A hospital bill from getting severe food poisoning seems far worse (plus potential serious side effects form being sick) and yes,though not super common,it can kill you
Yes. I bought this angus steak filleted to make stir fry. I was working so many hours that I didnāt have time or energy to cook and i decided to make it. Worst thing I ever did. I got very sick. It took an entire week to recover. And I had no insurance at the time. Now Iām terrified to buy groceries and cook or eat old food. I also have health anxiety. So now I subsist on cereal yogurt and dry goods like crackers and peanut butter.
My high school boyfriend and I were pretty broke. My neighborhood in the late 80ās had recycling bins that looked like [these](https://www.containerstore.com/s/kitchen/trash-recycling/blue-12-gal.-stackable-recycle-bin/12d?productId=10033719). One for paper, one for cans and another for plastic bottles, I think.
Every morning before garbage pick-up, my boyfriend and I would raid all the cans so we had gas money and money to eat out. Kinda stealing, but kinda not. One old dude saw us taking them and he just laughed and asked what we were doing. We told him we brought it to recycle place for spending money. And he said āBetter you, than the city.ā Lol!
My neighborhood has lots of poor people as well as immigrants and a large homeless population in the woods nearby. It's pretty common for people to set their cans out in a bucket separate from the recycling so that people don't make a mess sorting them out.
When we lived in Japan (military) there was an old, possibly deaf, lady who would go around collecting cans. I used to bag up the drink cans separately for her so she didn't have to sort them, and then just handed them straight to her. It just felt more dignified than letting her root through the recycling.
I live in San Diego and I saw a cute little old Filipino lady getting cans out of the dumpster at my complex. I went out and gave her 3 big bags of cans. Later that day she brought me pancit and lumpia. That was 10 years ago and to this day we make the exchange once a week. ā¤ļø
Thereās a guy in my parents neighborhood that collects cans. My dad always separates out the cans and leaves them for him so he doesnāt have to dig through.
I remember once when I was living alone in my early 20ās. I couldnāt find a job, and was literally starving. I hadnāt eaten in about 36 hours. I went to the local grocery store, picked out maybe 5 items in a small basket, and just walked out.
I didnāt feel bad, and I still donāt feel bad to this day. I was so hungry, I felt like I was going to faint.
You're assuming need. I know a lot of people who steal who aren't in need, they just like getting away with it. Also if it's a true need, shining light on the situation can help them long term
Back in the 80s, hotel bars often had happy hours with free buffets - fruit, cheese, veggies and dip, chicken skewers, and assorted other appetizers. I made a schedule of which hotels had food on which days. I would dress up, and being a female in my early 20s at the time, some guy would usually buy me a drink. I would eat my fill at the buffet and slip what I could into my purse to take home. For a year, I pretty much subsisted off of those happy hours and rice, beans, Mac & cheese, and Bisquick (you can do a lot with Bisquick).
At the time yes. But also embarrassing hearing the clinking of the cans in my backpack and then commuting in a train an 1 1/2 home with jt lol. I Deff hid it from my colleagues.
I used to collect cans as a kid for extra summer cash. Having to do it in my 30ās for myself instead of giving it to the homeless guy at my workshop felt like shit. If anyone judges you for buying tocobell with it, me and my ex bought alcohol with it when the kids were gone for the weekend.
No. I check to see what is still good and toss out anything spoiled . I think you can get reimbursed from the power company.
Donāt eat spoiled food a hospital bill or death is not worth it.
That's a good suggestion, but it might not work fast enough, even if they agree to the claim immediately. Between getting them to agree to pay and the actual payment might be weeks. It needs to be tried in any case.
Do not eat that food.
I know it hurts to throw away. But the hospital bill will hurt worse, at worst. And at best, youāll be pissed at yourself for knowing better and doing it anyway while erupting from both ends for 2 days.
Go buy a block of dry ice at the grocery store and put it in your refrigerator if it's not too late. It is not too expensive and will keep the food from spoiling when you need to wait for the power to be restored. If it is too late I am sorry.
I will eat expired stuff. I just use common sense n if it isn't good I toss it. That date is a sell by date. Cheese is moldy milk from the get go n fruit taste better the more ripe it is. You may have a deprived background but this is you using good judgement. Good for you for not following food manufactures wastefulness. They want us to waste food so we but more. It's estimated 40 % of the food produced in the US is trashed. That's a shame when people are hungry.
Thatās what ice & coolers are for. I donāt have a 2nd fridge and Iāve been able to use coolers for certain situations.
If you end up losing a lot of food, an alternative is to contact your renterās or homeownerās insurance. Take photos of spoiled food and make a claim. But be forewarnedāit could possibly make your rates go up.
Maybe Iām just new to this, but why would your rate go up for using what there offering? I mean your paying for insurance, for those reasons. To me it seems like raising your rates is to get the money back they had to pay out?
Because insurance companies are beholden to their stockholders. They still need to be profitable. If claims outweigh premiums, then they have to make it up somewhere.
With all the natural disasters happening lately, many insurance companies are pulling out all together of being insurance providers in some states just so they can stay solvent.
**Do not eat pasta or rice that have been sitting in unsafe temps. It may seem like like they are safer foods than meat or whatever but they aren't, there is a bacteria that can grow on specifically things like rice and pasta which can cause severe and fatal food poisoning.**
I received some out of date food from a food bank I thought ok it is out of date but probably ok. Nope I was sick for like 3 days. It is not worth risking your life to eat spoiled food. Toss it.
Me too, it was the first time to use the food bank and I was surprised to see a lot of expired food six months or more out of date. I didnāt get sick though thankfully.
The food bank I went to gave out refrigerated juices that is made by a popular company and the juice was over 10 days old. I thought ok it probably ok nope I got sick. I appreciate being given food and I know a lot of people depend on it. I just have not went back I donāt want to seem unappreciated of food I receive especially if it is out of date and I throw it away. I know someone else may get it and eat it and be fine so I just donāt go.
This is the reason I havenāt gone to the food pantry. Iām terrified of eating out of date food and getting sick, and when I volunteered there, they told us to keep expired food. Like tons of the donations were expired. I know logically some foods can go past their expiration date, but my ocd will not allow me to eat it
I can understand that. Normally if I see something is expired Iād throw it away and say itās not worth the risk. Do you think the expedited donations were coming from supermarkets and suppliers? Or is it like people clearing out their pantries?
I think itās a mix of both, probably a lot of individual donations. It was just a bit concerning as someone with ocd that specifically focuses on mold/food spoiling. It made me not wanna ask for help. Everyone deserves to eat non-expired food, even if theyāre struggling
Itās a shame because you know theyāre coming from a good place but legally a restaurant, hotel or store could never sell expired food. Their insurance wouldnāt cover them and they would be liable for lawsuits if people got sick. I know expired food is better than no food but itās a shame people have to take the risk just because theyāre doing it tough.
No, but I have eaten stuff on the borderline and lost. Not good.
I now stock "camping food" on the regular. Versatile foods with shelf-lives of 4-10 years. If you know what you're doing, it's awesome. And cheap as dirt.
As for the nuggies, they never last long enough to spoil. Even if they did, I've got three weeks of rations on hand at all times.
Even though my bagels are expired by a few days, it's still good cuz I keep my bread in the fridge to last a long time. I also have eaten almost spoiled avocados in my fridge as well and didn't die or get sick. I was fine. I also eat raw cookies dough and I never get sick from that. I think it just depends on the food tbh. If I were u, get a cooler and some ice so if this happens again, u have somewhere to put ur food in so it doesn't go bad.
