Tips For Keeping Your Food Safe When The Power Goes Out

submitted 276 days ago by orangearrows in "Member's Lounge"

Will come in handy in the next few days. It's a good read

The U.S. Department of Agriculture recommends that you keep ice on hand or know where to get it should you lose power. If you don't have a generator, here is what else to do:

Put an appliance thermometer in the refrigerator and freezer. That way you'll know the temperature if the power goes out.

Make sure the freezer is set at 0 degrees F or below and the refrigerator is at 40 degrees F or below.

Group food together in the freezer — this helps it stay cold longer.

Use any extra space to freeze containers of water for ice to help keep food cold in the freezer, refrigerator or coolers.

Freeze gel packs ahead of time for use in coolers.

Freeze refrigerated items such as leftovers, milk and fresh meat and poultry that you may not need immediately — this helps keep them at a safe temperature longer.

Plan ahead and know where dry ice and block ice can be purchased.

Have coolers on hand to keep refrigerator food cold if the power will be out for more than four hours.

Store food on shelves that will be safely out of the way of contaminated water in case of flooding.

Read more here > http://consumerist.com/2011/08.....s-out.html

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Posted by HouTex 275 days ago

[reply]

Living on the Gulf coast, we always stock up every year on bottled water, tuna in pouches, and peanut butter and jelly. Once we knew we were in the path of the storm (Ike, 2008), we hard-boiled all our eggs before the storm hit us and we were able to eat them for days while without power. We also had a simple grill and big bag of charcoal to begin cooking any meat from the freezer as it thawed, during the power outage. We followed all those tips posted above, and it helped a lot. Having the freezer extra cold, with containers of water frozen, and opening the door as little as possible helped keep things cold longer. We also had some Energizer battery-powered folding lanterns that lasted the entire 3 weeks we were without power. When they went on sale online after the storm, we bought more of them!

Sincere wishes to all those in the path of Irene for a safe weekend.

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professor

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Posted by mommy25 275 days ago [reply] 0 0

Thanks for the tips Orangearrows!!
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learner

Posted by hehwhwe 275 days ago [reply] 0 0

[spam edited out]

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Posted by HouTex 275 days ago

[reply]

For those who may face possible power outages, know that help is already on the way. Yesterday local power companies sent caravans of repair crews, cherry pickers, and trailers with huge wire spools following behind the path of Irene. I am sure other states have done the same, so that any downed power lines can be repaired quickly and power restored as soon as possible.