Gaye Levy
This site contains affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, I earn a commission from qualifying purchases at no extra cost to you. Full Disclosure Here.
A couple of years back, 600 million people in India were without power for two days. It was not only lights out – but lights out for half of the population. Can you imagine the chaos?
More recently, there have been significant power outages in North America. In late October 2012, Hurricane Sandy brought high winds and coastal flooding to a large portion of the eastern United States, leaving an estimated 8 million customers without power. Not quite as bad but serious none-the-less, the ice storms of December 2013 cumulatively left over 1 million people without power.
When the power goes out (commonly called “grid down”), so do transportation systems, manufacturing systems, communications systems and of course, household systems. And what about those household systems? The first thing that comes to mind is heating and cooling when the temperate drops to below freezing or the heat swelters to 90 degrees Fahrenheit with 80% humidity.
Personal comfort aside, there is a big issue with our dependence on refrigeration in keeping food safe. In recent weeks, I have been asked about food safety when the grid is down. One of the more specific questions has been “what is safe to eat after thawing and being re-frozen following a power outage?”.
I can not say that I am an expert on the subject but I can share some guidelines to follow when the power grid goes down for more than a few hours.
Keeping Food Safe When the Power Goes Out
1. Place appliance thermometers in both the refrigerator and the freezer. After a power outage, check the temperature to determine whether your food is still safe to consume. Safe temperatures are 40°F or lower in the refrigerator, 0°F or lower in the freezer.
2. Keep your freezer as full as possible. Fill empty juice or milk jugs with water and keep them in the freezer (unless you need the space for food, of course). If the power grid goes down, you can use these frozen blocks of ice to maintain the cold temperature in your refrigerator and/or to keep the temperature in your freezer colder for a longer period. A full freezer will hold its temperature for about 48 hours but only 24 hours if half-full.
3. Place ice cubes in zipper type bags and place them in the freezer. Later, if the power goes out, keep the freezer door closed. When the power is restored, leave the freezer door closed long enough for it to go back to its normal, freezing temperature. If the ice cubes have melted into a bag of solid ice, you will know that everything in the freezer thawed and is likely unsafe.
4. Have a minimum of a week’s supply of ready-to-eat food that does not require cooking or refrigeration after being opened.
5. Do not open the refrigerator and freezer doors unnecessarily. Take out what you need quickly then close the doors and keep them closed. A refrigerator will keep food cold for four to six hours if the door is kept closed.
6. Have coolers on hand that can be used to store the refrigerated foods that you think you will need for the short term. Use the frozen jugs of ice from your freezer to keep the food in your cooler cold. This will mitigate having to open and close the refrigerator door unnecessarily.
7. The following foods are generally safe to store at room temperature for a few days. Even if they are normally kept in the refrigerator, they will be safe to consume even if the power is out for 1 or 2 days.
• Butter and margarine
• Hard cheeses (such as Cheddar, Swiss)
• Fresh fruits and vegetables
• Fruit juices
• Opened jars of salad dressing, peanut butter, jelly, relish, barbecue sauce
• Mustard, ketchup, and olives
8. When the power comes back, check the temperature inside of your refrigerator and freezer. Discard perishable food that has been above 40°F for two hours or more. Definitely discard the following:
• Raw or cooked meat, poultry, seafood
• Meat-topped pizza, lunchmeat
• Casseroles, stews or soups
• Milk/cream, yogurt, soft cheese (such as feta and Brie)
• Mayonnaise, tartar sauce, or creamy dressings
• Cooked pasta, potato, rice and salads prepared from these foods
• Fresh eggs, egg substitutes
9. Check each item separately. Throw out any food that has an unusual odor, color, or texture, or feels warm to the touch. With frozen food, check for ice crystals. The food in your freezer that partially or completely thawed may be safely refrozen if it still contains ice crystals or is 40°F or below.
10. Frozen foods that have been partially defrosted during an outage should be cooked or reheated to a minimum temperature of 160 degrees.
