# Freezer door left open



## aprildawn (Apr 1, 2004)

Two days ago I came downstairs in the morning and found the freezer door slightly open. The little seal thing on the door wasn't sealed against the freezer. I opened the freezer. There was some frost on the items in the front and door of the freezer. I opened a bag of peas which were in the door. They were still frozen solid. There was also some soup in a ziplock that was still solid.

We have chicken and some leftover trimmings from a beef tenderloin I bought for christmas in there. Not to mention the other frozen foods, fish, chicken nuggets, etc. That would be a lot of money to throw out. But I also don't want us to get sick.

What do y'all think? I've been vacillating the past couple of days whether the food is ok.

The freezer would have been this way for about 7 hours. DH sets up the coffee pot at night, and we store our coffee grounds in the freezer. In the morning all I have to do is turn on the coffee pot. He probably set up the coffee around 11-11:30pm, and I was up at 6:30am or so when I found the door ajar.


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## Mama Dragon (Dec 5, 2005)

7 hours? IMO, it's fine and I'd personally just go on about my day....


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## MilkyMcGee (Jan 30, 2005)

I think you're good. Just remind dh to shut the door next time.


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## LotusBirthMama (Jun 25, 2005)

if it was all still frozen then i think your set. i am a freak about food spoilage, too, and i would still eat the food.


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## SevenVeils (Aug 28, 2006)

Food safety depends on temperature, not on a seal being closed. If the items were still frozen, there can not be a problem. They would be just as safe frozen if they were outside in a pile of snow.


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## aprildawn (Apr 1, 2004)

Wonderful! Thanks. That's what common sense was telling me, but in the back of my mind was this fear that we'd get sick if it wasn't kept cold enough overnight. I thought I'd let some wise MDC mamas weigh in.







:


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## leximom (Jul 4, 2005)

dude! The same thing happened in our freezer a couple days ago







I have just been using the stuff as usual because it was still frozen, but we have crazy frost in there now.


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## aprildawn (Apr 1, 2004)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *leximom* 
dude! The same thing happened in our freezer a couple days ago







I have just been using the stuff as usual because it was still frozen, but we have crazy frost in there now.

Too weird. Must be going around.


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## normajean (Oct 21, 2003)

We had a brief power outage recently that tripped a circut in the garage and we didn't know our freezer was out for 2 days. The rule of thumb we went by was anything still having ice crystals on it, is good to go. That is what I've always heard with whether its safe to thaw & refreeze meat-with ice crystals its OK. Frozen solid should absolutely be fine.


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## VikingKvinna (Dec 31, 2003)

Oh yeah, if it was frozen still, you're fine. The door being closed must have prevented it from thawing out too much.

Phew! That would suck majorly to lose a freezer full of stuff.







I had something (I think it was turkey broth) leak in my cube freezer, and it glued the bottom layer of food to the bottom of the freezer. So I need to thaw it all out (or stuff it all into the fridge freezer) and clean out the freezer. Ugh.

HTH!


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