As the USDA notes in Keeping Food Safe During an Emergency, your refrigerator will keep food safe for up to 4 hours during a power outage.
Keep the refrigerator and freezer doors closed as much as possible to maintain the cold temperature. The refrigerator will keep food cold for about 4 hours if it is unopened. A full freezer will keep the temperature for approximately 48 hours (24 hours if it is half full) if the door remains closed.
How long will milk/eggs last during a power outage? Milk, eggs, fish, meat and leftovers will last four hours in the refrigerator, as long as the door stays closed the entire time.
Condiments, salsa, and mayonnaise are okay when the power goes out. Pickles, bread and rolls, carbonated beverages, alcoholic beverages, butter, nut spreads, raw uncut produce, jams and jellies are fine. They may show evidence spoilage faster because of the power outage. Spoilage organisms are mold and yeast.
Discard refrigerated perishable food such as meat, poultry, fish, soft cheeses, milk, eggs, leftovers, and deli items after 4 hours without power or 2 hours after the temperature rises above 41 °F.
Things like butter or margarine, fresh fruits that are uncut, fruit juices, peanut butter, ketchup and jelly are safe to eat after four hours without power. You can get a more detailed list of what refrigerated foods you should keep and what foods you should throw away by looking at the chart below.
Throw out perishable foodin your refrigerator (meat, fish, cut fruits and vegetables, eggs, milk, and leftovers) after 4 hours without poweror a cold source. Throw out any food with an unusual odor, color, or texture. Check temperatures of food kept in coolers or your refrigerator with a cold source.
How long will food last in a refrigerator without power? The USDA advises that a refrigerator can keep food cold and safe for consumption for up to four hours if the door is left unopened. It is important for residents to minimize the frequency of opening the refrigerator to preserve the internal temperature.
Salad dressing, ketchup, mustard, olives, pickles, jams, jellies and peanut butter: May be kept unrefrigerated until power returns. Mixed food items, including cooked pasta, stews, casseroles, soups, potatoes, custards and puddings: Discard if held above 40°F for more than 2 hours.
Good options include low-sodium canned beans, vegetables, fruit (packed in fruit juice), breakfast cereal, peanut butter, pouches of fully cooked whole grains, nuts, whole-wheat crackers, snack bars, and shelf-stable milk or plant milk (the kind sold in aseptic boxes in the grocery aisle).
Leaving the door open can mess with the temperature, making your food go bad faster. Keep your fridge at a steady 37-40°F (3-4°C) to stop bacteria from growing and spoiling your food.
Fruit juice.
Refrigerated juices are safe without refrigeration; however, if mold, cloudiness, bubbling or off-odors (yeasty, fermented) occur, the product should be discarded. Frozen juices with intact ice crystals or if held at 40ºF for less than 2 hours may be refrozen.
Chilling foods to proper temperatures is one of the best ways to slow the growth of these bacteria. To ensure that your refrigerator is doing its job, it's important to keep its temperature at 40 °F or below; the freezer should be at 0 °F.
Since the compressor has to work harder to maintain the temperature inside the fridge, it puts extra load and pressure. This leads to increased wear and tear on the compressor. This is potentially detrimental to the overall lifespan of the refrigerator leading to frequent breakdowns.
“If meat juice or spoiled food has lingered in an appliance, it may have seeped into the insulation,” Blakeslee said. “At this point, the appliance may need to be discarded.”
Although your fridge can still run if its light went out, it is important to identify whether you have a lightbulb issue or an issue with the appliance itself. For example, if your refrigerator door has been open for an extended period of time, many refrigerator lights automatically turn off.
I know from experience that even when kept closed, my old GE Profile won't keep stuff food-safe for more than 8-12 hours. When you do get power back, get an instant-read thermometer and check the leftovers .. if they are more than 45F, I'd think about throwing them out.
To reduce Salmonella growth, eggs gathered from laying hens should be refrigerated as soon as possible. After eggs are refrigerated, they need to stay that way. A cold egg left out at room temperature can sweat, facilitating the movement of bacteria into the egg.
A few minutes should be fine. In fact, even a few hours probably won't hurt. Once you get past four to six hours, though, the safest thing to do is throw out every perishable item in your refrigerator. As painful as that might be to your wallet, it's not as painful as food poisoning or serious illness would be to you.
Hard cheeses, like cheddar or swiss, are safe to keep in brick form. Soft cheeses and hard cheeses that have been shredded should be tossed if they were kept above 40 degrees Fahrenheit for 2 hours or longer. Grated cheese, like canned parmesan, is safe to hang on to. Butter and margarine are safe to keep.
Discard opened mayonnaise, horseradish and tartar sauce if held above 50o F for more than 8 hours. Discard milk, cream, sour cream, yogurt, cream cheese, soy milk and eggs if held above 40o F for more than 2 hours.
The USDA said refrigerators will keep food safe for up to four hours during a power outage. After that, perishable food such as meat, poultry, fish, eggs and cooked leftovers should all be put in the garbage. Get top local stories in DFW delivered to you every morning with NBC DFW's News Headlines newsletter.
“Always return any unused butter to the refrigerator and be aware that butter left outside refrigeration may become darker in color and have the flavor affected.” Keeping butter in the fridge is a good rule of thumb as it ensures the tasty fat won't take on any undesirable odors or flavors from your kitchen.
Condiments such as ketchup, mustard, mayonnaise, pickles, relishes, piquant sauce, oil and vinegar-based salad dressings, Worcestershire sauce and steak sauces should be fine. The acid in them is a natural preservative. Jams, jellies, preserves and syrups are all right, too, because sugar is a preservative.