11. When in doubt, dump it. And never, ever taste food to determine whether it is safe to eat.
Food Safety Reference Charts
There are a number of food safety charts available at the FoodSafety.gov website. These charts can be used as a guide when determining whether your food is safe to eat following an outage. For some people, the charts may be on the conservative side – this is the US Government, after all – so there may be some individual instances where food may be safer for a period longer than shown, depending on how cold your refrigerator or freezer was to begin with.
You need to be mindful of your own comfort level. In my own household, if the temperature goes above 36-38°F for any period of time – even 30 minutes – out it goes. Your mileage may vary.
What to Eat When the Power Goes Out?
This is where your preps come into play. Canned goods, packaged goods and other items that do not require cooking are obvious. But beyond that, having a simple rocket stove or other outdoor cooking devices can save the day. Even if the only thing you do is boil water, having some way to heat your soup or activate some of your freeze-dried food will be a godsend. This is especially true if the power is out for days which calls attention to the question: do you have at least three days worth of food that does not require heating or cooking of any type?
The Final Word
Those who live off grid, including those who live in RVs and boats, typically rely on solar or generator power for their AC needs. Many also rely on propane to fuel their refrigerators and freezers.
For the rest of us, our reliance on electricity to keep our food safe is huge. Sure you can purchase insurance to cover any food loss following an outage, but like the gift that keeps on giving, a claim will likely result in increased premiums for years to come and who wants that?
The best time to prepare for an off-grid emergency is now, while the power is still on. A low-cost investment in freezer and refrigerator thermometers plus taking the time to store some frozen jugs of water may make the difference between having a full freezer and refrigerator of food or a dumpster full of smelly, spoiled and unsafe food.
Enjoy your next adventure through common sense and thoughtful preparation!
Gaye
If you enjoyed this article, consider subscribing to email updates. When you do, you will receive a free, downloadable copy of my e-Book, The Emergency Food Buyer’s Guide.
You can also vote for Backdoor Survival daily at Top Prepper Websites!
Bargain Bin: Below are some items that will help you prepare for a power outage.
Taylor Freezer-Refrigerator Thermometer: This no-frills thermometer is the one I use. At this price, there really is no reason not to monitor the temperature inside you refrigeration appliances. You will be surprised at how quickly the temperature rises when the door is left open for just a few minutes.
Wireless Refrigerator/Freezer Thermometer: A wireless thermometer will allow you to easily monitor freezer and refrigerator temperatures without opening the doors.
Ultra Bright LED Lantern – Collapsible: This popular lantern uses 30 different LEDS and is powered by 3 AA batteries, including rechargeables. Instead of a switch, you turn it on by extending the lantern from its collapsed condition. With a lifetime warranty and over 1,350 close to perfect ratings, I can see why this is popular. I love mine!
Coleman Candle Lantern: When the lights go out, there is nothing like a Coleman. They last forever because spare parts are always available. A candle lantern will not give out the bright light of say, a propane or kerosene lantern. On the other hand, candles are like to be available when other fuels are not.
Solo Stove: I was so impressed that I renamed this the “Amazing Little Solo Stove”.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I earn a small commission from purchases made when you begin your .
Amazon has a feature called Shop Amazon – Most Wished For Items. This is an easy tool for finding products that people are ‘wishing” for and in this way you know what the top products are. All you need to do is select the category from the left-hand side of the screen.
The Amazon Top Most Wished For and Best Selling Outdoor Items
Emergency Preparedness Items from Amazon.com
Shop Amazon Tactical – Great Selection of Optics, Knives, Cases, Equipment
Amazon Gift Cards
Help support Backdoor Survival. Purchases earn a small commission and for that I thank you!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A Practical Guide to Storing Food For the Long Term
99 cents for the eBook – also available in print!
When most people start thinking about family preparedness, they focus on food. Not shelter, gear, sanitation, power, self-defense or the myriad of other concerns that need to be addressed following an emergency or disaster situation. Quite simply, food is the number one concern people have second only to their concern for having an adequate supply of water.
The Prepper’s Guide to Food Storage is a book about food: What to store, how to store it and best practices. It is a roadmap for showing ordinary citizens that long-term food storage is not something that will overwhelm or burden the family budget.
