Half a day isn't enough time, IMO

[Food Lady]

...and they only gave us this much warning because state law requires 12 hours. This is about my apartment management company. I came home to a note on my door stating that tomorrow morning, right when I'll be getting ready for work (I work at noon, unlike "normal" people) the power might be off for 1-2 hours due to an electrician doing...something.
I guess I can deal; I can have my coffee before 9:00 and go out for breakfast or something. But what about my frozen food? I wish I had more time to make some kind of an arrangement. I guess I could take it to work and store it in the kitchen there. Or maybe it would be ok in an unopened freezer for 2 hours? Does anyone know?

Thank you, everyone. Good advice, and I just came home and everything seems fine. The ice in my bin didn't even melt, so I guess whatever work they took care of didn't take long. The only fallout is that I had to get up kind of early for me and I'm tired. But the apt. is clean because of that.

[Nunavut Pants]

It should be fine for rather more than 2 hours in an unopened freezer. Unless your freezer is in really terrible shape, with holes in it and the seal around the door falling off and such.

Don't fret it, in other words.

[Seanette]

If your freezer is reasonably full, it should be fine for a good deal longer than 2 hours.

There's a food safety blog that says food should stay frozen for 24 hours in a partially full freezer, 48 hours if it's full. You could also consider dry ice.

[wolfie]

Unlikely to be able to get dry ice in time. One hint: put a bowl of ice cubes in the freezer. If, when you get home, they're still separate cubes (maybe stuck together, but still easy to break apart), the freezer hasn't warmed up too far. If you've got a bowl of solid ice, it's warmed up enough to melt completely, and then refrozen.

[Food Lady]

Thanks, y'all. Yeah, I can't go anywhere tonight without a car. One more question: what about the heavy cream I just bought? It's sealed and pasteurized, so I figure it'll be ok. Aside from the milk (which I can freeze) it's the only thing I'm concerned about in the fridge. If I freeze the cream I feel the carton might burst. idk

[Kittish]

As long as the cream isn't the only thing in your fridge, it'll be fine. As others have pointed out, the frozen stuff will stay frozen for a day or two. Since cold air sinks, your fridge part will also maintain an acceptably low temp, especially if the outage is only going to be for a couple of hours. If your fridge is nearly empty, put some pitchers or glasses or bowls or bottles of water in it now so they have time to properly chill. That will help maintain the temp in your fridge.

[Aria]

This should absolutely be fine. I can remember several times over my life, and once in my new condo, when I've had power outages that long or longer. Freezers hold their chill very well and so do fridges, as long as you don't open them a lot.

[Food Lady]

My fridge is nearly empty. I think I'll freeze some jugs of water and place them next to the dodgy perishables tomorrow. I'm not worried about the condiments; vinegar-based stuff and whatnot should be fine. Eggs are ok up to 55F, I think. I can't imagine how irritated I'd be if I'd gotten home at 10:00 pm or 11:00 pm instead of 7:00 and found that note.

[MoonCat]

Should be fine. A few years ago our power was off for 4 & 1/2 DAYS after an ice storm. We lost almost nothing. It helped that we had a full freezer at the time. We only opened it when absolutely necessary.

[Kittish]

My fridge is nearly empty. I think I'll freeze some jugs of water and place them next to the dodgy perishables tomorrow. I'm not worried about the condiments; vinegar-based stuff and whatnot should be fine. Eggs are ok up to 55F, I think. I can't imagine how irritated I'd be if I'd gotten home at 10:00 pm or 11:00 pm instead of 7:00 and found that note.

Odd as it sounds, probably actually better not to freeze the water, just put it in the fridge so it chills. Frozen water near your perishables is moderately liable to freeze them, which, depending on what the perishable is, might ruin it as thoroughly as getting too warm would.

[lordlundar]

The jugs of water is your best bet as they serve as heat sinks. Beyond that I wouldn't worry too much. Unless there is something severely wrong with the insulation or cooling capability of the fridge/freezer, 1-2 hours is negligible. Just make sure that it's not opened while the power is out and you'll have no issues.

[csquared]

For those of you with empty fridges, fill them up. They are more efficient that way. Save old bottles and fill them with water. Same for the freezer. It will also help if the power goes out.

[BearLeeBadenaugh]

Another form of freeze/thaw indicator is to freeze a small container of water and put a coin on the surface of the ice and keep it in the freezer. The ice melts, the coin sinks. We used to use this back when I was a kid, during thunderstorm season.

[cindybubbles]

For those of you with empty fridges, fill them up. They are more efficient that way. Save old bottles and fill them with water. Same for the freezer. It will also help if the power goes out.

Have you tried buying and freezing loaves of bread? My family does that so often that we have to put extra loaves in the fridge and eat those first.

Also, maybe put some ice cream in there, too. You not only get a full freezer, but also cool, sweet treat. Some meat, veggies and frozen fruit would help, too, especially if you don't eat them often.

My freezer has:

• Bread
• packs of frozen veggies
• frozen yogurt
• pizzas
• meatballs
• siu mai
• an ice pack, and
• meat, mostly chicken.

[Food Lady]

My freezer has bread, roughly 1,00 boxes/bags faux meat products , ice cubes, random bits of stock/tomato paste leftovers/bread crumbs/etc, nuts/flaked coconut, small containers of shredded citrus peel, and frozen veggies.