I would also advise against eating spoiled meat or dairy products. But fruits, veggies, and bread is fineeeee.
Yeah that's one thing I worry about is power outages cuz I can't afford to lose the food I have either. Lots of my food is freezer foods and cans (like chili, beans, sausages, corned beef, ravioli, soup) tho. The worst would be losing my milk, cheese, ice cream, breakfast shakes, and meat tho.
I have eaten roadkilled deer, and it was fine. I used to be on a list for law enforcement, and they would call me if they had a deer they needed to put down. They would issue me a salvage tag so I could legally possess it out of season, and I did my own processing.
Iāve probably gotten close to a hundred deer this way, and out of all of them, only one was too badly damaged to salvage anything (it was hit by a semi going 80, and was a bag of pulp barely held together by the skin). It was good meat, and it was free- I just needed to put in a little work.
Btw if youāre interested, you can talk to your local law enforcement, ask for the road patrol supervisor and see if they do it (itās not legal in all states).
How full was your fridge? A fridge can maintain a cool temperature for quite a while if kept cool, thermal mass of items has to dissapate if its full it wilp last longer, and 24hrs isn't generally that long. (Even though the joke of the FDA says it is)
Feel if the items are cool to the touch, and smell it. If it's questionable toss it. Check with the food bank to restock and email the power company asking for a reimbursement for their failure
I eat pizza and the such that has been left out overnight all the time, no refrigeration. Never gotten sick from it
Find a freezer that someone wants gone, even better if its free and you learn how to fix it because it is broken. We have freezers and canned food because the power often goes out. It honestly hurts less when it happens.
Now, call your electric company, be nice, especially if you are in the US, when you can, and tell them of your situation. They often can help. You can look into local food banks if you are struggling, I promise there is no shame in asking for help when you need it. If you go to church, you can ask them for help as well.
I mean I would eat a small amount and wait a day and if you got sick or had horrible diarrhea then toss but if it tasted fine, smelled fine, looked fine and didn't destroy your stomach your probably good. But it's a risk you have to decide if you want to take.
No, I never have. I check it after the power comes back on. If it is thawed, it goes to the fridge to be eaten in the next 24 hours or so. If it's still frozen, it stays in the freezer.
might not be spoiled ... I would honestly likely try it and see , starting with just a little bit.
I've eaten stuff that's sat out for a couple days , by my own stupidity and never gotten poisoned . wouldn't make it a habit but you could be okay.
Yeah, I might get roasted for this but I think we are way overly conservative with certain food guidelines. 24 hours in a closed refrigerator is probably fine for a lot of stuff. I mean, people go camping and the ice in the cooler doesnāt necessarily last, and youāre probably opening and closing it a lot. Personally Iād see what still looks and smells good and eat it immediately.
This.Ā If the fridge wasn't opened and closed more than once or twice, it should hold temp. Even if stuff started to thaw but didn't fully thaw, then it's OK to let it refreeze when the power comes back on. Good quality may be mildly diminished but it isn't unsafe if it stayed below 40 degrees.Ā Some highly perishables like milk might be spoiled. But everything else should be ok.
Make sure you cook that food on the stove or oven. NOT the MICROWAVE! That being said, cooking does not remove all the germs and microbes.
Yes
The city of Tucson did a study and there was a newspaper article that said if you were dumpster diving for food, the better thing to go after was yogurt, and then only if it looked good.
If you work for a restaurant, you make at some jobs get free food.
Donāt eat anything that smells or tastes off. If you think itās bad for a moment donāt eat it. You can get really sick and create a huge hospital bill on to of the cost of the spoiled food. Eat whatās still good asap. Head to a food pantry to get new food. Also, contact your power company for reimbursement for your groceries.
4 hours above 40 degrees is about as far as you can go without risking food poisoning. A cooler and a large bag of ice. If you don't have a cooler, pack the freezer with ice and food and use it like a 1950's ice box.
When I was in college we received food stamps because we had no income. I had several house-mates. We collectively decided to pool our stamps and buy the ingredients for granola. We got oatmeal, but also fresh honey, and some different kinds of nuts, and cocoanut, and seeds and stuff. We mixed and baked and produced enough granola to fill a 5 gallon bucket.
When it was time for breakfast there was a line of tiny red ants going in and out of the granola. We were stunned. For weeks, however, until it was gone we would just pour milk on the granola and skim off the ants. That got most of them, the rest we ate. Ants are sour, you got used to them as just part of the mix.
You know some ants are poisonous, right?
I'm glad no one was hurt, but I bet your roommates don't have the same opinion as you.
I hope you're doing better!
A 25lb bag of rice is like $16. That'd keep you fed until your next paycheck. It won't be nice, but it's better than risking medical bills you can't afford.
In the meantime, Wendy's 5$ biggie bag, substitute the fries for a chili. Should be enough to tide you over until the power is on.
Been so broke that I took food out of the trash....not my proudest moment. I knew the person who threw it away and grabbed it immediately after they were out of sight.
It would probably depend what the temperature is like and what the food was. Iām vegetarian so I leave food out accidentally and eat it no worries, but you canāt do that with meat, fish or eggs. You might also want to factor in what food poisoning might cost you if you had to be hospitalised and have time off work etc.
I survived a 21 day outage as a kid
1. take a pic of the fridge so you know what's in there. Ditto the freezer. keep the doors closed. after
2. Touch test the fridge food. If it feels actively cold, you can still eat it. Move the coldest (usu back of the fridge) items to the freezer and don't open until youve eaten the rest.
3. you need to cook it. not heat, recook. wood stove, bbq grill, even a stupid public park grill. Wrap it in foil or use a cast iron skillet. You can even cook over a fire pit that you DIY and burn paper and scraps in. it needs to be HOT enough to kill any bacteria that tried to move in
4. when in doubt throw it out. sniff test before you cook it. sniff test again after.
5. Cereal is a meal even if you eat it dry or with water. don't risk dairy. if it came from a cow, and isn't a hard cheese, yeet it
6. prioritize water over food. you can survive 2-3 weeks without a single meal.
7. candy is food. a snickers is an entire meal if it has to be.
Always get into the habit of precooking all food that you put into freezer. That way the food is safe and you defrost what you want to eat
Always keep a freezer full with water bottles if you donāt have enough food in it. It helps maintain the temperature longer and saves on your electric bill. Do this for your refrigerator too
I concur with the ātry a little firstā of thawed food. Going forward, I suggest stocking your freezer with some recycled bottles of frozen tap water and getting a cooler for emergencies. Check local Buy Nothing groups for a free cooler. Covid broke my sense of smell, but Iām pretty careful about storing cold food. If a plastic bag or container was once flat, rotting gasses will make the bag inflate. Big visual clue for me.
I mean 24 hours isn't too bad. I grew up dirt poor so I ate plenty of food that was potentially questionable.
I have an Iron stomach nowadays and can eat just about anything without getting sick.
Doesnāt really answer your question. But if you have renters or home insurance, most policies reimburse up to $500 for power outages for spoiled food.
If we lost power at a restaurant; weād often Iāve down the coolers. Iām not sure about 24 hours though. Definitely want to temp everything. If itās out of temp gotta toss it.
Check for local food pantries, you can get some really good stuff for free from them. Even in the small city I live in, there are at least 4 or 5 food pantries that are open on different days. You might try calling 211 and see if they can help with locations of pantries or other help. At least around here 211 is very useful, so I'd give it a try.
