QUICK! Freezer left open over night, do I bin the lot???

[Squirrelfruitandnutkin]

THe dcs didn’t shut the freezer door and it was left ajar overnight.

The doors have got stuck shut.

Do I have to bin everything?

I can’t evenipen the drawers at the minute to check!

Help!!!!!!!

No do not bin the lot!Depending on what you have in there you can probably cook some stuff to eat over the next few days,re-freeze cooked meat.Veg I would refreezr.Dairy and desert either use or throw out.

What's in there?

If you have meat, is it fully defrosted? Is it still cool? If it's partially defrosted, id put it in fridge to fully defrost then cook it. If it's gone up to room temp, I'd bin it.

Well, you'll need to check whether the stuff has started to defrost to be on the safe side and it may not in which case the food will be fine.

If it's started to defrost it's edible today and tomorrow at least, save for anything that's not edible defrosted such as ice cream

Is it the drawers that are stuck shut?

Managed to chip the melted and refrozen ice off the drawers.
Everything is covered in little ice crystals like snow

Bread still solid
Frozen tube yoghurts ever so slightly bendy but still hard
Not much raw meat - chicken breasts still solid
Boxes of leftover bolognaise/ chilli still solid
Lollies still in their shape / not melted

Have I got away with it?

Yeah they sound fine!

How do I deal with the very frosted up freezer?

It was pretty full so guess that helped keep everything cold?

I’d be gutted to chuck it all, but do not want to give us all food poisoning!!!

Yes the stuff is still frozen so it's fine.

To deal with iced over freezer, first dump your frozen stuff in the fridge to keep it cool. Then turn off the power and start working on the ice.

Do not use a hairdryer

If it's very solid then bash at it with something like a stiff plastic fish slice, hit the one spot until it sort of cracks and you can then try to get the fish slice under a section and it tends to break away in chunks.

If it's not breaking but a saucepan of boiling water sitting in it for 15/20 mins (door closed) , then give it another go.

If you manage to do it quickly enough the frozen stuff kept in the fridge won't have a chance to defrost so can go back in.

Can you tell I've done this more than once?

Sounds like most of it is still frozen, so it will be totally fine. Zero chance of food poisoning.

Your freezer needs defrosting, but you either need to use up all the food and then defrost it, or pack everything into coolboxes while you do the job, but it can take a few hours/overnight so it's best to wait until winter to do that, when you can just leave all the food outside or in the car boot.

Next time you buy a freezer, get a frost free one. Lifes too short to manually defrost the freezer .

BTW when you've completely defrosted the freezer make sure you dry it with a towel. If you leave wet bits then these will turn to ice once the freezer is back on and cause your drawers to stick again. It also fucks up the frost free function.

Again, voice of experience

Regarding the raw chicken if you’re worried, you could defrost it completely, cook it and then refreeze in its cooked state.

Thanks all!

On closer inspection there were some squishy things so I’m chucking those and looking at it as an opportunity to have a clean out! 🙄

On with the defrosting. 💪🏻

If you have a fan (just a regular fan, not a heater) you can use it to defrost your freezer quickly. Just open the freezer door wide, take out the drawers if you can and point the fan into it. Mine takes about half an hour that way. Have towels and cloths ready because there'll be a lot of water.

Pro tip: learn from my mistake and make sure the freezer's turned off first!

If it's squishy meat then just cook it. Other stuff you can put in the fridge and, well, eat it!