Summer storms often cause power failures that can last for days. But a prolonged power failure does not mean that everything in your home freezer has to be eaten at once or thrown out.
If your freezer is fully stocked, the contents will remain frozen for at least two days; if half full, at least one full day, but keep the door closed as much as possible.
If the power failure continues beyond a day or two, buy dry ice, 25 pounds for each 10 cubic feet of freezer.
Use gloves to place the chunks of ice on top of the foods. The larger the chunks of ice the better. In a fully loaded freezer, the ice will be effective for three or four days; in a half-loaded freezer, two to three days.
If the food thaws, all is not lost. Uncooked food may be cooked and frozen again. Baked goods may be refrozen safely.
If foods have thawed only partly and there still are ice crystals in the package, they may be refrozen.
Partial thawing means that the temperature of the package has not risen above 40 degrees, the temperature at which bacteria begin to multiply.