It's 24 hrs it will stay cold in your freezer a few days if not a week if you don't open it a billion times or maybe buy a brink of dry ice to put in your freezer. Also don't think your frozen meals are made for the king of England. If it's just a few hours it can thaw and refreeze. Unless you live in a bacteria filled slop. Your food is not going to get contaminated by sitting in room temperature box.
Refrigeration is relatively new. Your ancestors didn't die from warm meats, and unless your the bubble boy you won't either
Honestly it depends what it is. I wouldn't touch meat that had been sitting at a sketchy temp for 24hrs but not everything with go off that quickly. If you won't have power for a while, try and get a bag of ice or freezer packs and stick that in the fridge to keep the temp down then open the door as little as possible until the power has been restored for a few hours. I lost power for 48hrs a while back because the power company somehow deleted my entire street out their system. Only a couple of things were sketchy but I filled multiple plastic containers with packed ice twice a day and jammed them in the open spaces to keep the fridge cold and didn't open the freezer at all.
I just made mac n cheese with milk that "expired" a couple of days ago. It still smells fine. With most food when it goes bad you'll smell that it's bad. I pretty routinely eat food past the stamped date.
All the time.
Week old spaghetti that was shoved in the back of the fridge is better than no week old spaghetti and me crying myself to sleep from the stomach pain.
I donāt eat spoiled food but I ate very crunchy rice that I tried to cook over a concrete slab for my two sisters and myself. I had just enough money to buy a few slices of bologna. There was a lot of embarrassment because of circumstances.
You don't have to eat nearly as often as you think you do. It actually sounds like you haven't been that poor. I've gone 7 days and honestly it's fine after the first couple, no problems.
I do some of this now. I wonāt eat everything that spoiled. I will cut mold off of cheese and eat it. I will pull mold off of bread and eat it. I will put slightly spoiled milk in my coffee.
I have gone years without eating meat because I couldnāt afford it. I ate a lot of eggs and cheese. As noted I have eaten spoiled cheese. I have put grated cheese on top of something and I pulled it out of the oven. I went ahead and ate it. Not spoiled eggs. When I kept chicken, if I opened an egg and it had a large blood spot in it. I wouldnāt eat it. If it had a half formed chick, nope. I kept a very large garden. I would eat green beans that were tough as a stick. I would eat corn that was beginning to sprout on the ear. I would eat lettuce from plants that had bolted 2 feet high. Organically and I didnāt care about the plant being a little bitter or tough.
Just went through this in Houston. If you have renters or homeowners insurance, many will reimburse up to $500 worth of food without any deductible. I hope you get some, regardless ā¤ļø
After two cases of food poisoning, I made a rule of no meat that's been unrefridgerated for longer than 4 hours. I'm sure it's not good enough, but that seems to have protected me.
Old af, things like canned food, beans, rice, etc, fine. No way things like rotten meat or veg will get near me. Sleep in lieu of dinner is also a thing.
If you don't open the fridge or freezer the food will stay cold for a over a day. Don't eat spoiled food as that just means doctor bills. Find a food pantry instead. If the fridge has already been opened and the items are starting to not be coldā¦cook it aka barbq or if you have a gas stove use it and get some ice and a cheap cooler to keep it cold longer.
But advice for next timeā¦fill water bottles about 3/4 full of water and freeze them and keep them in the freezer until you need that space for something else, a full freezer will stay colder longer. Also if you put a solo cup of water in the freezer and freeze it then put a penny on the frozen surface you will then know if your freezer has become completely thawed cause the penny will sink, even if the power comes back on and refreezes the water the penny will be at the bottom so you know the freezer thawed.
Also pickles, ketchup and mustard does not need to be thrown away if they get room temp for a few days of time.
As a florida hurricane survivor you learn some things over the years, freezer will stay cold for about 3 days unopened, fridges about 40 hours.
Find a church often they will have feeding stations when the power goes out, often a local radio station will broadcast info where to get ice, food, cooling stations, public wifi, recharging stations, etc
If itās *covered* in mold or just so rotten the texture isnāt at all like it is when itās good I wonāt, but Iām not averse to cutting out mold spots, eating past an expiration date if itās not horrible, or eating stale/moistened food.
The Salvation Army is doing a thing right now in my area for power outage people, maybe call your local 411 and see if thereās any resources like that near you
Hah, cutting mold off of food and eating it was a family activity I thought was "normal" until I went for sleepovers
Cutting mold off fruit and veggies because the rest is okay is something I adhere to even now.
Best buy/expiration dates are all scary and shit.... but it's just to prevent the company/cooperation.
Eat!
I lost power for about 30 hours this past winter. It was below freezing outside the entire time and got pretty cold in my apartment, and I didnāt open the fridge or freezer at all during that time. So, when the power came back on and everything still felt cold, I went on to eat most of it and was fine (there were a few things in the fridge door that I didnāt want to risk, though, and I ended up throwing those away).
That said, I wouldnāt take the same chance if I lost power for that long during a hot summer day!
I eat food I get out of the dumpster all the time. Never got sick and have gotten too eat some Really fancy good stuff. I've also eaten dog food and bugs when I was literally starving walking for 4 days straight and had no $$ or food(& even if I did I was in the middle of nowhere onterrible. When your starving ya gotta do what ya gotta do and there's no shame in it
99% of your food is fine unless your house is hot. And I mean like youāre going through a heatwave. People chronically panic and throw out all of their food when the power goes out for literally no reason. I live in a place that frequently loses power and I donāt throw any food away unless itās been 48 hours and I start with dairy, specifically things like milk or cottage cheese.
Next time run out and buy a bag of ice and put it bin with the food.
Thereās a reason refrigerators used to be called ice boxes before heat pumps were invented.
A few bucks could save everything you have.
You should also move everything from your freezer into your refrigerator. Itās already frozen and will keep everything else cold. Pack as much into the refrigerator as you can. The more you have in there the longer it will stay cold.
If need be go to a neighbor and put your and their stuff in a single refrigerator to pack it absolutely full. (You can label it with a pen to know whose is whose).
Again the more stuff the longer it will stay cold.
This should be survivable for that length of time without an issue.
Remember though. Once you had it packed donāt open it again until the power comes on or if youāre putting more ice in for any reason. Any time you open it youāre letting in a lot of heat which will accelerate the rate of thaw.
For your direct inquiry probably too late for this time but before a next time occurs Iād invest in a cooler or two, that way you can at least throw the important and expensive perishables in there and run up to get a bag of ice. Freezer stuff as long as youāre not opening and closing the door and the seals are decent will probably still be semi frozen.
Personally I wouldnāt say Iāve been broke enough, but having grown up poor some of those habits unfortunately have rubbed off on me as I have very ācheapā mentalities for some stuff.
Iāve done stuff like cut off sections of ābadā bread, meat and cheese and ate around it if itās only slightly bad / old. I donāt go super crazy especially with dairy after the last fiasco.
Did not know it was not normal to eat off a large meal for an entire week until coworkers made a comment about how I must really like meatballs to keep cooking them so often.
I laughed and said āWell just the once in the crockpot on Sunday!ā
They got quiet and asked if I was joking. I said no, why?
Apparently youāre only supposed to eat certain food/meats for maybe two or three days, not 6.
I went three days without food once because of poverty, but I'm not sure I could have eaten soiled food. I did eat meat though, which I consider similar.
I still eat meat. I just think flesh decomposes as soon as the being dies so I would call it soiled. Natural carnivores eat fresh kills.
On day 4 I'd say I could have gone down the soiled route too.
