Power outage: What foods to keep and what to toss out after losing power

Editor’s note: This story first posted on April 8, 2020.

Government agencies advise residents to throw out meat, poultry, fish, eggs and leftovers in their refrigerators if they have been without power for more than four hours.

Residents should carefully go through their refrigerators to pitch items if they have been without power for multiple hours.

A full freezer is more forgiving, if you keep the door closed, as it will hold the temperature for about 48 hours, or 24 hours if it is half full and the door remains closed, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture.

“When in doubt, throw it out!” advises the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Both federal and state agencies offer the same guidelines for food safety during a power outage. Tips include:

• What to throw out from the fridge after four hours of no electricity: Raw meat, fish or soy meat; tuna, egg and other dairy-based salads; gravy and stuffing; lunch meats, bacon and sausage; pizza; opened cans of meat and fish; soups, casseroles and stews; soft cheeses such as blue/bleu, brie, mozzarella, ricotta, shredded cheese; milk, eggs, cream, soy milk and yogurt; mayonnaise, and more.

• What to keep: Hard cheeses such as cheddar, Colby, Swiss, Parmesan, provolone and processed cheeses; butter and margarine; uncut fruit and vegetables, fruit juices and open cans of fruit; dried fruit; peanut butter; open bottles of vinegar-bases salad dressings, and more.

• Keep refrigerator and freezer doors closed as much as possible to maintain cold temperatures. Each time the door is opened, temperatures rise significantly.

• For the freezer, food may be safely refrozen if it still contains ice crystals or is at 40 degrees or below.

• Never taste food to determine its safety.

• Use dry or block ice to keep refrigerators and freezers as cold as possible during prolonged power outages. Fifty pounds of dry ice should maintain a full, 18-cubic-foot freezer for two days.