but i have already refreezed the food in my freezer?

Question

it wasn't totally defrosted, but i am worried now, should i throw the food away, bearing in mind i have a very large freezer and it would cost a packet to replace everything. advice please.

and i have 2 kids to feed, please help.

Answer 1

As long as its not meat it will be safe to re-freeze again.
If any meat is only partially defrosted I would just re-freeze it unless its chicken or pork as these carry more bacteria than red meat.

Answer 2

Anything that was not completely thawed is fine. Anything that had ice crystals remaining in it is fine. More than likely most of the contents of your freezer will be fine. As long as it was cold and did not reach room temperature, it will be okay to eat. The texture and quality may not be exactly what youy would wish, and it will more likely develop freezer burn in the previously thawed spots, but you can still eat it.
I used to do food inspections when I was active duty, which is how I know these things. Also personal experience, from having the electricity go out for several days following a storm. Wait until things in your freezer are completely refrozen. Then check the packages out. Stuff like ice cream is a loss- it will be a lump of ice crystals. Meat should be eaten over the next month or so, ideally. Veggies will be a bit tough, sometimes, after a refreeze, but you can just cook them in a soup or for a bit longer.
Get a marker and put a dot on whatever packages you had when the door was left open. That way you know what needs to be eaten first, and can add more as needed without mixing it all up. Be sure to either cook these things from frozen or thaw them in the frig. Any meat that is freezer burned will still be safe to eat, it just won't taste as good or will not have much taste at all. If it's a small spot, you can cut it away. If it covers a lot of area on the meat, you can either make soup or stew with it. The long cooking will tenderize that part and the stock will just need a bit of help to make up for the lack of flavoring from the meat itself.
If you have food that completely thawed, it needs to be cooked in the next few days. Once you cook it up, you can then refreeze it safely. So if you have meat, for instance like a roast- you can cook it up, cover it in a gravy or sauce, and refreeze it. It might mean a lot of cooking over the next day or so, but on the bright side- dinners in the near future will already be cooked. Veggies can be cooked in a broth and frozen the same way. Big companies do it all the time- that's how we get frozen dinners at the shops.
My sympathies for the freezer mishap. But it isn't a total loss, or at least it doesn't have to be.

Answer 3

I wouldn't eat refrozen meat or chicken.
It might be worth just trying it out first, you'll be able to tell bad meat has an awful smell. I recently had some meat defrost and slightly turn, I cooked it up for the dogs.
After all they bury meat and eat it weeks later. At least it wasn't a complete waste.
It would be very expensive to replace a whole freezer-full of food.
Do you have contents insurance, often there is a clause covering spoiled food (up to a certain amount)?

Answer 4

Its not just the meat you should worry about things like ice cream are the first to defrost and end up being nasty. The veg / bread ie low risk food should be fine but defintiely dump meats / dairy unless you want to get food poisening.

Look on your home contents insurance I have freezer insurance that would cover the cost of replacing all the food. There will be an excess of £50 or so but that will be given back to you when you claim for the 10kg of smoked salmon that you always keep in their in case of emergency.

Answer 5

What you can do when this happens is pull the meat out and cook it. Then you can refreeze it again safely. We had this happen once when we lost our power during a bad strom. It took me all day, but I browned all the ground beef, threw the roasts in the crock pot, etc. and everything was saved.

*I want to add, you must do this right away! Do not cook food that has been sitting there for days!

On the bright side, I had all of this prepared food to come home to for awhile, it was great! :)

Answer 6

I just posted this in your first question on the subject, but I will summarize it here. Anything that didn't completely defrost is safe to refreeze. Anything that did defrost but didn't get warmer than refrigerator temperatures is safe to put in the fridge and prepare soon, before it would normally spoil in the fridge, but may get freezer-burned if refrozen (or may be fine). Anything that got warmer than fridge temperatures is suspect and I would personally toss. Better to be safe than sorry, especially with kids.

Answer 7

Please, throw it away. Especially with two small children to feed. Think about it - if they get sick because of it, would you be able to forgive yourself? Food poisoning is very serious, and young children and the elderley are more at risk. Even if you were lucky and your kids were fine, what if you came down with food poisoning? Would you be able to adequately take care of them?

Isn't it better to play it safe and ensure that nobody gets ill, so nobody's lives are at risk and so nobody has to suffer any decrease in their quality of life.

Remember, you don't have to replace all the food in one go. Write a menu plan for the next two weeks. Buy everything you need for that menu. Then next week, plan another week's shopping and buy that. You'll always have at least a week's worth of meals in the freezer until you get to a time when you can afford to replace more of it in one go.

Answer 8

If you have a chest frezer it would take quite awhile to thaw the contents (like 24 hours). Sorta the same as when the power goes off. If there is still crystal in the food it would probebly be OK but you'd have to decide on an item by item basis. If your not sure then play safe and dump it.

Answer 9

Please do not use any of the food it will cause at the very least a sever bout of the toilet trots and could make you severly ill and have to be hospitalised Death could ensue in the worst scenario.

Secondly why not eat fresh food instead of frozen its much more healthy..

Answer 10

throw it away what price health claim your house insurance if cost is an issue