How to Save the Food in Your Fridge When the Power Goes Out | Global News Avenue

If you live in the central United States or the mid-Atlantic region, you may soon encounter Major winter storms and polar vortex. If severe winter weather causes a power outage, your first concern may be the food in your refrigerator. While a sudden power outage could threaten your groceries, you don’t have to let them go to waste: Making some preparations can help keep your food safe and fresh until the power comes back on.

Losing a refrigerator full of food is expensive, inconvenient, and can be dangerous if you’re running low on rations and can’t go out and buy more food. While you may not be able to save everything, depending on the length of the outage, there are ways to prevent most of your perishable items from rotting while your refrigerator is out of commission.

Read on to learn how to preserve food in your refrigerator during a power outage.

For more power outage tips, please learn Everything you need to know about home generatorsand consider whether Home backup battery Might be a better choice.

Make a plan to preserve food before a power outage

Before facing a power outage, it’s a good idea to take some steps to prepare in case you need to save food. this Recommendations from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention The following items should be on hand:

• Home appliance thermometer Works for your refrigerator and freezer so you can monitor if their temperature rises and you need to start taking food out. The temperature of the refrigerator should not exceed 40 degrees Fahrenheit and the temperature of the freezer should not exceed 0 degrees Fahrenheit.
• one cooler and frozen gel packin case you have to remove food from the refrigerator to keep it cold.
• dry ice You can also use ice cubes to keep food in your refrigerator cold if you expect the power to be out for a long time.

Read more: Best Coolers of 2022

Do this first to save food during a power outage

When the power goes out, keep refrigerator and freezer doors closed – don’t open them unless absolutely necessary, and even then, try to open them as quickly as possible to avoid the cold air escaping. According to the CDC, your food is safe in the refrigerator for up to 4 hours if the door remains closed, 48 hours in a full refrigerator, and 24 hours in a half-full refrigerator.

Once four hours have passed (or if you see the temperature inside the refrigerator has risen above 40 degrees Fahrenheit) and the power is still out, you can start taking food out of the refrigerator. If there’s any perishable food left in the refrigerator after that, you’ll have to throw it all away.

The exception is if you have dry ice. You can place dry ice on the top rack of your refrigerator and the bottom rack of your refrigerator to keep perishable items cold. you need about 3 pounds of dry ice per cubic foot of freezer spacewhich should keep food refrigerated for at least two days. Just make sure you know How to safely handle dry ice before using it.

Divide food into two groups

First, you make two piles: food that absolutely must be refrigerated, and food that can safely sit on the counter until the power comes back on.

Food that does not require refrigeration

The following foods can be safely stored outside the refrigerator:

• Butter (1-2 days)
• peanut butter
• Most cooking oils, except nut oils
• vanilla
• Potato
• most fruits and vegetables
• bread
• coffee
• Honey
• Ketchup, mustard and hot sauce

Food that needs to be refrigerated

The following foods must be kept at 40 degrees Fahrenheit or lower to prevent bacterial growth and spoilage:

• Dairy products (cheese, milk, whipped cream, sour cream)
• egg
• Meat, poultry and fish (cooked or raw)
• Cut fruits and vegetables
• leftovers

How to keep perishable food cold without a refrigerator

Once you’ve got your hands on a bunch of perishable food, it’s time to break out your cooler and ice packs. Place a layer of frozen food on the bottom. Then place a layer of refrigerator food on top. Cover with another layer of frozen food. If you don’t have ice cubes or ice packs, go to the store and buy some when it’s safe to do so.

Place ice cubes or ice packs around the food in the cooler—don’t throw it all at the top or bottom. Distributing the ice will keep food at a more consistent temperature. Move a refrigerator thermometer inside the cooler to monitor the temperature.

If you don’t have a cooler, you can use a refrigerator – it’s insulated and will keep your food cold as long as you close the door and put fresh ice inside. To prevent melting ice from turning your refrigerator into a pond, place ice cubes in a bowl and place them around your food.

The CDC advises that you should never taste food to tell if it’s spoiled—if in doubt, throw it away. Throw away immediately any food that has an unusual smell, color or texture. As with frozen foods, you can safely refreeze or cook thawed frozen foods that were at or below 40 degrees Fahrenheit or that still contain ice crystals.

For more tips on how to respond to natural disasters, check out How to pack an emergency kitand How to recover important files after a natural disaster.