How long does food last in the fridge without power?
When the power goes out, a closed refrigerator keeps food cold enough for about 4 hours. A full freezer holds its temperature for about 48 hours, and a half-full one for about 24, as long as the doors stay shut. After that, some foods become risky while others are perfectly fine. This power outage food safety checker applies those USDA rules to your situation and then sorts more than seventy kinds of fridge and freezer food into keep, refreeze and throw out.
Enter how long the power was off, whether the doors stayed shut and how full the freezer was. If you have an appliance thermometer, add the readings: a thermometer beats any timer. The two result boxes tell you what to do with each appliance, and the tables below say exactly which foods to keep. Type in the search box to jump to a food.
How to use the Power Outage Food Safety Checker
- Enter how long the power was off, in hours and minutes.
- Say whether the doors were kept shut or opened during the outage.
- Choose how full the freezer was, or “No freezer”.
- If you have them, open thermometer readings and enter the refrigerator and freezer temperatures now.
- Read the two verdicts, then use the tables, or the search box, to decide food by food.
Power Outage Food Safety Checker features
USDA time rules
About 4 hours for a closed refrigerator, 48 hours for a full freezer and 24 hours for a half-full one.
Thermometer override
A reading of 40 °F (4 °C) or below means the food is safe, whatever the clock says. Readings work in °F or °C.
Item-by-item tables
Fifty refrigerator foods and twenty-four freezer foods, taken row by row from the USDA charts.
Search
Type “cheese”, “rice” or “ice cream” to filter both tables.
Copyable summary
Copy a one-line verdict to send to someone else in the household.
The rules this checker uses
- Refrigerator: food should be safe if the power was out for no more than 4 hours and the door stayed shut. After that, discard perishable food such as meat, poultry, seafood, milk, eggs and leftovers that has been above 40 °F (4 °C) for 2 hours or more. Some foods, such as hard cheese, butter, raw whole fruit and vegetables, bread and most condiments, can be kept.
- Freezer: a full freezer holds about 48 hours and a half-full one about 24 hours with the door closed. Food that still contains ice crystals, or is at 40 °F or below, can be refrozen, though some will lose quality.
- Thermometers decide. Keep an appliance thermometer in both compartments. If the reading is 40 °F (4 °C) or below when the power comes back, the food is safe.
- Never taste food to check it, and throw out anything that touched raw meat juices. When in doubt, throw it out.
Before and during an outage
Keep the doors closed; every opening lets the cold out. Freeze containers of water or gel packs ahead of a storm and pack them around food, and group frozen food together so it stays cold longer. Dry ice or block ice from a store can keep a freezer going during a long outage: handle dry ice with gloves and keep the room ventilated. Do not put food outside in snow, where sun and animals can reach it and the temperature swings.
Food left out of the refrigerator follows the same 2-hour limit, or 1 hour if the room is above 90 °F (32 °C). Once the power is back, refreeze safe food as soon as possible, and use partly thawed meat soon or cook it first; the defrost time calculator and meat doneness chart help with that.
Medicines and baby formula
Opened baby formula must be discarded once it has been warm for more than 2 hours. For medicines that need refrigeration, such as insulin, check the label or ask a pharmacist rather than relying on the food charts. If the water supply is also affected, the boiling point calculator shows the CDC boil time for drinking water at your altitude.
Power Outage Food Safety Checker FAQ
How long does food last in the fridge without power?
About 4 hours if the door stays shut. After that, throw out perishable food that has been above 40 °F (4 °C) for more than 2 hours, unless a thermometer shows the fridge stayed at 40 °F or below.
How long does food last in the freezer during a power outage?
About 48 hours in a full freezer and 24 hours in a half-full one, if the door stays closed.
Can I refreeze food that has thawed?
Yes, if it still contains ice crystals or is at 40 °F (4 °C) or below. Food that thawed and stayed warmer than that for over 2 hours should mostly be thrown away; check the freezer table.
Is milk safe after a power outage?
If the refrigerator stayed at 40 °F or below, yes. If it was above 40 °F for more than 2 hours, discard milk, cream, yogurt and soft cheeses.
Are eggs safe after a power outage?
Not if they were above 40 °F for over 2 hours: the USDA chart says to discard fresh eggs, egg dishes and egg products.
What foods are safe to keep after a power outage?
Hard and processed cheeses, butter, opened fruit juice and canned fruit, whole raw fruit and vegetables, bread, peanut butter, jelly, mustard, ketchup, pickles and vinegar-based dressings, among others in the table.