dodgy freezer

[miggy]

I bought a new overflow fridge freezer for laundry room as old one broke last month. Put it on for 2 days then put stuff in. Ben/jerry type ice cream pots were "soft" when I just checked. Not runny but like they had been in fridge for a bit, but tray of ice was frozen. Sounds stupid but how cold should a freezer be and how do you chc? and do you think the icecream would be ok to eat? Now in other freezer-in case

My freezer has temp displayed on outside at -22. If ice cream been unfrozen for 2 days- not worth the risk. Pity cos Ben & Jerrys is yum

miggy how cold is the laundry room?
Many freezers need a minimum surrounding temp. to function properly.

its normal room temp with no radiator but open stable door to kitchen with aga, kitchen freezer has hardened up ice cream. Will speak to shop after xmas.thanks

I have been advised that freezer should be at -18C (not much good if you haven't got a thermometer that goes down that far!)

Water freezes at 0 so ice will stay solid at any temp below that. Ice cream presumably has a lower freezing temp and needs the -18. However soft-but-not-runny icecream is probably safe to eat. Oh - have just noticed your first post was on 23rd so assume it's academic now!

you haven't eaten the ice cream have you?

Not yet but cant bear to throw it away. Will get a thermometer first and chc temperature, now you kind people have told me what it should be-thanks.

miggy, it's probably still edible - as long as it hasn't melted and then refrozen it should be fine. Freezer temp recommendations are more about food quality than safety.

We find that some brands of ice cream stay less solid than others in the freezer, but are still edible. My bench mark is if veg are still frozen then the temperature is probably ok. Having said that, according to my brother, refrozen ice cream is one of the worst causes of food poisoning.

If its thawed then refrozen, stay away from it, honestly, food poisoning from ice cream is dreadful!