Our power has been out almost 11 hours. A google search tells me that most items are unsafe after 4 hours of no power. The refrigerator has been closed all day. How long would you consider food in the refrigerator to be unsafe?
Depends on what it is you are concerned about. Some foods are more fragile than others: meat, poultry, fish, eggs, and leftovers are the first to go and would not be good at 11 hours. Those I would definitely get rid of.
11 hours is a long time. Even with the door closed, the temps are not going to stay low enough. I would toss most everything. That’s a big bummer 
Technically, anything stored above 40 degrees is in the unsafe temperature range. If you are in an area that is as hot as most of the country is right now, it doesn’t take long to get there at all.
I think it would depend on the items. Hard cheeses, fruit, and veggies would probably be fine. Acidic condiments like mustard probably fine. Things like meats, mayo, dairy, leftovers, I’d toss. I’d err on the side of caution though. Just not worth the risk.
If there is a next time, put items in a cooler packed with ice and not opening it will keep things safe longer.
Sorry you are experiencing this.
I’d agree that uncut fruits and veggies are likely fine, as are hard cheeses, peanut butter, and other things that you might take camping. Leftovers and cut fruit, I’d probably toss.
Americans waste too much food because of some silly food safety stuff drilled into our heads. We used to routinely lose power in House1. If I were to toss all of our food after every outage, we’d be broke.
Agree with dos. Pasteurized milk will be fine until the temps reach room temp. Hard cheeses, salami, and fruit and veggies will be OK, too. I never refrigerate condiments like mustard or vinegar-based dressings because well… they are full of preservatives anyway. Don’t keep opening your fridge. Keep the freezer shut. Quickly take all of the ice from the ice maker and use it in a cooler to store perishables. Ice is the first thing that melts in a freezer when the power goes out. Then the water leaks and damages the floor.
If you get power back soon, boil all of the eggs and boil any dairy milk (not cream). They will be OK to use.
I can see a lot of people never go off road camping LOL.
Why is your power out, @Mom60?
Power is back on. The garage refrigerator feels warm, the inside refrigerator is cool but obviously I know the temp had to drop. Ice Cubes are still frozen. Ice cream is basically soup.
@jym626 it was a planned power outage as they have been upgrading equipment. Today they were installing a new pole. It is partly my fault as I totally forgot and bought chicken yesterday. Tossed the chicken and I’ll go through rest of refrigerator tomorrow. I think I can file a claim with the power company for some of the items but I’m not sure it’s worth my time. My H thinks I’m over reacting. I think the eggs are fine. In most countries they don’t refrigerate eggs. I think I’m paranoid because I went to lunch today at a Chinese restaurant where both myself and my friend thought the chicken tasted spoiled. They offered to remake the dish but we opted to switch to a vegetarian entree.
Toss the ice cream because it will never re-freeze well - or eat it in a smoothie asap. 
Frozen food that is still frozen will be fine (even if it thawed out just a tiny bit). I used to not get worried about the fridge until 24 hours without power in withertime… obviously, shorter outages in the summer.
For me meat and eggs would be fine if cooked to well done, and milk good for cooking. I normally am fairly lax about food safety issues (to a reasonable degree), and have had food poisoning only once since i was a kid, and that was from a restaurant. However, other peoples’ stomachs may be more sensitive.
Wow. Was it supposed to take that long? Maybe they would deliver sandwiches to the neighborhoods affected.
The eggs probably are fine but we also don’t process our eggs the way they do in other countries. Store bought eggs in the USA are washed which removes the eggs natural protective coating and makes it more susceptible to spoilage.
The chicken would probably be okay if you cooked it and ate it today since the inside of the fridge was still cool but again IMO it’s not worth the risk for $5-10 worth of chicken. But I do have a more sensitive stomach due to one really bad case of something in South America decades ago that left me ill for months. I envy those of you with iron stomachs.
Also, the ambient temperature and humidity of your house and how full the fridge was would also come into play. A fuller fridge would keep food cold longer than one that was less full.
@BunsenBurner In the winter when we’ve lost power due to storms, we’ll stick our food outside in nature’s icebox.
@Sybylla What kind of perishable foods do you camp with without refrigeration that you don’t eat on the first day of your journey?
Alas. Our winter storms usually come with mid-fifties degree weather.
I think you’d be able to tell most of the foods by them looking off. In WA I can leave things on the counter over night r all day, no worries (maybe not this summer, but usually) and in warmer climes, no way, you can just see that it does not quite look right or smell right. I have one of those sensitive stomachs from living in Mexico for a summer, I was fine there after the initial few weeks, but it took me months to feel good in the US, again. If something looks or smells iffy, I just feed it to iron stomach DH. We also have one sensitive stomach dog and one who can eat anything.
Hope you don’t have to trash too much.
We had one winter freeze when there was no power for 5 days over Thanksgiving, snow was knee deep. We put the freezer stuff on the deck and the frig stuff in the garage and cooked dinner on the BBQ.
H ate the steak. My biggest concern was the chicken. I filed a claim with Edison for several items as I happened to have the receipts. My house stays decently cool and the kitchen refrigerator is a built in Kitchen Aid. I had my H eat some of the ice cream. I am going to toss it but he thinks it will refreeze. I know he is wrong but I’m humoring him.
The outage lasted several hours longer than it was scheduled. We have had multiple outages over a 8 month period but most usually last about 4 hours and usually I have it on my calendar and plan accordingly. The work has taken many months longer as the electric company crews kept getting pulled away for fire and flood emergencies. I think today was hopefully the last one.
As others have said, it’s not the amount of time the power is out, but the time & temperature in the cooler.
The danger zone is above 40 degrees F (and under 140 degrees F)
Proteins or any dish made with proteins (think eggs, mayo, etc.) are particularly vulnerable to rapid bacteria growth when in the temperature danger zone…
Another point commonly missed – say a food item in warm temperatures has rapid bacteria growth. Some people think it will be okay if the food is heated to high temperature (kill the bacteria). Food Safety classes will emphasize that not only can bacteria make you sick, but bacteria’s waste products can make you sick, and the waste products can not be neutralized simply by cooking the item.
H is in the hospitality business and is very strict about food safety and sanitation practices to the point he is annoying to have around our household kitchen. I joke, but it is interesting to see that world through his sharp eye.