Just went to grab some sausage and it was all thawed.

Must have just happened or the crack was so slight that it kept cold. Just probed it and it's 42 degrees. Would you refreeze and eat it?

Yep

But now I'm thinking, I don't think I've been in that freezer in a week. I think it has been thawed that long. Should I smell the hamburger meat?

Couldn't hurt
Instead of refreezing u could always brown and refreeze. Or make a Fred Flintstone pile of chili

That happened to me in a move.

Told the wife that means I have to go elk hunting again this year.

So you tossed it? The hamburger smells fine fwiw

If it looks and smells fine I'd refreeze. But I'd accelerate my use and do the looks/smell test in every meal prep.

This. I lost a freezer a few weeks ago that had about 200 lbs of elk and deer. Everything was thawed but still cold and there were some ice crystals left. The freezer had probably been out for 5-6 days but it had stayed closed, and most of the meat was in 10-15 lb packages for grinding. I opened most of the packages for the smell test and they passed. I re-sealed and got it frozen again right away. Been eating on the steaks since and no issues.

OP, did your sausage have cure in it?

I'd start cooking

It's fine. Refreeze.

Showing my ignorance...no idea. Do most processors use it?

Yes. If it has a pink coloration when cooked then it most likely has it. That would make me feel even better about eating it.

gigemJTH12 said:

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So you tossed it? The hamburger smells fine fwiw

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No not yet. I'm not scared of a little diarrhea. It's just an excuse to go hunting

Happened to me so many times when a storm trip s the GFCI in the garage. Always refreeze, have never had an issue.

Not here but people don't realize how hardy meat is.

STX Ag said:

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Happened to me so many times when a storm trip s the GFCI in the garage. Always refreeze, have never had an issue.

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Good info thank you

Thanks everyone. I threw out the backstrap in the door bc it had thawed completely out and felt almost room temperature. Other than that I refroze it.

Does anyone use something like this thermometer? I have been thinking about getting one for my freezer in the garage. Trying to eliminate the exact problem of the OP.

Always refreeze if it doesn't stink. Never been an issue.

I tried one like that after losing a freezer filled with deer and red snapper from a recent offshore trip.The amount of frost that formed from the small break in the door seal for the wire to pass was shocking to me. I quit using one and got the wifi / bluetooth thermometer from Govee home. It works decent but battery life is relatively short. I'm currently looking for other options
Govee thermomemter on amazon

I think the real answer is, you host a TexAgs cookoff and we all supply the beer and fixings.

hutch2882 said:

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I tried one like that after losing a freezer filled with deer and red snapper from a recent offshore trip.The amount of frost that formed from the small break in the door seal for the wire to pass was shocking to me. I quit using one and got the wifi / bluetooth thermometer from Govee home. It works decent but battery life is relatively short. I'm currently looking for other options
Govee thermomemter on amazon

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Buy an outdoor rated electrical socket and mount it inside the fridge (Put a box on the inside wall, dont drill out a big section to flush mount it) and then fill in around and behind it with insulating expanding foam to reseal the small drill hole used to pass a 12-14ga 3 wire cord. Will let you plug one in and never worry about batteries.

I have been happy with this monitor. You can set up alarms. Just make sure you use lithium batteries in the sensors as they do much better in the cold.

Amazon $18

STX Ag said:

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when a storm trip s the GFCI in the garage.

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Happened way too many times. Once when my son was born was wife was pumping. We almost lost a few dozen of those little milk bags. Wife almost went through the roof. Thankfully we caught in under an hour and no issues.

And the one time I tripped and dropped/spilled one of those bags....oh boy....

STX Ag said:

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Happened to me so many times when a storm trip s the GFCI in the garage. Always refreeze, have never had an issue.

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Have you considered just getting rid of the GFCI?

As a back up for checking how warm your freezer got, take a small jar/cup, fill with water and freeze it. Then place a coin on top of the ice and put it in your freezer. If the power goes out, you'll have an extra piece of information to help determine how warm it actually got in the freezer.

SpiderD02 said:

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Does anyone use something like this thermometer? I have been thinking about getting one for my freezer in the garage. Trying to eliminate the exact problem of the OP.

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I keep a cup of frozen water with a penny on top of the ice in my deep freeze. If the power goes out long enough to thaw everything, the ice will melt and penny will sink to the bottom so I'll know even if the power comes back on and refeezes everything. It's not fancy but at least I know it has been thawed or not.

BlueSmoke said:

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STX Ag said:

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when a storm trip s the GFCI in the garage.

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Happened way too many times. Once when my son was born was wife was pumping. We almost lost a few dozen of those little milk bags. Wife almost went through the roof. Thankfully we caught in under an hour and no issues.

And the one time I tripped and dropped/spilled one of those bags....oh boy....

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Same here. Lost 6 months worth of milk because I drank too much and left the garage fridge open. I also removed our fridges from GFCI outlets as well. Doesn't need to be on one.

It's not code to not have GFCI outlets for garage plugs. Not a huge effort to change it, just remember to change it back when you go to sell the house. My issue is that it's a protected circuit that I want to keep protected on all the other outlets.

Instead of all the other remedies suggested, I just plugged a cheap alarm into the same plug my fridge is plugged into. If the GFCI loses power, the alarm goes off and I get alerted.

My method won't protect against fridge failure or stupidity (leaving door open), but will against an unexpected GFCI trip. That's the primary source of loss. I may look into a thermometer with alerts on temperature.

Buck Compton said:

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It's not code to not have GFCI outlets for garage plugs. Not a huge effort to change it, just remember to change it back when you go to sell the house. My issue is that it's a protected circuit that I want to keep protected on all the other outlets.

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Yeah, getting dinged on that on an inspection isn't really that big a deal. If you have plugged based gfci (instead of breaker) and you don't want to lose protection, swap the gfci with the next one down the line... hit the test button and check the rest of your plugs. You may have to add depending on how your circuit branch layout is.

Quote:

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Same here. Lost 6 months worth of milk because I drank too much and left the garage fridge open.

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So tell us, what's witness protection like?

BlueSmoke said:

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Quote:

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Same here. Lost 6 months worth of milk because I drank too much and left the garage fridge open.

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So tell us, what's witness protection like?

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Good god man. Hope the divorce was quick and painless.

When my wife was winding down pumping, she started saving up for her sister who was about to adopt a newborn. Had a freezer full of it.

As we evacuated from Harvey on a Jon boat from my garage I flipped the breaker. Our house actually never lost power (neighbors did) and a day or two later a neighbor found a spare key and went back in and turned out power bsck on. When I kayak Ed into the house a day or two later and realize Wed lost all of that milk my wife lost it.

I'm always thrilled to have an excuse to throw deer meat out. Stuff tastes like a**.

Brad06ag said:

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Buck Compton said:

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It's not code to not have GFCI outlets for garage plugs. Not a huge effort to change it, just remember to change it back when you go to sell the house. My issue is that it's a protected circuit that I want to keep protected on all the other outlets.

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Yeah, getting dinged on that on an inspection isn't really that big a deal. If you have plugged based gfci (instead of breaker) and you don't want to lose protection, swap the gfci with the next one down the line... hit the test button and check the rest of your plugs. You may have to add depending on how your circuit branch layout is.

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Yep, I have breaker-based. But even if I didn't, this plug is at the end of the circuit, so I just didn't mess with it.

CaptnCarl said:

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I'm always thrilled to have an excuse to throw deer meat out. Stuff tastes like a**.

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Why keep it the first place then?