What To Do If Your Freezer is Left Open Overnight
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OH NO the freezer is open!
So you’re innocently going downstairs to do a little laundry and you turn and notice THE FREEZER WAS LEFT OPEN OVERNIGHT. What do you do? I’ve experienced this TWICE now, and it can sure be a day wrecker.
Who would leave the freezer open overnight?
In my house, it’s absolutely “NOT ME” who left the freezer open. No one wants to be responsible for this grocery budget ruiner. Usually, we don’t even bother asking because we’re too busy trying to scramble and save as much as possible.
And honestly, I don’t believe anyone would leave it open on purpose. It’s always an accident. The guilty party already feels bad, why make it worse.
I have a few tips to get you through the hardest parts of this experience. It’s no picnic but before you panic, throw everything out, and call it a total loss grab a cup of coffee and read this post.
Take A Deep Breath
It’s time to get down to work here.
- Take a deep breath and assess the situation: Is there water pooling under the freezer? Are the food packages wet and soft? Are things leaking? Is anything still frozen?
- Snoop Around: Check to see if the door was just left open or did you have a catastrophic failure of your freezer?
- Is It Plugged In: If the freezer is plugged in, the light is on, and it’s trying to work, then it’s probably still working. So, this points to the door being open for a while or a freezer that’s failing. Either way you’re going to need to get to the bottom of this.
- If It’s NOT Working: If the freezer is not working, then you will be working with a lot more defrosted goods. You’ll probably need a cooler to keep all the thawing food items cool.
- Just Left Open: If the door was just left open a crack, it’s time to assess the contents. Anything wet, soft, leaking, or thawed should be removed. Often, things in the freezer will stay frozen even if the door is left open a crack. I’ve found that the stuff at the front and top of the freezer is the first to be thawed and will need to be dealt with asap.
- Assessing Damage: Once you’ve removed all the thawing items, you have to decide if you’re going to cook them or toss them. In my opinion, if meats are cool to the touch OR semi-frozen, they can still be consumed, but you must cook them first. Do not refreeze thawed meats. Vegetables and fruits can be refrozen but must be used soon because they will get freezer-burned a lot more quickly.
- Can You Cook It: When my freezer has thawed, I usually end up cooking as much as possible. I batch cook food, make a complete meal and refreeze. That is a safe method, by the way, to cook and refreeze items as desired.
- Time To Throw Out The Warm Stuff: Anything warm to the touch should be discarded, it may be unsafe to consume. I have cooked that meat for our dogs before though. If that’s something you feel like doing it’s an excellent way to use up meat you think is questionable. But do not consume meat that has been defrosted and is warm, it is unsafe.
- Add Some Back-Up: Consider adding remote temperature sensor. It will let you know when and if your temp starts to rise. And I also highly recommend a water monitor UNDER the door of the freezer. It’s a nice back up to ensure your frozen food pantry stays safe.
So there you have it, what to do if your freezer is left open overnight, I hope you never have to go through it. But if you’re a homeowner with room for an upright freezer you’re probably going to experience this problem at some point or another. I’m sorry, it sucks, but working through this list will help you make the most of your freezer contents.
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I agree. What about frozen bags of veggies?
I have a rule. I stock up on sales through Memorial Day. Then I eat through the freezer and do NOT buy what I cannot eat in 2 weeks until after hurricane season Mid October. I live in VA on the East coast.
I also put expensive meat/seafood low in the stand freezer with ice and ice packs.
I used my best judgment. If they are soft they CAN be refrozen but use them quickly. Meat can’t be refrozen. And yes good tip, I’ll add that, keep your expensive items lower in the freezer!
I accidently left the freezer open when I left for work. So it was open about 8 hours. It had things like Hot Pockets, Jimmy Dean sandwiches, frozen dinners, etc. that I had just got from the store in there, so they didn’t have any frost on the outside when I found them, but were still relatively cool to the touch, and the ice cream I had in the freezer from another day had frost on the outside. Do you think most of the food in my fridge is probably safe to eat? I didn’t have any leftovers or meat or anything fresh or raw like that, and it seems to have stayed at a fairly cool temperature and is running fine now.
Oh that is something you have to decide for yourself!
door was left open all night. now freezer won’t work
I notice this morning there was water on the floor in the garage the freezer door was open. Everything feels cold but boxes are wet, can I save these items, meats pies, cookie dough, fruit, ice cream?
how about the fridge itself? any harm to the machine?
I guess it depends on what is wrong with it? Was the door left open, then it’s probably fine. If the door won’t shut due to a mechanical issue then you may need to get it fixed.
Freezer door got left open a couple inches for about 6 hrs, I did as the manufacturer suggested and unplugged it for 2 hrs. After plugging it back in I started hearing a strange sound. Best way I can describe it is it sounds like a small motor that revs up and cuts off and it will do it in pulses every few minutes or so. I can’t find ANY info on anything that sounds like this.
That doesn’t sound good!
JUST HAPPENED TO ME TODAY – DOOR LEFT OPEN 16 HOURS – PULLED EVERYTHING – THAT WAS STILL FROZEN AND TOSSED IN CHEST FREEZER- ALL MEATS WILL BE MADE INTO MEALS TONIGHT, AS THEY WERE ALL STILL COLD BUT THAWED. BBQ TOMORROW WITH FAMILY AND FREINDS – AS FOR ANY OTHER QUESTIONABLE ITEMS… GO TO THE CHICKENS, WHO WILL RETURN THE FAVOR WITH EGGS. AS FOR THE FREEZER… I HIT RESET BUTTON AND PLACED A BOWL OF WATER INSIDE TO SEE IF IT FROZE WHILE I AM AT WORK.
I have had that happen! Sounds like you’re making the best of a hard situation!
So how do you get your freezer back to normal without the frost?
I plug it back in and let it get cold again.
Thank you so much. As crazy as it sounds, making meals to refreeze didn’t even cross my mind. Funny since the freezer was left open while preparing for the freeze dryer machine. This was extremely helpful!
Thank you for the post. Helpful in a stressful situation! One of my kids left the door open all day.
THE WORST!! But I’m glad I was some help?!?