I just stocked up on food for the holidays last night, but unfortunately it
seems I over-did it, because when I got up this morning, I noticed the
fridge has been open, just slightly ajar, since 2am last night, so that's
about 6-7 hours. With quite a bit of fresh meat in there, as well as milk
and lots of deli stuff with a best-before-date of Jan 4th, I wonder how long
it will now stay fresh? The temperature had dropped to 19 degrees Celsius by
the time I noticed it. I was planning to freeze some of the steaks and
chicken I have in there, but not sure what to do now. Any advice/thoughts?

Thanks.

In article >,
"Allan" > wrote:

> I just stocked up on food for the holidays last night, but unfortunately it
> seems I over-did it, because when I got up this morning, I noticed the
> fridge has been open, just slightly ajar, since 2am last night, so that's
> about 6-7 hours. With quite a bit of fresh meat in there, as well as milk
> and lots of deli stuff with a best-before-date of Jan 4th, I wonder how long
> it will now stay fresh? The temperature had dropped to 19 degrees Celsius by
> the time I noticed it. I was planning to freeze some of the steaks and
> chicken I have in there, but not sure what to do now. Any advice/thoughts?
>
> Thanks.

That's about 65 degrees. Recommended fridge temp is below 40 deg. F.
If things are still cold to the touch, though, I wouldn't worry about
it.
--
http://www.jamlady.eboard.com, updated 12-18-05 - Church review (I think
I'll become a critic - Rob's been calling me one for years!)
and a toffee recipe.

On Wed 21 Dec 2005 04:41:55a, Thus Spake Zarathustra, or was it Allan?

> I just stocked up on food for the holidays last night, but unfortunately
> it seems I over-did it, because when I got up this morning, I noticed
> the fridge has been open, just slightly ajar, since 2am last night, so
> that's about 6-7 hours. With quite a bit of fresh meat in there, as well
> as milk and lots of deli stuff with a best-before-date of Jan 4th, I
> wonder how long it will now stay fresh? The temperature had dropped to
> 19 degrees Celsius by the time I noticed it. I was planning to freeze
> some of the steaks and chicken I have in there, but not sure what to do
> now. Any advice/thoughts?
>
> Thanks.

Personally, I wouldn't worry about it, and would proceed with original plans.
Consider that the foodstuff was already cold to begin with and it took a
period of time for the temperature to reach that level.

--
Wayne Boatwright *¿*
_____________________________________________

A chicken in every pot is a *LOT* of chicken!

"Wayne Boatwright" > wrote in message
...
> On Wed 21 Dec 2005 04:41:55a, Thus Spake Zarathustra, or was it Allan?
>
> > I just stocked up on food for the holidays last night, but unfortunately
> > it seems I over-did it, because when I got up this morning, I noticed
> > the fridge has been open, just slightly ajar, since 2am last night, so
> > that's about 6-7 hours. With quite a bit of fresh meat in there, as well
> > as milk and lots of deli stuff with a best-before-date of Jan 4th, I
> > wonder how long it will now stay fresh? The temperature had dropped to
> > 19 degrees Celsius by the time I noticed it. I was planning to freeze
> > some of the steaks and chicken I have in there, but not sure what to do
> > now. Any advice/thoughts?
> >
> > Thanks.
>
> Personally, I wouldn't worry about it, and would proceed with original
plans.
> Consider that the foodstuff was already cold to begin with and it took a
> period of time for the temperature to reach that level.
>
> --
> Wayne Boatwright *¿*
> _____________________________________________
>
> A chicken in every pot is a *LOT* of chicken!


Thanks for the feedback guys.

Allan wrote:

> I just stocked up on food for the holidays last night, but unfortunately it
> seems I over-did it, because when I got up this morning, I noticed the
> fridge has been open, just slightly ajar, since 2am last night, so that's
> about 6-7 hours. With quite a bit of fresh meat in there, as well as milk
> and lots of deli stuff with a best-before-date of Jan 4th, I wonder how long
> it will now stay fresh? The temperature had dropped to 19 degrees Celsius by
> the time I noticed it. I was planning to freeze some of the steaks and
> chicken I have in there, but not sure what to do now. Any advice/thoughts?
>
> Thanks.
>
>

I hate that! I've had it happen a few to times. The fridge was still
cooling even though it was open just a crack so I'm sure it wasn't very
good for the electric bill. If your house gets cooler at night as ours
does during the winter - thermostat turned down low - it would be less
of a concern than if you are experiencing warm or humid conditions.
Anyway, if your deli stuff and meat were in the back of the fridge or
the meat keeper they should be ok. I'd pay particular attention to any
change in colour or smell though especially with the chicken. Cheeses
should be fine. Milk might be iffy. My rule of thumb is if there is
any change in colour or smell enough to give doubt, I toss. Thank
goodness this has only happened few times with this fridge mainly due to
a levelling problem but at least once because something was sticking out
far enough to prevent the door from shutting completely.

"~patches~" > wrote in message
...
>
> I hate that! I've had it happen a few to times. The fridge was still
> cooling even though it was open just a crack so I'm sure it wasn't very
> good for the electric bill. If your house gets cooler at night as ours
> does during the winter - thermostat turned down low - it would be less
> of a concern than if you are experiencing warm or humid conditions.
> Anyway, if your deli stuff and meat were in the back of the fridge or
> the meat keeper they should be ok. I'd pay particular attention to any
> change in colour or smell though especially with the chicken. Cheeses
> should be fine. Milk might be iffy. My rule of thumb is if there is
> any change in colour or smell enough to give doubt, I toss. Thank
> goodness this has only happened few times with this fridge mainly due to
> a levelling problem but at least once because something was sticking out
> far enough to prevent the door from shutting completely.

The culprit was a carton of milk that stuck out from the shelf just enough
to be a problem. I don't think there is any immediate problem with any of
the food, but I will probably have to adopt the Seinfeld fridge philosophy
of deducting at least a few days from the "use before" dates.

: it will now stay fresh? The temperature had dropped to 19 degrees Celsius by
: the time I noticed it. I was planning to freeze some of the steaks and


The temperature _dropped_? Then you've done yourself a favor by leaving
it open and cooling things off...