Your Guide To Popular Foods And How Long They Last In A Power Outage

We have been dealing with rain, wind, flooding, and snow here in New Jersey, and all of those lead to the potential for power outages. So how long will your favorite foods last?

We checked with the experts and here is a helpful guide to some of our favorite foods and how long they will last in a closed refrigerator or freezer during a power outage.

No one knows better than the CDC, The Centers For Disease Control, and here's what they say.

In general, food in the refrigerator, if it's kept closed, will keep for about 4 hours. Food in a closed, full freezer will stay for 48 hours,

If the freezer is only half full, then the food in it will only stay good for about 24 hours, so you have to hope that power comes back pretty quickly.

There are some other things the CDC wants you to know about handling food after a power outage.

Here are some foods you certainly toss from your refrigerator after four hours without power. Get rid of any meat, fruit that has been cut, eggs, and milk.

One of the items that always seems to be a question for a lot of people is leftovers, and the experts say don't take the chance, just get rid of them.

You should also discard any discolored food, that smells bad and never taste food to see if it's still good.

And the key temperature is 40 degrees. Throw out any food in the refrigerator if the temperature has gotten above that number.