Oops! Great time for a cooking frenzy. Things that appeared thawed can be cooked into casseroles ect. and refrozen for do-ahead meals tonight when the freezer is fixed.

My freezer died recently -- alas, it was a slow death (first things on the door started melting, then no ice would form, then I realized nothing was staying frozen) -- as a result, I threw virtually everything out. Quite frankly, a lot of stuff was very old and probably due to be tossed anyway.

that is such a bummer, sorry to hear it. this happened to me recently and i decided to chance it and eat stuff that looked like it had stayed cold. later i wish that i hadn't. i'd say it's probably better not to chance it, even though it is really depressing to throw out a lot of food. :(

Thanks for all your help! I wound up throwing out the top shelves that were warmer (goodbye gourmet sausage) and kept the items that still felt a little solid in the middle. I'll be nervous every time I cook with it, however, I think the crisis has been mostly averted. ~Sara

this post is very timely for those of us in and around DC suffering from power outages from Sunday's freak storm. What about my half of a frozen meyer lemon pound cake? bags of frozen veggies? it's so sad.

gee, it's a wonder how our great-grandparents survived without refrigeration. full on panic mode!

i'm sorry but the idea of throwing out so much food makes me angry. and again, our great grandparents somehow made it through life without refrigeration, and with far less food-related paranoia.

as phoxx said, why not cook the gourmet sausages and refreeze the result?

@thepolishchick -- what you say is true, as far as it goes. Keep in mind that modern food has much more contamination than in our grandparents' day because of how animals are raised and processed.

We killed and ate our own chickens when I was young, and I would trust that meat over anything I buy today in the grocery store.

Food poisoning is no joke and can be fatal for those with compromised immune systems. In these modern times, I think it is always smarter to be on the prudent side.

For any frozen veggies, I would try and cook them right now, store them in the fridge until the new freezer comes in, and then freeze them as cooked. It's actually one of my mom's trick to have some ready veggies as foundation of stews/stir fries/tarts etc, to freeze the veggies precooked or fully cooked. It takes less space, and it's as safe as anything. Anything with uncooked meat or dairy, I'd throw out. Stuff like, say, toaster waffles (what? doesn't everyone still have toaster waffles stashed for emergency), i think it's so processed that's it can probably withstand some thawing and refreezing if it hasn't completely thawed...

You also have to distinguish between items that will spoil if they thaw and refreeze, and items that will just become mushy or less pleasant to eat. Meat, and anything containing meat, will spoil. Toss anything that's questionable, or at the very least, heat it thoroughly. But items like bread, vegetables, grains are probably fine unless they look or smell bad. They may not have the texture you want but they don't spoil that easily.

Free standing freezers will keep food much longer than freezers that are part of a refrigerator. I had a 6 day power outage a few years back, and while I lost just about everything in my over-the-fridge freezer, the items in my free standing freezer were still mostly frozen even after 6 days. (I did not open it until the power came back on.)

Our fridge and freezer broke while we were away for a week. We came back and everything was frozen and rotten, and in dried puddles on the floor. So gross! We lost about $200 worth of food, which was two fresh out-of-college people is a lot.