Thank you

[indignatio]

I have been watching this topic for a while now. Brexit garage turned into shed which morphed into shelves inside, which supported Covid trials and tribulations. Today the preparation came into its own courtesy of a lack of power due to Eunice. And yes, I should have downloaded more. Thank you all for the guidance, which has meant we are camping in comfort in our own home rather than decamping to friends and family

Unfortunately, still no power. At what stage do I have to concede that the raw food in the freezer has to all be cooked?
Would you let frozen vegetables re-freeze?
Ice cream? Veg soup? Chicken stock if reboiled?
If I do have to cook up all the chicken breasts, I can't freeze the cooked food until we have power again.

OP if you try to keep opening the freezer to a minimum most things will just stay frozen for quite a few days. Hopefully your power will be back by then.

You sound like you're doing a great job managing! Do you have any info as to how long your power is likely to be off?

Never eat defrosted and refrozen icecream.
But yes, if you leave the freezer shut lots of things may be ok.

Thank you
No word, except promises on the website (which haven't come good) as to when the power might return.
Am limiting opening the freezer doors, but two are fridge freezers. Would opening the fridge doors affect the freezer temperature?
I have pennies on ice in pots so I can check level of defrostedness if power were to come on in the night and re freeze everything.
Thanks for the advice on ice cream, I am interested to know why ice cream in particular is a no no?

Ice cream - because its milk. If it gets warm, it grows bacteria such as listeria. Refreezing it doesn't kill the bacteria so you'd be eating food poisoning in a bowl.

So same for the cheese then. Thanks, makes sense

Not the same for cheese as the salt in cheese is a preservative. Cheese lasts ages, much longer than dates suggest - exception is soft cheeses or unpasteurised cheeses.
You sound like you are worrying unnecessarily - until you've been off for a week you're really not going to have any issues. I can't imagine you're going to be off that long though- whereabouts are you?

If meat is cold when power comes back, yes cook refreeze.

Stop opening fridge. Milk can be left out for a while without going off. Put it in a bowl of cold water, with wet cloth over to extend the time. Or keep it on a cold windowsil.

Good luck.

When the freezer is on again, freeze a cup of water and put a coin on top. Then next time it goes off you’ll be able to see that your food is ok if the coin is still on top when you open the door.

And now I see you’ve already done that. 😂🙄 I’m sorry.

How are you doing OP have you got your power back yet?

Power back on Monday, thank goodness. Penny on the ice hadn't dropped, so freezer worries were unnecessary. Thanks for the hand hold.

you're welcome. you can repay with your newly gained knowledge when it is someone else's turn.

and I think i must start the pot of water thing.

and incidently, I keep the meat/fish to the rear of the freezer and the veg /cheap stuff to the front. sometimes the front bag hass gone a bit soft buit the stuff at the back was solid when someone left the bloody door open.

@BlackeyedSusan

and incidently, I keep the meat/fish to the rear of the freezer and the veg /cheap stuff to the front. sometimes the front bag hass gone a bit soft buit the stuff at the back was solid when someone left the bloody door open.

Thank you. I’ve never thought about that. I have mine divided up by shelf but it makes sense to store expensive-to-lose and difficult-to-deal-with items at the back.