously got switched off.

On the other hand, if things had thawed but were still very cold, (fridge temperature) I would have cooked the raw meats to either eat straight away or refreeze for use in the near future.

Once things have got any warmer than that, I would throw away anything other than bread and cakes, which might still be ok to use immediately as long as they haven't been thawed for too long.

The bread and cakes should be fine; any uncooked meat etc could be cooked and then re-frozen.
Your nose should be able to let you know if the meat is OK.

I would throw out anything with cream and the icecream, prawns and probably fish.

I watched a consumer show once that was dedicated to ice cream ..It put me off it for months and I still never buy the so called top end ice cream .
I once had a freezer defrost and it was full of Xmas stuff. We ate the goodies we could , gave some to neighbours and I cooked the Turkey and pork and stuffing and Apple sauce that I had in freezer ready for the big day so I made a huge pile of sandwiches and took them to my art group for a feast , everyone thought it was great and were happy to take some home for family members too.and
Has the food been defrosted for 4 days now ..I think I'd chuck the lot , why risk it upsetting your tummy.

I would only be concerned about meat and fish.The rest should be OK.

That's happened to us a few times. Whether to throw stuff out depends on various things eg how long the door was open, type of food etc.
I think ours was mainly bread and other baked goods which I refroze.
Also ice cream which is often an emulsion and separates when defrosted. Into oil and other ingredients.

Bread/cakes - perfectly Ok to refreeze as soon as poss, as long as they are "dry" cakes without any cream or icing.

Chilli/spag bol - I would boil them up again and freeze them once completely cold, then eat them up as soon as I could. The old tradition when the stockpot was a permanent feature of the kitchen was to boil it up daily to keep it "sterilised".

Haagen Daz ice cream - maybe the mixture was whipped stiff before it was frozen, and now is not only melted but also de-bubbled?