Content

• Steps
• Tips
• Warnings
• What do you need

If power goes out in your home, it's important to follow basic food safety guidelines. In addition, food can be stored considering how long the power is out and what you have done to prolong the safe storage of food. Here are some tips.

Steps

1. 1 Eat foods that are perishable at room temperature within two hours. Perishable foods can be safely stored at room temperature for 2 hours below 25 degrees Celsius (80 F). If the temperature is higher, you only have 1 hour before bacteria begin to grow in your food.
2. 2 Do not open the refrigerator and freezer. Open them as little as possible. You can store food in a closed refrigerator for up to 4 hours, but you will still have to evaluate each food separately once the power supply is restored. A half-filled freezer can store frozen food for 24 hours and a fully full freezer within 48.
3. 3 Cover the refrigerator and freezer with thick blankets to keep it cold.
4. 4 If the power has been off for a longer time, try finding dry ice to pack your freezer. However, you must take special precautions when handling it. If the power outage lasts longer than 4 hours, remove milk, meat and dairy products from the refrigerator and put them in a cooler with plenty of ice.
5. 5 Use an instant reading food thermometer. This is very important for determining food safety after the power supply is restored. If the temperature of the food in the refrigerator is still below 4C (40 F) degrees, it should be safe. Frozen food should still have visible ice crystals and should be kept below 4C (40 F) degrees. You can re-freeze these foods, but they will likely lose some quality.

Tips

• Have a barbecue to save some of the food.Don't forget to share with your neighbors. Have a candlelit dinner and grill your food on the grill or gas grill, which will also keep your home cool during the summer months.
• If it's cold outside, pack food in a cooler and put it outside.

Warnings

• Remember the basic rule: if you are in doubt that the food is okay, throw it away. If you eat questionable food, treatment can be very costly.

What do you need

• Blankets
• Cooler with ice
• Dry ice
• Water