QUICK!! HELP!! FREEZER DOOR LEFT OPEN. Do I have to chuck it all away?

[TuftyFinch]

Just noticed a puddle on floor. Freezer door hadn't been shut properly. Do I have to throw everything away? Or just shut door and let it re-freeze?There is:
ice cream - now sloppy
frozen veg - bit thawed
vegetarian sausages-bit thawed
pizza-thawed
fish finger-bit floppy
quorn mince-bit thawed
tupperware bits and bobs with sheperds pie/lagagne etc

What do I do?????

I'd probably bin the fish finger, pizza and ice cream but the rest I'd keep.

No logic to that, of course

That's what I thought? Don't know why though? It usually says 'oncedefrosted don't re-freeze really sternly on packets but I can't see itonmost of them.
bollocks
pizza for tea then

Join me in the largest banquet ever this evening.. My DP left the fridge open last night and I have a lot of chicken, duck and fish to cook.

I would refreeze the veg.

i think you know what we are going to say......if its defrosted you cannot refreeze.

can you wack the thawed stuff in the fridge and eat it? the other alternative is to cook things and then freeze - obviously depends if this has been done already though. quorn mince could be cooked and made into shepherds pies and veg incorporated and then refrozen?

icecream - make a milkshake?

our whole freezer defrosted whilst we were on hols. its very annoying.

Bin everything. I did a food hygiene course the other week and it's left me a bit paranoid! Seriously, if things are going a bit mushy it's dangerous to refreeze them.

Just the veg? Do you think bin all meaty/fishy stuff? Do you think soya/quorn stuff is ok to re-freeze?

When that happened to me, I just shut the door and wiped it from my memory It'd only been a few hours, the door ws only ajar, wasn't a warm day and everything seemed pretty solid still apart from the small toffee crisp tub of ice cream which ds2 has now scoffed and is still here to tell the tale

I'm fairly laid back though.....

Ahh, a scientific answer. Even the veg?
Enjoy your banquet pancakeflipper.
ok, i'll take it all out. cook what i can and bin the rest.
thank you kind people

Put the stuff that has thawed in the fridge and use it within about 2 days.

Obviously besides the ice cream! :o

how cold is everything? i can't see the point of binning the whole lot if its the same temp it would be if it was in the fridge - germs won't be active in either. from what you say its been a relatively short time period and its colder than the fridge? you would defrost the meaty things before eating them anyway, so you have just done that via the freezer instead of the fridge.

i am paranoid about this type of thing.

I think I'd pretend I hadn't noticed and shut the door TBH, but that would obviously be the wrong thing to do.

Pizza and fish fingers for tea tonight, with icecream milk shakes, but IMO all the rest will be fine

Had the same happen to me the other week - things were a bit soft at the front but everything was still frozen at back. Alarm light wasn't even on, so I shut the door and kept fingers crossed!! No probs here!!

Got this from a website, makes sense:

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. If previously cooked foods are thawed in the refrigerator, you may refreeze the unused portion. Freeze leftovers within 3-4 days. Do not refreeze any foods left outside the refrigerator longer than 2 hours; 1 hour in temperatures above 90 °F.

ahhh thank you. but i've alreaday embarked on a mammoth cooking session: sausage rolls in oven, making massive bolognaise to re-freeze in portions, pizz and fish fingers for tea, might take the ice cream to school gates and hand out Willy Wonka style: i'd just bought 2 boxes of pretend Cornettos from Lydl as treat for DC. Oh well, lesson learnt. thnk you

My freezer was left open to the point of water on floor, But everything in the freezer was cold like I would get it from the super market, do I still use it or do I have to throw it away, Meat was hamburger and some was frozen fish sticks and pot pies things that was prepared for you to bake. some Ice cream and frozen veggies. most was bread, which I had just put in when I left the door open. what all do I have to throw out?

Personally I wouldn't throw out anything Grandma.
If everything was still frozen that's fine - plus its all stuff you'll be cooking through when you use it.

Id ditch the ice cream, shut the freezer door pump up to quick freeze and carry on regardless. Happened to me 3 months ago when the chest freezer lid wasn't closed properly.
Most of the stuff has now been eaten with no ill effects.

We never had a fridge or a freezer when I was growing up and when my children were small. They also didn't have sell or use by dates on things either. We used our eyes and noses to see if something was Ok to eat. I personally didn't know of anyone who got ill by eating food that smelled and looked OK, Many people these days on low incomes could not afford to bin food if it looked and smelled OK irrespective of whether it had defrosted by accident.