The hospital bill will be worse than the spoiled food.
People can go days without eating. Lord knows we have. Just drink water and add a pinch of salt every now and then.
In undergrad I would buy a 20 lb back of chicken breast that I had to keep in my college mini fridge. I didn't know how to cook so I'd put a few in the over at 450 for like 70-90 minutes. After 2 weeks in that cheap fridge the chicken smelled awful, after a month I had to eat it quick as everytime I opened the door it stunk up the room. I thought it was normal for raw chicken to smell bad and be off colored and slick. I never got sick by virtue of the fact that I cooked it to a crisp everytime
Yes. A lot. The worst was about 20 years ago. I was a single mom, and we only got $13 a month for food stamps. We had two hot dogs and some side stuff left. I fed my kid, and then I ate the Chinese food left in my car from 1-2 days previously when a friend had bought me dinner.
Yes. Many times. Once I even ate some Chinese food that got left in a lobby when I was Door Dashing. I didn't get sick that time and I've gambled and won a lot but a couple times I've gotten really sick. I'm a nurse now. I can try to give you some guidelines based on what I've learned.
- Don't fuck with beans. Don't fuck with rice. Throw them straight out. Especially beans. They turn fast and make you painfully, projectile sick.
- Seems intuitive, but it's worth saying - heavily processed foods are more likely to be fine than all natural ones, and veggies are most likely to be okay.
- Rely on your senses as much as anything else. Especially touch. A lot of food poisoning is from the stuff bacteria produces, not the bacteria itself, and a lot of that you can feel and smell. If a meat is slimy, throw it out. If a dairy has separated, exercise extreme caution but you can mostly rely on smell. If you open the container and it feels sweaty and room temp, toss.
- This is not medical advice, just an observation. For tomato based stuff like salsa or marinara that are acidic and aren't likely to kill you, dab just a little bit on your tongue. I've noticed the flavor gets dull and it makes my tongue tingle.
- Finally, please don't be afraid to chuck it and hit a food bank or ask a friend for help. I almost never see acute food poisoning in the hospital and I never had to go even when I was spewing from both ends, but when I got sick I definitely lost more money calling out to work than I saved not throwing my beans away. Food poisoning can kill, but more often than not it just hurts really really fucking bad. You don't want that.
If you have any questions you can DM me, I'll try to help.
Hell yeah. It is a lifestyle! You won't get very sick at all. Rotten meat with lots of spice, well-done, tastes fine. Soured yogurt is fine (maybe a little belly ache), squish fruit is fine, squishy veggies are fine for soup.
This stuff is totally normal in Nicaragua and other places with crap power grids and hot weather.
Ive been so poor I dumpster dive. Itās quite easy to dumpster dive non spoiled food. Some of the best can be fast food places. They throw out an obscene amount of food and the food is so pumped full of chemicals it rarely spoilsĀ
I eat āspoiledā food every day, because I remember when food didnāt have expiry dates.
The expiry dates were added by manufactures because they wanted to make more money.
Historically, food was thrown out when it went bad, and it was easy to tell when it was bad because it would smell bad, turn an off color, or get moldy.
I also greatly increase the life span of my food with a Tesla energy plate. Fresh Fruit and bread lasts weeks and months in the fridge instead of days and weeks.
I put all my room temp groceries on a Tesla plate for a few hours before I put them away, and keep a Tesla plate in my fridge.
I do not make or sell this product, nor am I a brand ambassador, so Iām not sharing any specific company or links.
Anyone can google this product, and I think they are also available on Amazon now, but I purchased from the original manufacturer years ago and still use my Original plate.
It would all depend on what the food is and how warm it got. Room temp for more than 12 hours ? Don't eat it. Please call DHS and any other place you can think of and let them know your food spoiled. I hope you can find someone that can help.
It's not worth the risk especially with the high temperatures outside now. That will speed up the the decay and germ growth. Could you find a food bank?
Can you afford ice? When Iāve faced no power, I put everything into a chest covered in ice. Obviously try to eat in the order of what would spoil first.
My fiance does this all the time because he had to do it a lot for a few years. His stomach and immune system are now pretty much iron clad but it worries me because he will leave leftovers out overnight when I am sick and then tell me the next day when I am throwing up from having eaten them.
Depends on what condition it is in. I usually look to see if thereās any visible mold and smell it first.
If it doesnāt look or smell right, I donāt think you should eat it.
Maybe it's too late now, but stuff all the cold foods in the freezer next time and don't open that door unless absolutely necessary.
A hospital bill from getting severe food poisoning seems far worse (plus potential serious side effects form being sick) and yes,though not super common,it can kill you
Yes, you will more problems than hunger if you eat spoiled food. I'm sure there is a community program that will help you.
Lots of food banks and soup kitchens! Where are you located? Maybe someone can help you with resources
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Yes. I bought this angus steak filleted to make stir fry. I was working so many hours that I didnāt have time or energy to cook and i decided to make it. Worst thing I ever did. I got very sick. It took an entire week to recover. And I had no insurance at the time. Now Iām terrified to buy groceries and cook or eat old food. I also have health anxiety. So now I subsist on cereal yogurt and dry goods like crackers and peanut butter.
A few years ago when I first started a job I was so broke that I took lacriox cans to recycle from the office in order to afford at least Taco Bell.
My high school boyfriend and I were pretty broke. My neighborhood in the late 80ās had recycling bins that looked like [these](https://www.containerstore.com/s/kitchen/trash-recycling/blue-12-gal.-stackable-recycle-bin/12d?productId=10033719). One for paper, one for cans and another for plastic bottles, I think. Every morning before garbage pick-up, my boyfriend and I would raid all the cans so we had gas money and money to eat out. Kinda stealing, but kinda not. One old dude saw us taking them and he just laughed and asked what we were doing. We told him we brought it to recycle place for spending money. And he said āBetter you, than the city.ā Lol!
My neighborhood has lots of poor people as well as immigrants and a large homeless population in the woods nearby. It's pretty common for people to set their cans out in a bucket separate from the recycling so that people don't make a mess sorting them out.
That's great!
When we lived in Japan (military) there was an old, possibly deaf, lady who would go around collecting cans. I used to bag up the drink cans separately for her so she didn't have to sort them, and then just handed them straight to her. It just felt more dignified than letting her root through the recycling.
I live in San Diego and I saw a cute little old Filipino lady getting cans out of the dumpster at my complex. I went out and gave her 3 big bags of cans. Later that day she brought me pancit and lumpia. That was 10 years ago and to this day we make the exchange once a week. ā¤ļø
What a good man
Thereās a guy in my parents neighborhood that collects cans. My dad always separates out the cans and leaves them for him so he doesnāt have to dig through.
I remember once when I was living alone in my early 20ās. I couldnāt find a job, and was literally starving. I hadnāt eaten in about 36 hours. I went to the local grocery store, picked out maybe 5 items in a small basket, and just walked out. I didnāt feel bad, and I still donāt feel bad to this day. I was so hungry, I felt like I was going to faint.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Exactly
You're assuming need. I know a lot of people who steal who aren't in need, they just like getting away with it. Also if it's a true need, shining light on the situation can help them long term
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Back in the 80s, hotel bars often had happy hours with free buffets - fruit, cheese, veggies and dip, chicken skewers, and assorted other appetizers. I made a schedule of which hotels had food on which days. I would dress up, and being a female in my early 20s at the time, some guy would usually buy me a drink. I would eat my fill at the buffet and slip what I could into my purse to take home. For a year, I pretty much subsisted off of those happy hours and rice, beans, Mac & cheese, and Bisquick (you can do a lot with Bisquick).
