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Is the food still good?

17 years ago

It figures! Over Thanksgiving, I was able to find a great deal on a turkey. It went straight into the freezer as we were not using it for either Thanksgiving or Christmas.

I finally took it out of the freezer Tuesday night with plans to cook it up today for dinner. You know what they say about best laid plans?

We've had a major wind storm going since Friday, and it was really bad last night and this morning. As a result, it knocked our power off for around 5 hours today. The turkey is still happily resting in the fridge. It feels cold, and the fridge wasn't opened during the outage. Frankly, it's about the only thing in the fridge I'm concerned about.

This also begs the next question, which is what about the freezer downstairs? It's in the garage, so certainly it's much colder in there.

If the turkey is still good, I should be able to cook it up tomorrow rather than today (far too late to do it now - we've gone on to plan B).

Thanks for your help!

Mandie

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Comments (7)

annie1971
17 years ago
I would think it's fine if it's be thawing in the fridge and the door hasn't been opened. It was frozen when you put it in there, right? It probably would have taken about 3 days to thaw (mine NEVER thaw in the amount of time stated on the packaging, anyway). I think if it's cold and not soft/mushy, it will be fine if cooked properly. I would have used it as soon as the elec came back or the barbecue was fired up!
ganggreen980
Original Author
17 years ago
Thanks, Annie:

We chose not to cook it as soon as the electricity came back on because we were not (and still not) sure that it will actually stay on! It looks like the winds have calmed down a bit, but the gusts are still pretty impressive. It's still quite possible we could lose power again.

The turkey was cold when I checked it, and I will be sure to cook it thoroughly tomorrow.

Mandie
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lindac
17 years ago
Seconding the word that the turkey will be fine...not sure wehre you live....but where I live, power goes out so does the house....and the house drops to the same temperature as the refrigerator....
ganggreen980
Original Author
17 years ago
The turkey is cooking away as I type!

Actually, the house didn't really start to cool down until the end. Although it was cold and windy, the sun was shining brightly, so I opened all the drapes on that side of the house to let the sun in. We live in the PNW, so it's possible that my definition of cold and your definition of cold might differ :-)

Thanks for all the help!

Mandie
annie1992
17 years ago
Well, it's a bit late, but I agree, I'd cook that turkey and not worry about it, I think it's just fine.

Annie
mudlady_gw
17 years ago
My definition of cold is ZERO--that's what it is outside in the Syracuse area. My furnace is working overtime. As to food safety during a power outage, do you have a thermometer in the freezer and refrigerator? That would help you decide. We lose power here quite often and I finally bought a generator. I'm still waiting for the electrician to hook it up. My greatest fear isn't spoiled food, it is frozen pipes.
Fori
17 years ago
That cold turkey probably helped keep everything else at a good temperature!

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