Defrosting meat - broken freezer

Question

I have had to buy a new freezer as mine broke last night, a new one will be delivered tomorrow morning, but I have to unplug it tonight. Will it be safe to put the meat in the new freezer possibly 10 hours after turning freezer off? Or should I just bin it all and go shopping? (I love to shop so that's fine...lol) I hope someone can help me. I am 37 yrs old, you would think I would have had to do this before but no! - lol

Answer 1

You should be fine for 10 hours if the freezer was working fine (at the proper temperature) at the beginning of that 10 hour period. If you are past 10 hours when the new freezer is ready, you're still very unlikely to be over refrigeration temperatures.

Starting NOW, don't open the freezer until you're ready to transfer the food. If everything is still frozen when you go to transfer it, you're golden. If it's cold but has just started to thaw, you're still OK as far as for safety to just refreeze, but you may see some loss of quality. If your stuff is still cold to the touch but partially defrosted, pick the most expensive meat to cook that day, the rest of it is likely to face some quality issues if refrozen. If it's not cold anymore, consider it a lost cause, safety cannot be guaranteed.

Unopened vegetables aren't really a safety issue, but they might take a quality hit.