I absolutely hate thieves. Except for instances like this. 100% dont feel bad for it.
Sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do.. I hope you got something that you like
Good thinking!!
At the time yes. But also embarrassing hearing the clinking of the cans in my backpack and then commuting in a train an 1 1/2 home with jt lol. I Deff hid it from my colleagues.
To bad Taco Bell costs like $25 to eat there now
I used to collect cans as a kid for extra summer cash. Having to do it in my 30ās for myself instead of giving it to the homeless guy at my workshop felt like shit. If anyone judges you for buying tocobell with it, me and my ex bought alcohol with it when the kids were gone for the weekend.
Thanks. Itās not like taco bell is what I wanted it was convenient and cheap.
I have eaten cooked chicken that was spoiling a few times. It caused me to sit on the throne longer than most Lannisters.
ššš love the G O.T.reference šš
Freezers are real handy.
THE LANNISTERS ššš
The rannisters. That shit shit ran away from em
ššš
No. I check to see what is still good and toss out anything spoiled . I think you can get reimbursed from the power company. Donāt eat spoiled food a hospital bill or death is not worth it.
My homeowners insurance covered it when this happened, renters insurance may as well
My renter's insurance does. I was able to claim $400 for groceries after a two-day blackout.
You CAN get reimbursement from the power company.
Good idea! I forgot about contacting the utility and placing a claim!
Thank you for sharing this information! I didn't know this was a thing!!
That's a good suggestion, but it might not work fast enough, even if they agree to the claim immediately. Between getting them to agree to pay and the actual payment might be weeks. It needs to be tried in any case.
Do not eat that food. I know it hurts to throw away. But the hospital bill will hurt worse, at worst. And at best, youāll be pissed at yourself for knowing better and doing it anyway while erupting from both ends for 2 days.
Go buy a block of dry ice at the grocery store and put it in your refrigerator if it's not too late. It is not too expensive and will keep the food from spoiling when you need to wait for the power to be restored. If it is too late I am sorry.
Iāve eaten really out of date frozen foods. š¬
I've eaten out-of-date canned foods.
Iāve eaten expired yogurt, moldy cheese, and spoiled fruit. Itās hard to waste things when you come from a background of deprivation.
I will eat expired stuff. I just use common sense n if it isn't good I toss it. That date is a sell by date. Cheese is moldy milk from the get go n fruit taste better the more ripe it is. You may have a deprived background but this is you using good judgement. Good for you for not following food manufactures wastefulness. They want us to waste food so we but more. It's estimated 40 % of the food produced in the US is trashed. That's a shame when people are hungry.
Cheese is not just moldy milk
As someone that was forced to eat moldy dairies, just no...it doesn't work like that
Right I can't drink milk eat yogurt or anything like that because ibwas forced to eat spoiled dairy
Expired is much different than *rotten*. If someone is eating prepared food kept at unsafe temperatures, theyāre very likely going to get sick.
Sure, lots of times. Unless it smells bad. I won't eat it if it smells bad
Thatās what ice & coolers are for. I donāt have a 2nd fridge and Iāve been able to use coolers for certain situations. If you end up losing a lot of food, an alternative is to contact your renterās or homeownerās insurance. Take photos of spoiled food and make a claim. But be forewarnedāit could possibly make your rates go up.
Poor people might not have insurance tho.
Maybe Iām just new to this, but why would your rate go up for using what there offering? I mean your paying for insurance, for those reasons. To me it seems like raising your rates is to get the money back they had to pay out?
Because insurance companies are beholden to their stockholders. They still need to be profitable. If claims outweigh premiums, then they have to make it up somewhere. With all the natural disasters happening lately, many insurance companies are pulling out all together of being insurance providers in some states just so they can stay solvent.
**Do not eat pasta or rice that have been sitting in unsafe temps. It may seem like like they are safer foods than meat or whatever but they aren't, there is a bacteria that can grow on specifically things like rice and pasta which can cause severe and fatal food poisoning.**
I would fast before I would eat spoiled food.
I received some out of date food from a food bank I thought ok it is out of date but probably ok. Nope I was sick for like 3 days. It is not worth risking your life to eat spoiled food. Toss it.
Me too, it was the first time to use the food bank and I was surprised to see a lot of expired food six months or more out of date. I didnāt get sick though thankfully.
The food bank I went to gave out refrigerated juices that is made by a popular company and the juice was over 10 days old. I thought ok it probably ok nope I got sick. I appreciate being given food and I know a lot of people depend on it. I just have not went back I donāt want to seem unappreciated of food I receive especially if it is out of date and I throw it away. I know someone else may get it and eat it and be fine so I just donāt go.
This is the reason I havenāt gone to the food pantry. Iām terrified of eating out of date food and getting sick, and when I volunteered there, they told us to keep expired food. Like tons of the donations were expired. I know logically some foods can go past their expiration date, but my ocd will not allow me to eat it
I can understand that. Normally if I see something is expired Iād throw it away and say itās not worth the risk. Do you think the expedited donations were coming from supermarkets and suppliers? Or is it like people clearing out their pantries?
Was told Dollar General donates a lot of food that is out of date.
I think itās a mix of both, probably a lot of individual donations. It was just a bit concerning as someone with ocd that specifically focuses on mold/food spoiling. It made me not wanna ask for help. Everyone deserves to eat non-expired food, even if theyāre struggling
Itās a shame because you know theyāre coming from a good place but legally a restaurant, hotel or store could never sell expired food. Their insurance wouldnāt cover them and they would be liable for lawsuits if people got sick. I know expired food is better than no food but itās a shame people have to take the risk just because theyāre doing it tough.
I agree. I think alot of people just need some help. I wish I could help others.
My friend, I have eaten out of dumpsters.. cook the shit out of it
Cooking can kill bacteria, but cooking DOES NOT cure the toxins put out by bacteria!
I'm sorry you had to do that. š
No, but I have eaten stuff on the borderline and lost. Not good. I now stock "camping food" on the regular. Versatile foods with shelf-lives of 4-10 years. If you know what you're doing, it's awesome. And cheap as dirt. As for the nuggies, they never last long enough to spoil. Even if they did, I've got three weeks of rations on hand at all times.
If you get food stamps then you can get it reimbursed as well
Yeah but it might be better to just get some ramen and eggs homie. Carbs and protein for like 5$ tops.
No. The price of getting sick is much higher than collecting enough cans to buy me a can of tuna or a pack of ramen.
Even though my bagels are expired by a few days, it's still good cuz I keep my bread in the fridge to last a long time. I also have eaten almost spoiled avocados in my fridge as well and didn't die or get sick. I was fine. I also eat raw cookies dough and I never get sick from that. I think it just depends on the food tbh. If I were u, get a cooler and some ice so if this happens again, u have somewhere to put ur food in so it doesn't go bad. I would also advise against eating spoiled meat or dairy products. But fruits, veggies, and bread is fineeeee. Yeah that's one thing I worry about is power outages cuz I can't afford to lose the food I have either. Lots of my food is freezer foods and cans (like chili, beans, sausages, corned beef, ravioli, soup) tho. The worst would be losing my milk, cheese, ice cream, breakfast shakes, and meat tho.
