# fridge door open all night-- what to do?



## me+littleladysadie (Jan 27, 2005)

drat! the door was open just one inch for about 9 hours. and of course i just went food shopping yesterday, so it is full of food.

i just drank some milk anyway, it tasted fine and it was still cool-- but not super cold.

do i throw it all away? i'd hate to waste food like that!


----------



## Owen'nZoe (Sep 7, 2005)

Eek - I did this with my freezer a couple weeks ago - and I have weeks worth of stored up meals in there.







This probably isn't the safe answer, but I couldn't bring myself to throw all that food out, either, so I just tossed the things that had obviously melted (including about 3 quarts of homemade apple butter - wah!) and have been careful to cook the rest well before we eat it. So far, so good...


----------



## kamilla626 (Mar 18, 2004)

Your fridge probably just ended up running all night, and the temperature probably increased a few degrees, but not enough to spoil everything.

IIWY, I might toss any raw meat, but that's probably it. I'm pretty daring with stuff like that, though. I hate wasting food.


----------



## bonbon mama (May 16, 2003)

How about calling the 800 number for your refrigerator manufacturer and asking if their fridge can keep food at a safe temp in that situation? I agree with the PP that your stuff is probably mostly okay. If you are unsure about some stuff you could separate it and not eat it for a day or two and do the sniff test then for spoilage. Your dairy and eggs and leftovers might be bad but your produce and condiments should be fine since they don't need constant refrigeration.


----------



## me+littleladysadie (Jan 27, 2005)

thanks for your advice, ladies!









my husband is sure everything is fine, but he's never been the worrier in the family.

the one thing i can't take a chance on is the breastmilk for the little girl i watch. i feel terrible that her mama pumped for nothing.


----------



## Samjm (Mar 12, 2005)

I would keep everything and just take care when you prepare it. Most foods in the fridge can safely stay at room temp for quite a while. We refrigerate them to prolong their life, not because they must be kept cold.

Milk is bad when it is bad. You'll know when you smell it. It'll probably spoil faster, but if it isn't bad when you open it, it is fine.

Eggs can stay at room temp for quite a long time. They'll be fine.

I'd even say that the breastmilk is OK. It can safely be kept at ROOM temp for 10 hours. If it was in the open fridge it would be cooler than room temp. I'd just be sure to use it first.

I'd be the most wary about any meat you have in there.


----------



## CrazyCatLady (Aug 17, 2004)

Here's a scary but true story. On Christmas of last year my baby started to get fussy. So I told mother in law that there was a bottle of expressed milk in my diaper bag. After a few minutes I checked on them and I saw her feeding Zayla a bottle, but it wasn't the one that I had pumped that day. It was a bottle from God knows when that I had forgotten about. It was stuffed inside a pocket of the diaper bag and had probably been there at least a week!!!! I was freaking out big time. Zayla never got an upset tummy, sick or anything. This was in California, so the weather had been in the 80's. And she was only four months old at the time. So that breastmilk is pretty tough stuff, my guess is that it's fine.


----------

