bscofield

All the meat was thoroughly defrosted. No ice left except for some shavings on the very top shelf!

What am I looking at here? Re-freezable? I don't know how long it's been unplugged. I know that the thermometer said 20 degrees when I was in there today but we have had hotter days recently.[:'(]

No rotten smell to speak of (all I could smell was the defrosted lasagna).

So, those of you know how things keep, what's the damage?

[:@][:@][>:]

FYI, the freezer is in the garage.

JimboHunter1

The freezer phantom got ya, huh? He has visited our house too and although he comes in several different forms, he's often of the 3 foot 6 inch variety.
To check the meat, I'd grill some up and have a taste. If it still tastes good, I'd go ahead and re-freeze it.
Hope it's not ruined...

luknikk

WOW iI thought I was the only one that happened to. Kids were playing hide and seak and somehow freezer got unplugged.All my meat was gone nothing salvagable. 2 1/2 deer. 4 Turkeys. Fall can't come soon enough.

NHBuck

Other option is after you grill one up and try it is to start making plenty of chilli and pasta sauce and freeze that. I don't know about refreezing it after it has thawed once.

cardeer

I never had that happen,but had the wife search for something at the bottom of the freezer and then forgot to put back a stack of food she stacked on a counter. Several days later when I walked in the building It smelled of rotten meat.had to throw the slimey stuff in the woods for the critters

BobCo19-65

Was the meat still cold? The ice shavings are a good sign.

bscofield

Yes. Still cold. Not rotten smelling either. I turned the freezer back on and will unpack and grill one tonight... we'll see.

adams

I wish you the best. I can't imagine how distraught I'd be if I lost a freezer full of meat.

Hopefully it will be ok.

HAZCON7

Thats happened to me twice bscofield so I know its a pain.
Sorry to hear the gremlins got you too!

Mine were total losses - I hope you can salvage yours.

plaid dad

As a guy who has run a meat market for about 20 years, I think that the meat will be just fine to refreeze. You stated the it was totaly defrosted. I hope that ment the ice was mostly gone from the freezer. If the meat was thawed, eather wholely, or somewhat thawed, you have no problem if the temp was 20 degrees. Smell is the first thing that will tell you DON"T EAT IT! You can also feel if the meat is rotten. It will be tacky, and have some slime to it. Once more DON"T EAT IT.

20 degrees is not a danger to meat, over 40 degrees is a danger zone, and throw it out.

Common sence is the rule here. if in doubt, throw it out