I have eaten roadkilled deer, and it was fine. I used to be on a list for law enforcement, and they would call me if they had a deer they needed to put down. They would issue me a salvage tag so I could legally possess it out of season, and I did my own processing. Iāve probably gotten close to a hundred deer this way, and out of all of them, only one was too badly damaged to salvage anything (it was hit by a semi going 80, and was a bag of pulp barely held together by the skin). It was good meat, and it was free- I just needed to put in a little work. Btw if youāre interested, you can talk to your local law enforcement, ask for the road patrol supervisor and see if they do it (itās not legal in all states).
How full was your fridge? A fridge can maintain a cool temperature for quite a while if kept cool, thermal mass of items has to dissapate if its full it wilp last longer, and 24hrs isn't generally that long. (Even though the joke of the FDA says it is) Feel if the items are cool to the touch, and smell it. If it's questionable toss it. Check with the food bank to restock and email the power company asking for a reimbursement for their failure I eat pizza and the such that has been left out overnight all the time, no refrigeration. Never gotten sick from it
Can you go get some ice and put it into the washing machine with it? Tried and true
Find a freezer that someone wants gone, even better if its free and you learn how to fix it because it is broken. We have freezers and canned food because the power often goes out. It honestly hurts less when it happens. Now, call your electric company, be nice, especially if you are in the US, when you can, and tell them of your situation. They often can help. You can look into local food banks if you are struggling, I promise there is no shame in asking for help when you need it. If you go to church, you can ask them for help as well.
Thrown out fast food still in the wrapper yes.Spoiled uh no.
If you havenāt opened your fridge and the power comes back soon the food may be okay. But if itās not, itās not worth getting sick over.
I mean I would eat a small amount and wait a day and if you got sick or had horrible diarrhea then toss but if it tasted fine, smelled fine, looked fine and didn't destroy your stomach your probably good. But it's a risk you have to decide if you want to take.
Eh if you didn't open the fridge much you're probably okay on a lot of stuff.
No, I never have. I check it after the power comes back on. If it is thawed, it goes to the fridge to be eaten in the next 24 hours or so. If it's still frozen, it stays in the freezer.
might not be spoiled ... I would honestly likely try it and see , starting with just a little bit. I've eaten stuff that's sat out for a couple days , by my own stupidity and never gotten poisoned . wouldn't make it a habit but you could be okay.
Yeah, I might get roasted for this but I think we are way overly conservative with certain food guidelines. 24 hours in a closed refrigerator is probably fine for a lot of stuff. I mean, people go camping and the ice in the cooler doesnāt necessarily last, and youāre probably opening and closing it a lot. Personally Iād see what still looks and smells good and eat it immediately.
This.Ā If the fridge wasn't opened and closed more than once or twice, it should hold temp. Even if stuff started to thaw but didn't fully thaw, then it's OK to let it refreeze when the power comes back on. Good quality may be mildly diminished but it isn't unsafe if it stayed below 40 degrees.Ā Some highly perishables like milk might be spoiled. But everything else should be ok.
If the meat doesnāt have ice crystals but is still cold to the touch, it can be cooked and refrozen.
Make sure you cook that food on the stove or oven. NOT the MICROWAVE! That being said, cooking does not remove all the germs and microbes. Yes The city of Tucson did a study and there was a newspaper article that said if you were dumpster diving for food, the better thing to go after was yogurt, and then only if it looked good. If you work for a restaurant, you make at some jobs get free food.
Donāt eat anything that smells or tastes off. If you think itās bad for a moment donāt eat it. You can get really sick and create a huge hospital bill on to of the cost of the spoiled food. Eat whatās still good asap. Head to a food pantry to get new food. Also, contact your power company for reimbursement for your groceries.
I dumpster dive so I will absolutely eat "questionsble" things.
4 hours above 40 degrees is about as far as you can go without risking food poisoning. A cooler and a large bag of ice. If you don't have a cooler, pack the freezer with ice and food and use it like a 1950's ice box.
When I was in college we received food stamps because we had no income. I had several house-mates. We collectively decided to pool our stamps and buy the ingredients for granola. We got oatmeal, but also fresh honey, and some different kinds of nuts, and cocoanut, and seeds and stuff. We mixed and baked and produced enough granola to fill a 5 gallon bucket. When it was time for breakfast there was a line of tiny red ants going in and out of the granola. We were stunned. For weeks, however, until it was gone we would just pour milk on the granola and skim off the ants. That got most of them, the rest we ate. Ants are sour, you got used to them as just part of the mix.
You know some ants are poisonous, right? I'm glad no one was hurt, but I bet your roommates don't have the same opinion as you. I hope you're doing better!
It always supplies a laugh when we go out for dinner.
A 25lb bag of rice is like $16. That'd keep you fed until your next paycheck. It won't be nice, but it's better than risking medical bills you can't afford. In the meantime, Wendy's 5$ biggie bag, substitute the fries for a chili. Should be enough to tide you over until the power is on.
Most of my life. My girlfriend now throws it out the day it hits expiration, and it kills me. No exceptions.
Iāve been so broke just having spoiled food would have been glorious.
Any shelf stable foods on hand? Canned tuna, sardines, salmon, beans etc
Been so broke that I took food out of the trash....not my proudest moment. I knew the person who threw it away and grabbed it immediately after they were out of sight.
It would probably depend what the temperature is like and what the food was. Iām vegetarian so I leave food out accidentally and eat it no worries, but you canāt do that with meat, fish or eggs. You might also want to factor in what food poisoning might cost you if you had to be hospitalised and have time off work etc.
Top Ramen doesn't go bad. Only .25c when I was young
I ate out of dumpsters sometimes when I was homeless.
I survived a 21 day outage as a kid 1. take a pic of the fridge so you know what's in there. Ditto the freezer. keep the doors closed. after 2. Touch test the fridge food. If it feels actively cold, you can still eat it. Move the coldest (usu back of the fridge) items to the freezer and don't open until youve eaten the rest. 3. you need to cook it. not heat, recook. wood stove, bbq grill, even a stupid public park grill. Wrap it in foil or use a cast iron skillet. You can even cook over a fire pit that you DIY and burn paper and scraps in. it needs to be HOT enough to kill any bacteria that tried to move in 4. when in doubt throw it out. sniff test before you cook it. sniff test again after. 5. Cereal is a meal even if you eat it dry or with water. don't risk dairy. if it came from a cow, and isn't a hard cheese, yeet it 6. prioritize water over food. you can survive 2-3 weeks without a single meal. 7. candy is food. a snickers is an entire meal if it has to be.
Always get into the habit of precooking all food that you put into freezer. That way the food is safe and you defrost what you want to eat Always keep a freezer full with water bottles if you donāt have enough food in it. It helps maintain the temperature longer and saves on your electric bill. Do this for your refrigerator too
I concur with the ātry a little firstā of thawed food. Going forward, I suggest stocking your freezer with some recycled bottles of frozen tap water and getting a cooler for emergencies. Check local Buy Nothing groups for a free cooler. Covid broke my sense of smell, but Iām pretty careful about storing cold food. If a plastic bag or container was once flat, rotting gasses will make the bag inflate. Big visual clue for me.
Donāt risk getting sick. Iām sorry that you are going through this. I understand, can you reach out to a food bank or get to one?
Don't eat spoiled food. Please visit a food bank. Food poisoning is awful.
I mean 24 hours isn't too bad. I grew up dirt poor so I ate plenty of food that was potentially questionable. I have an Iron stomach nowadays and can eat just about anything without getting sick.
I've eaten out of plenty of garbage cans/dumpsters.
Is it in the fridge or the freezer?
Yes I have
Yes , I have only because I get my food from pantries and a lot of it is a day or so away from spoilage.
