Shit.
So last night I must have left the freezer door open by a half an inch (freezer that is in the top part of the fridge).
I didn’t check everything, but the chicken nuggets still felt solid. The frozen waffles felt soft, and the ice cream felt soft (but wasn’t melted into a liquid, it was more like ice cream that has been sitting at room temp for several minutes.
It was probably like this for 16 hours.
Should I throw everything out?
Theres only about $20-30 worth of products in the freezer, I’m wondering if throwing it all out is wiser.
I wouldn’t throw out anything.
It probably didn’t get too warm, and contrary to popular belief food can be refrozen, it just may lose something in flavour and texture.
I am lazy, so I would keep it. If, when I prepare to eat it and something was off a bit, I would toss it. Unless you have teens in the house, they will eat anything with abandon. If it’s bad and they eat it, we all know what would probably happen.
You should probably try to use it up as soon as you can, but if it was still chilled to the point that it appeared frozen, there won’t have been any bacterial spoilage to speak of - just freezer burn maybe and the ice cream might be hard and full of crystals.
Yeah stuff like ice cream is probably gross, but anything frozen solid is likely okay. It’s happened to me before and no ill effects.
I’m just wondeirng if it sitting for so long caused it to unfreeze, and stay unfrozen for too long.
But like I said, the ice cream wasn’t a liquid, it was more of a soft solid. The chicken nuggets felt hard and solid.
Hopefully I’m fine.
What’s the expiration date on the food? 
It’s fine. Food should only be thrown out if it is allowed to defrost and sit at room temperature. In your case, the freezer was probably still keeping the food colder than a refrigerator. Food thawed in a refrigerator can be safely consumed or refrozen.
Baked goods in particular tend to lose a lot of freshness from being defrosted and refrozen. But that’s about all - it’s not like there’s some danger involved.
Assuming Wesley’s fridge/freezer is in good repair and not on its last legs and that the freezer door was truly open only about the width of a fingernail:
A half-inch opening isn’t much. I doubt that the interior of Wesley’s freezer was at any point warmer that 20-something degrees. Most likely, it barely gained any temperature at all. The motor had to work harder over those 16 hours to maintain temperature, but the cracked-open door merely introduced seepage – not at all comparable to, say, running the freezer with the door wide open and your fridge motor attempting to cool the entire kitchen.
*Verdict: *No danger whatsoever in consuming the items in the fridge. Nothing melted or unfroze.
*Source: *My dad, who spent 40+ years fixing appliances and fulfilling warranties for a major retail outlet.
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I’d keep it. Judging by the fact your ice cream was a solid, even though soft, and not a pool of goo, I suspect you’re okay. The “danger zone” is 40-140F; freezers are usually at around 0F. So far as I can tell, ice cream starts getting soft when it reaches a temp of somewhere below 10F (its ideal serving temperature). So I really think you are okay. It may very well also depend on where certain items were in the freezer (maybe stuff on/close to the door/opening I’d double check), but from what you’re describing, I wouldn’t think twice about keeping it. (ETA: Oh, it was only a half inch gap. Yeah, I don’t think I’d even worry about the placement of the items. You’re fine.)
Even if it’s not spoiled, refreezing food can often make it taste weird. The sharp ice crystals formed by the internal water freezing puncture the cell walls of the food. Each time the food is thawed-then-frozen, more cell walls break down (some foods do better than others). You’ll end up with safe but mushy and yucky tasting food. Re-frozen ice cream tastes weird because the air originally mixed in is lost and the re-frozen texture is not as smooth since the ice crystals are larger.
Although it’s all safe to eat, I would throw away anything which felt soft since you won’t like eating it anyway.
The ice cream was in a compartment on the door, so it should have had the most impact from the higher temps. But still, not a liquid, Just a soft solid.
The nuggets were in the back of the freezer
The ice cream may not be as smooth after refreezing, but there’s no reason to throw it out unless you just don’t like it. It didn’t completely melt, meaning it was cold enough. Waffles, being bread, tend to refreeze fairly well, though they might not last as long as they previously would.
Anything that stayed frozen is definitely okay.
My ex used to slam the fridge and freezer door (which in turn would rebound open a little) and leave things ajar and awkwardly placed sometimes so as the door wouldn’t close all the way. Regardless of how many times she did this, I still ate the food and it was fine. If the fridge is left cracked for more than a couple hours, that is something I wouldn’t test. Frozen stuff will be fine, especially if already “FULLY COOKED” or whatever.
Never gotten sick, but ice cream will not have the same texture, sadly. Save your food!