Help , I left my freezer door open

[CRJR45]

I did a search , but how screwed am I ? Everything is thawed but cold to the touch , fish , elk and moose meat . Can I re freeze it ?

 

[stephane]

If it’s cold to the touch still then just refreeze it. For your peace of mind you could take out a roast and cut into it, it’s likely still partially frozen in the center if it stills feels cold on the outside. Even if that’s not the case, as long as it’s still cold it should hopefully be fine to refreeze.

 

[rclouse79]

It is worth a try. If it were me I would buy a freezer alarm that hooks up to your WiFi and sends alerts to your phone if it gets above the temp you set. The one below is the one I have and it works well. Cheap insurance for under $100.

 

[ODB]

Bummer. I am in the “if it’s still cold refeeese camp.”

Also, I bought a child lock for my freezer door so I have a second, physical action to close the door as a reminder etc.

 

[CRJR45]

It was my fault , when I closed the door it looked like the drawer was sticking out , but the vacuum seal held so I left . It must've popped open after vacuum equalized .

 

[JREG19]

Open a packet and smell it.

I had this happen last fall and actually burnt up the compressor in my freezer. I mostly just refroze everything in other freezers and have been eating the meat like nothing happened. Tastes normal and haven't gotten sick.

I replaced my broken freezer with 2 smaller freezers so my meat is diversified. I put child locks and alarms on the new freezers.

Hopefully it never happens again.

 

[Axlrod]

Stick a meat thermometer in some of it. If it's under 40* you should be good to freeze it.

 

[elsb0048]

Anybody got a recommendation on a good Wi-Fi alarm?

 

[JREG19]

Anybody got a recommendation on a good Wi-Fi alarm?

I have the yolink, it seems to work well. It was pretty easy to set up and you can add more sensors if you need.
This is the one I got,

Amazon.com

 

[Meshnasty]

I also use the mocreo and I like it.

 

[ktm450]

Been there a few years ago. Refreeze and enjoy. Mine was all fine and tasted just like the stuff from the other freezers.

 

[mb6355]

Refreeze, I think Meateater or someone did a test on this sometime back and really could see no difference.

 

[CRJR45]

It was last years meat , but this years fish . If nothing else the dog will be eating good .

 

[CMF]

There's a whole other thread recently on alarms, but I don't recall it's title.

I've refroze thawed meat without issue.

I've used a window/door alarm that rings continuously while the door is open in the past, but I plan to switch to wifi that connects to my phone going forward.

If you have a deep freeze, you should have at least one or multiple alarms/failsafes.
It's only a matter of time. I've had the door stay open from bag of ice blocking it, jacket on top caught in door, I turned a breaker off to work on something else in the room and didn't turn back on right away(door alarm would not have saved this or a freezer just crapping out)

 

[Pony Soldier]

I have an upright that comes open by itself. I lock it and then have a web belt that I ratchet on. I keeps me honest to my stupidity at times..

 

[WI in the west]

I had that happen once, in-laws were here with my wife doing stuff around the house and they unplugged it to use the outlet and forgot to plug back in. I even have freezer alarms but they turned it off thinking the alarm was malfunctioning.
I got home a couple days later i think, the top meat was completely soft even had blood at the bottom of the freezer. It was still cold to the touch so i threw in my other freezer and reforze, never could tell a difference.
Like above maybe grab out one if the most likely things to have an issue and open/ eat it and see but i think your good to go if it is cold and doesnt stink.

 

[Turkeygetpwnd38]

All the meat in my freezer has been thawed and refroze... I wouldn't worry about it as long as it was really cool to the touch. Fish.... I don't know about that one.

 

[Floated_down]

It is worth a try. If it were me I would buy a freezer alarm that hooks up to your WiFi and sends alerts to your phone if it gets above the temp you set. The one below is the one I have and it works well. Cheap insurance for under $100.
View attachment 1005326

i got one of these and it has worked flawlessly so far. havent had any freezer issues yet but its great to have the peace of mind

 

[Pacific_Fork]

I’ve thawed and refroze elk/deer up to 3 times with no noticeable taste difference.

 

[Wrench]

We get really paranoid about how thawing affects the meat. We hang carcasses for sometimes a month or more and never think twice about it. I wouldn't want to test my fate with some shell fish....but red meat would be fine for a lot longer than most would believe.

I use the smell test and have never had food poisoning from meat.....

Can't say the same about taco bell.