Does Food Really Need To Be Tossed? (Bell: insurance, home)

[djxpress]

I've read/watched the news. They're all saying "when in doubt, throw it out". My problem seems to be that I never had any doubt, until I watched the news.

The milk smells fine. Apples, lettuce, onion, mushrooms, etc. can be left on a counter for hours without going bad. Meat/cheese, is in a ziplock style sealed bag. Juice is in a sealed/unopened container. Eggs, well, they're not in a fridge when the chicken lays 'em. Yogurt, unopened, in an airtight sealed container. Chicken - feed that to the dog.

I find it to be such a waste to throw these things out.

[skeke]

I haven't tossed a thing. Just had fruit, veggies some condiments and cheese in the fridge. I also had an open half gallon of fat free milk some of which I used to make oatmeal this morning and I am fine and it seemed fine.

[Stanks]

Take it from a New Englander (or Englandah)...When it comes to power outages and refrigerated food...Don't take a chance. Most of your produce should be alright depending if you're going to cook it or not. I'd probably cook it if it were greens or whatever. But if it's a salad type deal, nah. I'd toss it or just go around it.

Meat and Cheese is where I draw the line. If it wasn't in my freezer, it's gone. Regardless of the seal, ziploc, whatever. It's outta there.

[earlyretirement]

The only thing we throw out was the milk. We actually had lots of ice and put it in the cooler with our cheeses, and meats, and some more expensive frozen stuff we had. But we didn't throw out any of the fruits, vegetables, etc.

I agree on milk, cheese, and meats that haven't been refrigerated for a few hours to throw out. Still, I guess a lot depends on how cold your refrigerator is. We keep ours VERY cold and up until last night it was still cool in there. The freezer was still cold until evening.

[jwblue]

Here is my conclusion.

90% you won't become sick.

10% chance you will.

It is conservative to throw out your food.

My uneducated opinion.

[Anak]

I'm not throwing anything out.

Fridge was fairly well packed and was only opened twice during the entire outage. Unit also has a top freezer. Cold sinks. Freezer was very well packed.

I'm not the least bit worried.

The dog is out of luck this time.

[DaniellaG]

Funny my mom and I always talk about this cause she will eat way past expiration date and I tend to throw away. I think veggies and fruit are ok but items like dairy and other animal products I would be more concerned with. Not worth getting sick in my opinion

[djxpress]

It's 3 days Post Apocalypse and I can report that I haven't gotten sick so far off my milk, cheese, deli meat or produce....knock on wood. Then again, I'm one to eat crap after I drop it on the floor, use the same silverware 5 days straight...eat food from Taco Bell...

So sad all that food went to waste.

[MissNM]

Originally Posted by djxpress

Chicken - feed that to the dog.

I'd rather get food poisoning myself than subject my pets to it. I understand the importanct of making it to the bathroom and I have decent insurance - my pets do not.

[Jenkay]

Originally Posted by djxpress

It's 3 days Post Apocalypse and I can report that I haven't gotten sick so far off my milk, cheese, deli meat or produce....knock on wood. Then again, I'm one to eat crap after I drop it on the floor, use the same silverware 5 days straight...eat food from Taco Bell...

So sad all that food went to waste.

I used the half & half that was in my work fridge in my tea today- so far no ill effects. I can say for 100% that nobody opened that fridge during the blackout, though, as we all were sent home