How to save your food when your fridge stops cooling

Jesusegun Alagbe

After using your money and strength to cook some food or buy fruits to store in the fridge, your nightmare would be to see the foods get spoilt. However, your fear can actually become a reality if your fridge decides to frustrate you. As soon as your fridge stops cooling to around 37ºF (or 2.8ºC), it’s time to take action to prevent your food from getting spoilt. And here’s how to get through the disaster quickly, until you can get your fridge repaired or get a new one

Make two piles

First, you need to decide which foods you really need to keep cold and which ones are safe to leave on the counter until you have a functional fridge.

Note that foods that don’t need to be kept cold include: Peanut butter; most cooking oils, with the exception of nut oils; herbs; potatoes; most fruits and vegetables; bread; coffee; honey; ketchup; mustard and hot sauce.

Meanwhile, foods that you need to keep 37ºF or lower to prevent bacteria growth and spoilage include: dairy products (cheese, milk, whipped cream, sour cream); eggs; leftovers and meats (cooked or uncooked).

Store food safely

Now that you have food in two separate piles, it’s time to store the foods that need to be chilled.

Grab a food cooler (or ice chest) and put a layer of frozen foods in the bottom. Then put a layer of foods from the fridge on top of that layer. Top it off with another layer of frozen foods. The frozen foods will keep everything cold while you run to the store to get a bag of ice and a fridge thermometer.

Remove the ice from the bag and nestle it around the food items in the cooler. Don’t just set the bag on top and call it good! Distributing the ice will keep all of the food at a more consistent temperature.

To be sure that your food isn’t getting too warm, keep a fridge thermometer inside the cooler.

Professional tip: If you don’t have a food cooler, use your freezer, if you can. It’s insulated and will keep your food cold as long as you keep the door shut and keep a fresh supply of ice in it. To prevent melting ice from turning your freezer into a pond, put ice in bowls and place them around the foods.

Source: cnet.com

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