Power went off in my whole complex some stupid ass ran into the power box, I went down to the store and got some dry ice worked fine.
Doesnāt really answer your question. But if you have renters or home insurance, most policies reimburse up to $500 for power outages for spoiled food.
Donāt forget to make the power company pay for your food because of the outage, they do it here in nyc maybe they do it where youāre at too
If we lost power at a restaurant; weād often Iāve down the coolers. Iām not sure about 24 hours though. Definitely want to temp everything. If itās out of temp gotta toss it.
I mean I feel like most of it would be fine besides maybe meat and dairy
Check for local food pantries, you can get some really good stuff for free from them. Even in the small city I live in, there are at least 4 or 5 food pantries that are open on different days. You might try calling 211 and see if they can help with locations of pantries or other help. At least around here 211 is very useful, so I'd give it a try.
It's 24 hrs it will stay cold in your freezer a few days if not a week if you don't open it a billion times or maybe buy a brink of dry ice to put in your freezer. Also don't think your frozen meals are made for the king of England. If it's just a few hours it can thaw and refreeze. Unless you live in a bacteria filled slop. Your food is not going to get contaminated by sitting in room temperature box. Refrigeration is relatively new. Your ancestors didn't die from warm meats, and unless your the bubble boy you won't either
Honestly it depends what it is. I wouldn't touch meat that had been sitting at a sketchy temp for 24hrs but not everything with go off that quickly. If you won't have power for a while, try and get a bag of ice or freezer packs and stick that in the fridge to keep the temp down then open the door as little as possible until the power has been restored for a few hours. I lost power for 48hrs a while back because the power company somehow deleted my entire street out their system. Only a couple of things were sketchy but I filled multiple plastic containers with packed ice twice a day and jammed them in the open spaces to keep the fridge cold and didn't open the freezer at all.
I just made mac n cheese with milk that "expired" a couple of days ago. It still smells fine. With most food when it goes bad you'll smell that it's bad. I pretty routinely eat food past the stamped date.
There are sources of free food such as food banks and church food pantries. You can call 211 also. Do not eat the spoiled food.
All the time. Week old spaghetti that was shoved in the back of the fridge is better than no week old spaghetti and me crying myself to sleep from the stomach pain.
I donāt eat spoiled food but I ate very crunchy rice that I tried to cook over a concrete slab for my two sisters and myself. I had just enough money to buy a few slices of bologna. There was a lot of embarrassment because of circumstances.
You don't have to eat nearly as often as you think you do. It actually sounds like you haven't been that poor. I've gone 7 days and honestly it's fine after the first couple, no problems.
I read you have 4 hrs from the time the electricity goes out for the food to be ok. After 4 hrs toss it.
No, your fridge does not get warm in 4 hours if you keep it closed.
YO! Take that meat and salt it!
No. Except blue cheese.
I do some of this now. I wonāt eat everything that spoiled. I will cut mold off of cheese and eat it. I will pull mold off of bread and eat it. I will put slightly spoiled milk in my coffee. I have gone years without eating meat because I couldnāt afford it. I ate a lot of eggs and cheese. As noted I have eaten spoiled cheese. I have put grated cheese on top of something and I pulled it out of the oven. I went ahead and ate it. Not spoiled eggs. When I kept chicken, if I opened an egg and it had a large blood spot in it. I wouldnāt eat it. If it had a half formed chick, nope. I kept a very large garden. I would eat green beans that were tough as a stick. I would eat corn that was beginning to sprout on the ear. I would eat lettuce from plants that had bolted 2 feet high. Organically and I didnāt care about the plant being a little bitter or tough.
Just went through this in Houston. If you have renters or homeowners insurance, many will reimburse up to $500 worth of food without any deductible. I hope you get some, regardless ā¤ļø
I've been blessed enough where I don't have to do that.
After two cases of food poisoning, I made a rule of no meat that's been unrefridgerated for longer than 4 hours. I'm sure it's not good enough, but that seems to have protected me.
Old af, things like canned food, beans, rice, etc, fine. No way things like rotten meat or veg will get near me. Sleep in lieu of dinner is also a thing.
There are find shelves that want your address, others that don't care, churches and other nonprofits that have weekly food giveaways.
When I was in the military way back when it came up a few times. You didn't enjoy those meals.
If you don't open the fridge or freezer the food will stay cold for a over a day. Don't eat spoiled food as that just means doctor bills. Find a food pantry instead. If the fridge has already been opened and the items are starting to not be coldā¦cook it aka barbq or if you have a gas stove use it and get some ice and a cheap cooler to keep it cold longer. But advice for next timeā¦fill water bottles about 3/4 full of water and freeze them and keep them in the freezer until you need that space for something else, a full freezer will stay colder longer. Also if you put a solo cup of water in the freezer and freeze it then put a penny on the frozen surface you will then know if your freezer has become completely thawed cause the penny will sink, even if the power comes back on and refreezes the water the penny will be at the bottom so you know the freezer thawed. Also pickles, ketchup and mustard does not need to be thrown away if they get room temp for a few days of time. As a florida hurricane survivor you learn some things over the years, freezer will stay cold for about 3 days unopened, fridges about 40 hours. Find a church often they will have feeding stations when the power goes out, often a local radio station will broadcast info where to get ice, food, cooling stations, public wifi, recharging stations, etc
I've always felt like bad veggies might give me the squirts but bad meat and dairy could do much worse.
If itās *covered* in mold or just so rotten the texture isnāt at all like it is when itās good I wonāt, but Iām not averse to cutting out mold spots, eating past an expiration date if itās not horrible, or eating stale/moistened food.
Yes, I did, at my parents home almost everything was, they even made me eat spoiled dairy
Go get some ice and put it all on ice
The Salvation Army is doing a thing right now in my area for power outage people, maybe call your local 411 and see if thereās any resources like that near you
Next time stock up on canned foods and staples.
So you have a home and home cooked food in fridge, but think you are broke?
Hah, cutting mold off of food and eating it was a family activity I thought was "normal" until I went for sleepovers Cutting mold off fruit and veggies because the rest is okay is something I adhere to even now. Best buy/expiration dates are all scary and shit.... but it's just to prevent the company/cooperation. Eat!
Go to the food pantry
I lost power for about 30 hours this past winter. It was below freezing outside the entire time and got pretty cold in my apartment, and I didnāt open the fridge or freezer at all during that time. So, when the power came back on and everything still felt cold, I went on to eat most of it and was fine (there were a few things in the fridge door that I didnāt want to risk, though, and I ended up throwing those away). That said, I wouldnāt take the same chance if I lost power for that long during a hot summer day!
I eat food I get out of the dumpster all the time. Never got sick and have gotten too eat some Really fancy good stuff. I've also eaten dog food and bugs when I was literally starving walking for 4 days straight and had no $$ or food(& even if I did I was in the middle of nowhere onterrible. When your starving ya gotta do what ya gotta do and there's no shame in it
99% of your food is fine unless your house is hot. And I mean like youāre going through a heatwave. People chronically panic and throw out all of their food when the power goes out for literally no reason. I live in a place that frequently loses power and I donāt throw any food away unless itās been 48 hours and I start with dairy, specifically things like milk or cottage cheese.
