Wife left freezer open, meat spoiled?

[McCrapper]

So I get a phone call this evening before I get home around 6pm with my wife telling me she left the freezer open. Time frame was from noon 11/24 till this evening around 6pm. It warmed up enough to dethaw everything and for blood/juice to pool in the bottom. My estimate is the meat warmed up to 50-55 degrees as the door was only cracked, not wide open. Is is it all ruined? Can I refreeze it?

It’s all deer, made in everything from pan sausage to sliced back strap. Combination for sealed bags and paper wrapped stuff.

thanks for in advance.

 

[Elkdreamer]

I would think it would have taken atleast half that time to unthaw. I would clean it up and refreeze it.

 

[406life]

Over 40° bacteria begin to grow. If the temps got up past that for 2 days, I'd say your risk is significantly more than than I'd take. The meat deeper in the freezer might be salvageable, but if it thawed that would be your indicator that it got too warm.

It sucks, but a freezer alarm could be you salvation in the future.

 

[Elkdreamer]

Over 40° bacteria begin to grow. If the temps got up past that for 2 days, I'd say your risk is significantly more than than I'd take. The meat deeper in the freezer might be salvageable, but if it thawed that would be your indicator that it got too warm.

It sucks, but a freezer alarm could be you salvation in the future.

Agree but he stated freezer was only open for 2 days. I would think it would take atleast 24 hrs to thaw. IDK

Guess better safe than sorry. Would not want to get sick.

 

[Seniorduck]

Man that sucks. Recently happened to me!! I personally wouldn’t risk it, really not worth it. After it happened at my home we got one of those freezer alarms..

 

[Poser]

Smell it and trust your nose. If it smells fine, it’s fine. If it smells off, toss it. Hard to imagine it would spoil in 6 hours, though.

 

[grappling_hook]

Smell it and trust your nose. If it smells fine, it’s fine. If it smells off, toss it. Hard to imagine it would spoil in 6 hours, though.

6 hours would be fine (wouldn't have even fully thawed), but in this case she left the door open for two days and six hours.

 

[BRTreedogs]

Ahh id open and smell the most likely package.
If its sour you'll know.
If it just smell like meat shut the door and don't worry about it.

 

[TX_Diver]

Shop - Products - Fridge/Freezer Thermometers - ThermoWorks

www.thermoworks.com

I just bought another 2 alarms for the garage freezers. Thermoworks is good stuff and the ones on amazon are currently more expensive anyways.

HIGHLY recommend getting one of each freezer you have!

 

[McCrapper]

I thought of the smell test, I’ve let skinned deer hang for a day in 50 degree weather then put it in freezer many times. The whole blood pooled in the packages then refreezing is what freaks me out some.

The dinner I just ate was made with it so I guess we will find out.

 

[Poser]

6 hours would be fine (wouldn't have even fully thawed), but in this case she left the door open for two days and six hours.

Ah. That’s a long time.

 

[BRTreedogs]

I wouldn't even sweat a drop if it took me 2 day to pack out an elk in 50 degree temps.
Idk how it being in a package is any different.

 

[GringoBling]

Happened to me before, meat should be fine. Like others said, I bought a wi-fi freezer alarm after that...but still never set it up.

 

[Ucsdryder]

The stuff on the bottom will most likely be fine and I bet wasn’t even fully thawed. Maybe toss some of the stuff on top.

 

[Centralcoastca]

A similar thing happened to me with our meat freezer. It was open for about a day and a half, I tossed a couple packs of fish that were near the front and completely thawed but let the rest refreeze and we’ve been eating it for 6 months now with no noticeable change. I thought about getting an alarm but I figured it wouldn’t do me any good if I was out of town or any number of things that could make electrical and Wi-Fi things fail so I got a child safety lock designed
For refrigerators and freezers that clicks shut securely and makes sure that it is never unnoticeably cracked open. You could also put a single ice cube in a cup in case the power was off while you were out of town for a significant amount of time before coming back on you would see the cube had melted and know stuff got warm.

 

[McCrapper]

I appreciate the insight, I think we are going to roll with it. Ill report back if we get sick!

 

[crich]

Id test a few packages from different spots in the freezer to see. Your nose wont lie. That said if its all bad some insurance companies have policies that cover food loss. Might be necessary tonhave a storm reported for it to be covered but its worth calling and checking. 500 bucks is what they'd cover after hurricanes when I was down in SC.

 

[Broomd]

It's happened to many of us....sucks bigtime. In our case little nephew crawled over and clicked ours off, never knew it.

The meat you have which thawed last might be salvageable, but the rest?.....local dogs will be hooked up.

 

[GotDraw?]

Invite all your neighbors over for a smorgasbord dinner, cook some of everything.

See if anyone calls you to thank you or cuss you the next day.

JL

 

[KHNC]

UNTHAW= Frozen