Power outages happen for various reasons. Severe weather can certainly be a top cause. The challenge is deciding what food is safe to keep or what should be tossed.
First of all, some general guidelines:
- Keep the appliance doors closed to keep the appliance cold as long as possible.
- Never taste food to determine its safety after a power outage.
- Keep an appliance thermometer inside the refrigerator and freezer.
- Discard any perishable foods, such as meat, poultry, milk, fish, eggs, deli items or leftovers after 4 hours without refrigeration.
- Frozen foods that contain ice crystals or are still below 40°F can be saved.
Here are some resources to help guide you to make safe choices:
- Food Safety During Power Outage – foodsafety.gov
- A Consumer’s Guide to Food Safety: Severe Storms and Hurricanes – USDA
- Removing Odors from Refrigerators and Freezers – USDA
More information can be found at the KSRE Extension Food Safety website on Disasters and Power Outages.