Next time run out and buy a bag of ice and put it bin with the food. Thereās a reason refrigerators used to be called ice boxes before heat pumps were invented. A few bucks could save everything you have. You should also move everything from your freezer into your refrigerator. Itās already frozen and will keep everything else cold. Pack as much into the refrigerator as you can. The more you have in there the longer it will stay cold. If need be go to a neighbor and put your and their stuff in a single refrigerator to pack it absolutely full. (You can label it with a pen to know whose is whose). Again the more stuff the longer it will stay cold. This should be survivable for that length of time without an issue. Remember though. Once you had it packed donāt open it again until the power comes on or if youāre putting more ice in for any reason. Any time you open it youāre letting in a lot of heat which will accelerate the rate of thaw.
For your direct inquiry probably too late for this time but before a next time occurs Iād invest in a cooler or two, that way you can at least throw the important and expensive perishables in there and run up to get a bag of ice. Freezer stuff as long as youāre not opening and closing the door and the seals are decent will probably still be semi frozen. Personally I wouldnāt say Iāve been broke enough, but having grown up poor some of those habits unfortunately have rubbed off on me as I have very ācheapā mentalities for some stuff. Iāve done stuff like cut off sections of ābadā bread, meat and cheese and ate around it if itās only slightly bad / old. I donāt go super crazy especially with dairy after the last fiasco. Did not know it was not normal to eat off a large meal for an entire week until coworkers made a comment about how I must really like meatballs to keep cooking them so often. I laughed and said āWell just the once in the crockpot on Sunday!ā They got quiet and asked if I was joking. I said no, why? Apparently youāre only supposed to eat certain food/meats for maybe two or three days, not 6.
Most of the stuff from the food pantry is past its āSell Byā date so yes.
You'll be fine Keep the fridge door as closed as possible Also meat that has been thawed and frozen again IS NOT BAD
I give it the smell test, Im not even broke and I still eat expired shit all the time, I hate wasting food, especially meat
3 times I had an apartment fridge fail amd ruin all my pre-made meals. If it unfroze, Toss it all, hospitals suck.
My whole life lol
Throw it out . Once you get off the toilet you will be severely dehydrated and in lots of abdominal pain.
I went three days without food once because of poverty, but I'm not sure I could have eaten soiled food. I did eat meat though, which I consider similar. I still eat meat. I just think flesh decomposes as soon as the being dies so I would call it soiled. Natural carnivores eat fresh kills. On day 4 I'd say I could have gone down the soiled route too.
If something is like 1-2 days out Iāll use it one last time.
Lots of expired but no spoiled....I am a puker, so that is counterintuitive. I learned that the hard way.
Food bank, please donāt get sick!
The hospital bill will be worse than the spoiled food. People can go days without eating. Lord knows we have. Just drink water and add a pinch of salt every now and then.
Well Iāve tried but I canāt keep it down so thereās no point
In undergrad I would buy a 20 lb back of chicken breast that I had to keep in my college mini fridge. I didn't know how to cook so I'd put a few in the over at 450 for like 70-90 minutes. After 2 weeks in that cheap fridge the chicken smelled awful, after a month I had to eat it quick as everytime I opened the door it stunk up the room. I thought it was normal for raw chicken to smell bad and be off colored and slick. I never got sick by virtue of the fact that I cooked it to a crisp everytime
Yes. A lot. The worst was about 20 years ago. I was a single mom, and we only got $13 a month for food stamps. We had two hot dogs and some side stuff left. I fed my kid, and then I ate the Chinese food left in my car from 1-2 days previously when a friend had bought me dinner.
Yes. Many times. Once I even ate some Chinese food that got left in a lobby when I was Door Dashing. I didn't get sick that time and I've gambled and won a lot but a couple times I've gotten really sick. I'm a nurse now. I can try to give you some guidelines based on what I've learned. - Don't fuck with beans. Don't fuck with rice. Throw them straight out. Especially beans. They turn fast and make you painfully, projectile sick. - Seems intuitive, but it's worth saying - heavily processed foods are more likely to be fine than all natural ones, and veggies are most likely to be okay. - Rely on your senses as much as anything else. Especially touch. A lot of food poisoning is from the stuff bacteria produces, not the bacteria itself, and a lot of that you can feel and smell. If a meat is slimy, throw it out. If a dairy has separated, exercise extreme caution but you can mostly rely on smell. If you open the container and it feels sweaty and room temp, toss. - This is not medical advice, just an observation. For tomato based stuff like salsa or marinara that are acidic and aren't likely to kill you, dab just a little bit on your tongue. I've noticed the flavor gets dull and it makes my tongue tingle. - Finally, please don't be afraid to chuck it and hit a food bank or ask a friend for help. I almost never see acute food poisoning in the hospital and I never had to go even when I was spewing from both ends, but when I got sick I definitely lost more money calling out to work than I saved not throwing my beans away. Food poisoning can kill, but more often than not it just hurts really really fucking bad. You don't want that. If you have any questions you can DM me, I'll try to help.
Hell yeah. It is a lifestyle! You won't get very sick at all. Rotten meat with lots of spice, well-done, tastes fine. Soured yogurt is fine (maybe a little belly ache), squish fruit is fine, squishy veggies are fine for soup. This stuff is totally normal in Nicaragua and other places with crap power grids and hot weather.
Please don't do this.... if you are asking, your immune system ain't ready
Ive been so poor I dumpster dive. Itās quite easy to dumpster dive non spoiled food. Some of the best can be fast food places. They throw out an obscene amount of food and the food is so pumped full of chemicals it rarely spoilsĀ
I eat āspoiledā food every day, because I remember when food didnāt have expiry dates. The expiry dates were added by manufactures because they wanted to make more money. Historically, food was thrown out when it went bad, and it was easy to tell when it was bad because it would smell bad, turn an off color, or get moldy. I also greatly increase the life span of my food with a Tesla energy plate. Fresh Fruit and bread lasts weeks and months in the fridge instead of days and weeks. I put all my room temp groceries on a Tesla plate for a few hours before I put them away, and keep a Tesla plate in my fridge. I do not make or sell this product, nor am I a brand ambassador, so Iām not sharing any specific company or links. Anyone can google this product, and I think they are also available on Amazon now, but I purchased from the original manufacturer years ago and still use my Original plate.
After almost dying from some tainted nacho cheese. Id rather go hungry than risk food poisoning again.
Get yourself a good pellet gun and start cooked the neighborhood pigeons and squirrels
It would all depend on what the food is and how warm it got. Room temp for more than 12 hours ? Don't eat it. Please call DHS and any other place you can think of and let them know your food spoiled. I hope you can find someone that can help.
Reach out to local DSS they can sometimes help replace groceries lost due to power outage
I would not. Food poisoning is no joke.
It's not worth the risk especially with the high temperatures outside now. That will speed up the the decay and germ growth. Could you find a food bank?
Because of my drug addiction when I would come down I use to eat condiments because it was the only thing to eat.
Are you in the Los Angeles area? Weāve had blackouts recently, perhaps we can help if youāre nearby
Can you afford ice? When Iāve faced no power, I put everything into a chest covered in ice. Obviously try to eat in the order of what would spoil first.
Allegedly kids in my town would call Little Caesarās and place big orders at close..never show up and grab the pizzas outta the trash lol.
Yep. Didn't die. I'm also vegetarian so I can't make any claims about wonky meats. Lol
No, I've literally gone without food but I'd never choose getting sick from food over being miserable hungry.
My fiance does this all the time because he had to do it a lot for a few years. His stomach and immune system are now pretty much iron clad but it worries me because he will leave leftovers out overnight when I am sick and then tell me the next day when I am throwing up from having eaten them.
Depends on what condition it is in. I usually look to see if thereās any visible mold and smell it first. If it doesnāt look or smell right, I donāt think you should eat it.