This book is based upon my own tried and true personal experience as someone who has learned to live the preparedness lifestyle by approaching emergency preparedness and planning in a systematic, step-by-step manner. Nothing scary and nothing overwhelming - you really can do this!
35 Responses to “11 Tips for Keeping Food Safe When the Power Goes Out”
Please consider changing this line so that people understand this check is to be performed after power is RESTORED and has been stable for at least a minute…not the moment the power goes out. It may seem obvious to some, but just to be sure…
“After a power outage, check the temperature to determine whether your food is still safe to consume. Safe temperatures are 40°F or lower in the refrigerator, 0°F or lower in the freezer.”
And, the reason that one needs to wait a bit is because power may be only restored for a moment. Another problem or another overload (as people start turning back on lights, heaters, etc) could cause the power to again go out soon after being initially restored.
John – Good point. I did say that in #3 but it do need to be clarified a bit more. Thanks.
From #3. “When the power is restored, leave the freezer door closed long enough for it to go back to its normal, freezing temperature.”
I am old and forgetful and I may have know this in the past, but, putting a bag of ice cubes in the freezer, to see if they melt is a wonderful idea.
Is the Solo stove safe for inside use? In cold and blizzard weather, I sure don’t want to be outside but we need to eat. Warm food would help.
You can purchase an alcohol burner for the Solo Stove (about $20) that is safe to use indoors. The only way I would use a wood burning rocket stove (such as a Solo Stove) indoors is to place it in a wood burning fireplace and even then, only in a dire emergency with a window open.
So here is what I do…
I have some 2-Liter bottles of soda pop (I don’t drink soda but after parties and such, I take them home) I rinse them out, clean them, and then add water to them. Just plain tap water. I fill to a few inches below the top, and then freeze them.
If the power goes out, I keep them in my freezer (to use as an ice chest) and put some in my fridge as well.
And, when they melt, there is water (for me if I filter it first as I try not to drink tap water) or for my animals (I have a dog and a cat).
We have our fridge full — if you don’t have two liter bottles, then the gallon sized ziplock baggies will do as well. Just fill them about 1/2 full of water and then lay flat. They freeze flat and are easy to stick in small places (you can do this with quart size, too, to get more in there).
If I need more space in my freezer due to a big trip to the grocery store, I just remove some of my frozen water… then when space comes available again I put them back in.
Hope this tip helps! I live in Panama and our power goes out frequently!
still feel this chart is on the extreme side. how many time have you eaten food that were cold for several hours or even overnight
That’s a Handy Dandy Chart. Thanks! I am always a bit amazed when people have a great big freezer (or TWO) just stuffed to the top with meat as a source of long term food storage. I can understand that people don’t like home canned meat.. I don’t trust that either. These days we have such a wonderful variety of freeze dried foods available. NO refrigeration ever and a very long shelf life. Let the storm come. If we loose electricity we will NOT loose a lot of food and money because our freezer was off.
I am probably a little older than most of you and have lived in a third world county and I think that chart is way overkill. For example the recommendation on milk to throw out if over 40 degrees for two hours. When milk was delivered door to door in this county it often set out longer than that. That chart is nice, but is a real shtf you will throw it away fast or you won’t have much to eat.
wow i have to agree with howard. this cart is way over kill. In accordance with this chart that pizza i left out over night and eat for breakfast should have killed me
A great suggestion came out of the Katrina disaster. Place icecubes in a zip-lock baggy and place in your freezer. Then later if power was cut off long enough to thaw your frozen food but later came back on restoring everything to a frozen state the ice cubes would now be a block of ice in the baggy and you would know the food is likely unsafe.
If you would like to print the charts, I suggest you go to the charts on the http://www.foodsafety.gov site. Here are the links:
//www.foodsafety.gov/keep/charts/refridg_food.html
//www.foodsafety.gov/keep/charts/frozen_food.html
There is a print button on the pages mentioned that will allow you to print the chart for reference purposes.
Gaye
You might also purchase a wireless thermometer setup so you can easily monitor freezer and fridge temps without opening the doors. You can even get models that include several trasmitters for use wherever you like.