Before going on holiday, there are so many things to take care about besides just packing your clothes and other essentials. You must remember to unplug some electrical devices, find someone who will water your plants and take care of your pets. But what may concern you most is the food stored in the freezer and whether it will be safe for consuming upon your return. Since you won’t be present in your home for some time, there might be some unpredictable circumstances such as a power outage which can cause your food to spoil.
If the power is out for more than 4 hours, your food is probably spoiled
According to www.foodsafety.gov, if your fridge o r freezer is not working for more than 4 hours, than it’s not safe to consume the food stored in it. Furthermore, if certain types of food have been exposed to a temperature of around 4 degrees Celsius or more for the time period of 2 hours, you should throw it away. It is not a good practice to taste the food to make sure whether it’s still good to use since it can lead to stomach problems. Then, what is the safest way to determine whether food is spoiled or not after returning from a holiday?
With this simple trick, you can easily determine for how long the power was out and if it caused the food spoilage
If you have been away from your home for some time there is no certain way to determine whether the food in your freezer has gone bad due to the power outage. It’s better to be safe than sorry, and make sure that the food you left is safe to use instead of trying your luck and getting sick. That’s when this simple trick will come in handy.
All you need for this is a cup, some water and a coin. Before you leave to have a good time and unwind during your free days, fill the cup with water and leave it in the freezer. Once it has frozen, take the coin, put it on top of the frozen water and place it back into the freezer.
When you return all relaxed and happy, the last thing you want is to get food poisoning. To be sure you can consume the food, take out the cup you placed in the freezer before leaving. If the coin is still on top that means there was no power outage, and you food is still good. If you find the coin in the middle of the cup, your food is probably still good to use since the power wasn’t out for a long time. However, if the coin reached the bottom, you should throw away the food as this signals that the power outage lasted for a longer period of time.
Before going on holiday, make a plan what food you will buy
To avoid throwing away a significant amount of food, make a careful plan as to what you will buy and leave in the fridge and freezer. Foods such as meat, poultry, most types of dairy products, and eggs can quickly spoil if sitting on a temperature of just around 4 degrees Celsius; thus you should avoid buying them before the holiday. Foods that can be safely used even if the power was out are certain types of hard and processed cheese, dairy products such as butter or margarine, canned fruits, fresh fruits that have not been cut, peanut butter and fresh vegetables that have not been cut or washed.
Yet, even with all these preventive measures, you should be careful and don’t consume something if you are not sure whether it is spoiled.
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