Last week our Hotpoint refrigerator, which had served us for 22 years, finally gave up the ghost–the compressor failed.
The freezer apparently gave out last Monday at midnight, and I could tell by the water still in the ice-cube trays and the liquid consistency of the contents of the ice-cream container that the appliance, first the freezer part then the refrigerator part, had quit working.
Around 5 p.m, Tuesday–17 hours later–we were able to put the food into an available refrigerator, where it stayed until Thursday morning when our new unit was delivered and installed. But we weren’t too sure that the food–including hamburger, chicken, pork, cube steaks, frozen vegetables, and frozen potatoes (tater tots, etc.)–was safe to eat. We everntually discarded all of the erstwhile contents of the old freezer and stocked the new one with new stuff bought today at the store.
So my question is: How long should frozen stuff be allowed to thaw before it runs the risk of spoiling?
What I’ve heard is if your frozen food if still partially frozen, it’s fine. I wouldn’t use anything completely thawed unless I knew for sure it had just thawed. Especially meat.
When we had a similar misfortune, I cooked most of the meat immediately. We ate meat the next few days, as did our dogs. Frozen veggies and the like just got moved to the refrigerator section of the new fridge and was eaten either by us or our chickens. No illness occurred.
This is what they tell us for dealing with power outages after hurricanes.
Bottom line is don’t risk your health to save a few dollars of food. If in doubt, throw it out.
But if it’s mostly frozen…you’re probably ok.