What should I do with the food I had in the fridge after the power outage?

BarcelonaThe first piece of advice to keep in mind when there's a power outage is to open the refrigerator and freezer doors as little as possible (and if possible not at all). Another thing you can do is group food together to keep it cold for longer. But due to cross-contamination, it's best to only use packaged food and place it as far back as possible in the refrigerator.

The refrigerator temperature can easily last up to four hours after it's turned off. The freezer temperature depends on how full it is. About 24 hours if it's half full, and up to two days if it's very full. If more time passes, try to determine if the refrigerator temperature has risen above 15 degrees. Check the food individually. This check should be done before eating; never taste the food to ensure it's edible. Check if it has the same smell and color as usual. If in doubt, it's best to throw it away.

Dos and Don'ts

The recommendation is that it's best to throw away meat, fish, and seafood. Anything raw should be thrown away. This is also true for eggs. Uncut fruit shouldn't be a problem; it can be stored. If it's already been cut, a more thorough check will be necessary and it will most likely end up in the trash. The same process applies to vegetables. Vegetable soups and cooked vegetables should also be discarded. Opened juices also go in the trash. If they weren't opened, they can be stored. Started sauces like mayonnaise or tartar sauce should be thrown away if the refrigerator has been above 10 degrees Celsius for more than 8 hours. If the mayonnaise is homemade, it should be thrown away in any case. Here, too, it's important to be mindful of cross-contamination. If any food has released any juice and has affected another food, that juice should also be discarded.

Mustard, ketchup, pickles... all pickles in general are more likely to be in good condition. But the recommendation is to consume them soon because they can have a shorter shelf life. Cheeses, butter, and margarine can be saved, but milk is better not, and you have to be careful with soft cheese.

Now we move on to the freezer. What we should check is whether the food retains those small crystals that are typical of freezing. Those that have never dropped below 4 degrees could be refrozen, but their quality would be greatly affected. Bread and pastries such as muffins can also be saved. Make sure they don't contain any cream or whipped cream, in the case of cakes. Generally, the best prognosis is for what could be out of refrigeration. If we see that the crystals begin to disappear, everything will have to be cooked if it is to be saved. If the crystals have disappeared directly, in this case the food cannot be saved and should be thrown away for food safety reasons.