Defrosting meat - broken freezer [duplicate]

I have had to buy a new freezer as mine broke last night, a new one will be delivered tomorrow morning, but I have to unplug it tonight. Will it be safe to put the meat in the new freezer possibly 10 hours after turning freezer off? Or should I just bin it all and go shopping? (I love to shop so that's fine...lol) I hope someone can help me. I am 37 yrs old, you would think I would have had to do this before but no! - lol

Best Answer

You should be fine for 10 hours if the freezer was working fine (at the proper temperature) at the beginning of that 10 hour period. If you are past 10 hours when the new freezer is ready, you're still very unlikely to be over refrigeration temperatures.

Starting NOW, don't open the freezer until you're ready to transfer the food. If everything is still frozen when you go to transfer it, you're golden. If it's cold but has just started to thaw, you're still OK as far as for safety to just refreeze, but you may see some loss of quality. If your stuff is still cold to the touch but partially defrosted, pick the most expensive meat to cook that day, the rest of it is likely to face some quality issues if refrozen. If it's not cold anymore, consider it a lost cause, safety cannot be guaranteed.

Unopened vegetables aren't really a safety issue, but they might take a quality hit.

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Can meat be refrozen after thawing?

The U. S. Dept. of Agriculture (USDA) advises: Once food is thawed in the refrigerator, it is safe to refreeze it without cooking, although there may be a loss of quality due to the moisture lost through thawing. After cooking raw foods which were previously frozen, it is safe to freeze the cooked foods.

Do not refreeze food that has been frozen and thawed already?

If food is completely thawed, warmed to room temperature or left out of the refrigerator for more than 2 hours, throw the food out for safety's sake. These principles apply to meat, poultry, shellfish, some vegetables and cooked foods. Do not refreeze ice cream and similar frozen desserts.

What happens to meat if you freeze it twice?

Refreezing meat can be done safely, but the quality of the meat may be affected. For example, freezing and thawing meat more than one time might cause color and odor changes, moisture loss, and increased oxidation of its fat and protein ( 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 ).

FREEZER ORGANIZATION! Packing, Thawing And Reheating Our FREEZER MEALS! Batch Cooking!

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