It's not uncommon to see questions in this sub regarding the safety of food during power failures. I just got my power back after an ice stormed knocked out power for 3 days, so I wanted to share how I navigated those waters.

The first thing I can say, as I have many times in many threads, is if you don't already have a food thermometer, get one. Get one probe style thermometer that is capable of reading both cold and hot temps (in other words, don't get a "meat" thermometer), and then get a hanging one to put in your fridge. None of what I'm about to advise is going to be feasible unless you can take accurate temps. You don't need fancy digital ones (although those are fun), and you can get dial-type ones for under $10.

I have 2 fridges with small freezer compartments, and 1 freezer chest. Once it became obvious that this wasn't going to be a short outage, I grabbed everything from the freezer compartments and (working quickly to minimize the time the door was open) threw everything into the chest.

The basic premise here is that a tightly packed freezer (regardless of whether its a chest or compartment) will stay frozen longer than one that is half full. Just for grins, I threw the thermometer I use to monitor how hot my smoker is on top of the food in the chest. It has a wire that leads to a panel so I could monitor the temps without opening the chest. When the power came back on, the warmest it got in there was 26F.

If you encounter this situation, when the power comes back on, check your freezer. If it still feels hard, then you know you're fine. Ice crystals are also a good sign. If it thaws, then this is the point you will need your thermometer. Start taking temps of the food near the surface where it will be the warmest (the center may still be frozen). If the temp is 41F or below, then you can keep the food. At this point it's just like being refrigerated instead of frozen. You can refreeze at this point, just understand that there may be a loss of quality. But the main point is the food is still safe.

If it's over 41F, then the question is how long was it over that threshold. Be aware that even when the power comes back on, it will still take a few hours for your appliances to cool back down. Anyone who frequents this sub knows this song: under 2 hours and you can cool it back down again and under 4 hours you can cook and eat it right away.

The refrigerator compartments are a bit trickier, since they are starting from a warmer temperature. In my case, I know that my fridges both run about 37F – 38F, so I have at least a few hours to work with before things go south. That first day of the outage, the temp outside was in the mid to high 40’s. But once the sun went down, so did the temp and it wasn’t going to be above the 30’s for the next few days. So I loaded everything I wanted to keep and wasn’t just refrigerated for quality and moved it to the detached garage. I threw another thermometer in the box and it never got into the danger zone.

Here's a final point. Being over 41F for over 4 hours does not guarantee that you will get sick. But for every hour and every degree over those levels increases the risk of illness. At this point you need to ask yourself if the potential risk of serious illness is worth the cost of the food you are discarding. That is a decision that you need to make for yourself, but if you ask anyone who has been hit with any of the major bugs… well, you know. If you made it through this entire wall of text, go get yourself a nice bowl of ice cream or some other treat. You’ve earned it.