My freezer was left open a crack.

[Jem]

So I just went downstairs to get some sauce out of the freezer for dinner and the freezer door was open! Just a crack, but I have no idea for how long. Looking thru my freezer, most stuff is still frozen but the stuff at the very front, by the open part has thawed, but is still cold. When I tried closing the door, something was stopping it from closing. I moved a bunch of stuff and got it to close, the culprit, a container of soup. When I last remember going into the freezer over the weekend, I did have to wrestle to close it, but it did close....I guess the magnet just didn't "stick" well enough and at some point popped open. When? I have no idea.
There was only a few drops of water on the bottom of the freezer and floor...probably from the few things that thawed. As mentioned, what was thawed is still cold and some still "crunchy" when I squish it. (ground beef, a roast and a whole chicken). I smelled the ground beef and it still smells fine....the roast and chicken are still in original packaging so I didn't want to open them for the sniff test.
A few containers of (homemade) soup, chili and sauce are thawed...but still cold.
A box of breaded chicken burgers thawed...still cold.
A couple of "Stouffer's" frozen dinners...still cold.
I'm going to go thru the freezer more thoroughly and see what's what but I was just wondering if this has happened to anyone before...and if you think I should be OK just refreezing.

 

[Jem]

I should also mention that the freezer itself is warm to the touch (outside), but it's still sounds like it's "running" so I hope I didn't blow the compressor...

 

[susanm9006]

Hmm, I wouldn’t refreeze anything that was thawed. But I am somewhat over cautious about things like that. I would eat or cook what you can in the next couple of days and toss the rest.

 

[Furballsmom]

Some things can be refrozen if there are still ice crystals in the item, and you said some of the things were still crunchy. However, I think eating/cooking as much as you can now, and throwing out anything you can't cook/isn't safe is your safest best bet. For example, I'd be wary of those breaded chicken burgers, even though they were still cold to the touch. If they went above 37-40 degrees F they aren't safe to consume.

 

[MoochNNoodles]

Our freezer in the garage is always warm to the touch on the outside in summer. Its an older one but its functioning very well. We do have a remote monitor on it so an alarm will go off in my kitchen if the temperature rises. DH uses the other sensor to make sure his meds don’t get too warm or too cold in the fridge.

I have a hard time throwing stuff away. Meats id be most cautious with. But if stuff still felt frozen id probably be fine with keeping it. Other stuff id either eat soon or consider tossing.

 

[catapault]

Since it happened once it might happen again. Surely hope not! But a way to tell how warm it got in there - take a small bowl, add just a few ice cubes, and put in the freezer. If, when you go to look, they are still ice cubes then all was well. If they melted and refroze it is a clear indication that it got seriously too warm, then chilled down again.

 

[bbdoll22]

I had that happen in September. My youngest left the freezer door all the way open overnight. Everything in the front was thawed and cool to the touch so I chucked all of the food. A few hours after I closed the freezer door I noticed the refrigerator part was slowly rising in temperature and the whole unit was continuously running and making a noise. I thought it was a goner at only over 1 year old but my husband and I transferred all refrigerated items to our basement refrigerator and we unplugged and let the refrigerator sit. It turns out when the freezer thawed and re cooled it caused and ice jam around the condenser unit. thankfully after defrosting the whole unit it went on to work properly.

 

[Jem]

For example, I'd be wary of those breaded chicken burgers, even though they were still cold to the touch. If they went above 37-40 degrees F they aren't safe to consume.

We ate those first as I was most concerned them...Still alive! LOL!

Seems I dodged a bullet. My freezer is sill working perfectly fine. Almost everything that I was planning on letting re-freeze, was completely frozen by the morning. However, a few things did not. Some stuff that was at the front was still not solid by morning and that stuff, we're eating over the next couple of days or already threw out. I'm planning on defrosting my freezer this weekend as there is quite a bit of build up, I have a feeling that is why the front of the freezer did not freeze up as quickly as there is not enough air circulation.

Tomorrow is possibly steak night. If when I open the package they smell good, then that's what we're having, if not, with all the ground beef I'm cooking up, I'll figure out something using it. Hubby mentioned a shepard's pie would be nice.

 

[Winchester]

That happened to us in our old upright. Rick thought the door was closed, but it was opened just a crack. Which was enough to thaw things on the door and right inside the freezer. A lot of it was applesauce on the door and it was still cold with crystals. We gave applesauce to my sister and BIL and to our neighbors. Some ground beef had started to thaw and I made a big pan of BBQ as it was still cold/semi-frozen. Once it was cooked, it was OK to re-freeze. So we managed to save a lot of the food, thankfully.

 

[MoochNNoodles]

In case this helps anyone: this is the alarm set we got. Amazon.com

I really need to defrost our unit this spring. I have been doing better about not letting myself stock up so much I forget things. But its been hard to purposely eat down some things. And yesterday I restocked some things in attempt to get DS eating more.

 

[Jem]

The freezer is officially defrosting. All my food is in coolers or boxes outside (mostly coolers...just one box...I have lots of food), but the temp outside is only going to go to -5C and it's supposed to snow so it's overcast, what's in the box should stay frozen...I also have it sitting in a snow bank.
A few things were left in there because I can't open the little drawer at the bottom...but I haven't been able to in a while so it's all freezer burnt anyway. It's just a bag of frozen veggies and a loaf of bread...so no big loss there.
The door is propped open and I have some towels laying at the bottom to catch water with a small space heater pointed towards the freezer...far enough away from possible water run off and sitting up on a stool.
I hope it defrosts within a reasonable amount of time...I really don't want to be up till the wee hours of the morning cleaning and restocking the freezer.

 

[catapault]

Jem I had a similar but not as serious situation with a refrigerator a couple of winters ago. It was a couple of weeks before I could acquire a new refrigerator (remember when appliances were just unavailable, thanks to covid or who knows what.) So I had coolers outside the front door. Prop the lid up to cool things down every now and then, trying to maintain something close to the 38 to 42 degrees Fahrenheit that is a refrigerator temperature.

But I just want to say that snow insulates. Unless you are trying to keep the box protected from -5C it is going to stay cooler when surrounded by air.

I had gardening friends in Massachusetts who had reliable deep snow all winter long. When they wanted to direct sow seeds that need a cold stratification all they had to do was shovel aside a patch of snow, break through an inch or two of frozen soil to then reach nice friable soil.

 

[Jem]

But I just want to say that snow insulates. Unless you are trying to keep the box protected from -5C it is going to stay cooler when surrounded by air.

Its just sitting about two inches down in the snow...just to have a cold bottom, rather than on the (slightly warmer) deck where all the coolers are sitting.

Wow...when the ice starts to melt, it really starts to melt! I went to take a shower and when I came back down my towels were drenched and the water had spread out...it's just the concrete basement floor though so no biggie. I wasn't expecting so much so fast. I've now rigged up a system directing the water with the towels into a basin...it's working like a charm.