Thanksgiving during a power outage?
What to do and not do
Californians are confronting a new threat as fire season and power outages aimed at avoiding wildfires stretch into November — how long will my turkey and all the other fixins filling the fridge and icebox last?
Thanksgiving is, thankfully, still a few days away, and the weather for most is turning more autumn-like. But Pacific Gas & Electric just cut power to 150,000 Northern California customers in 18 counties, including ground zero for gourmands — the Wine Country in Napa, Sonoma and Mendocino counties. Most of the Bay Area escaped this round of shutoffs.
But threats are raising some anxiety for those who bought that frozen turkey to be sure to get a good one in time for Thanksgiving. The good news: A California poultry farmer says an outage, even for a day or two, shouldn’t pose much of a problem for your frozen bird. In fact, that big block
of frozen poultry could be a benefit to keeping the rest of your frozen food from thawing.
A frozen turkey can take five or six days to thaw, and Gary Flanagan, president of Shelton’s Poultry Inc. in Pomona.
“If the door is closed, it will still be cool in there,” Flanagan said, adding that even if the power to the icebox stays out for a week, the bird “will be soft and ready to go” by Thanksgiving next Thursday. “It should be just right.”
A whole frozen turkey can go a year in the freezer, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. But fresh birds can only go a day or two in a refrigerator at 40 degrees before they have to be cooked. It’s
unlikely anyone has a fresh bird in the fridge this early. But if power were to go out next week, Flanagan said, just put the bird in a cooler with ice and it will be fine for a few days. That’s how poultry farmers ship fresh birds to stores, he said.
“I just sent some across
country, they put them in an ice chest with ice,” Flanagan said. “They’ll be fine. It takes two days to get there.”
What about the rest of the stuff in the refrigerator and freezer if the power goes out? The USDA says meat, poultry, seafood casseroles and soups that still have ice crystals and feel cold can be safely refrozen. If they go more than two hours at 40 degrees, however, they should be tossed.
Lunchmeats in an opened package can go up to five days at 40 degrees, and two weeks in an unopened package. Bacon’s good for a week at that temperature. Leftovers kept at 40 degrees can go three or four days.
Milk, eggs, soft and shredded cheeses and cheesecake also should be thrown out if they go more than a couple hours above 40 degrees. Fresh eggs can go three to five weeks in the refrigerator at 40 degrees, hard-boiled eggs a week.
Vegetables and vegetable juices can go six hours at 40 degrees. Fruits and fruit juices should be inspected and thrown out if they are moldy, slimy or smell bad.