The miracle of the unopened refrigerator

[Fat Guy]

I've always known, in theory, that the more you open and shut a refrigerator the more you expose the food to higher temperatures, and therefore the quicker it degrades. I never really considered the extent of the effect, however, until one day . . .

. . . I had just done the week's shopping when a family emergency struck and we headed out of town for about a week. Though we were of course preoccupied with the family emergency, throughout the week I couldn't help but occasionally think back to all the food that was surely rotting in the refrigerator.

I have a pretty good idea of how long things like lettuce, milk, button mushrooms and cucumbers will last in our refrigerator. I can usually predict it to +/- a day. Certainly, the lettuce never lasts a week. Mushrooms are getting kind of nasty after about five days. Etc. Upon returning home, I went to throw out all the presumably rotten food in the refrigerator.

It was as if time had stopped while we were away. Everything was as fresh in appearance as on the day we bought it. There were simply no signs of decay -- not even the slightest brown spot or wilted bit on the lettuce; not a blemish on a single mushroom.

Now I understand.

[annecros]

This is so funny. Didn't you guys have a power outage a couple of years back?

After three hurricanes, all three that put me out of electrical stuff for a week, two of which came back to back with only a week between in order to give a day to clean out and restock, I learned the power of the UNOPENED fridge.

There were threats. There was much wailing and gnashing of teeth. The fridge didn't open until the electric was back on and I could clean it. It was turned down to the min temp, and not touched as I put staples in a cooler with dry ice the third time around.

If you don't open it, it keeps much-much-much longer.

Amazing. I never knew how much preservation of foodstuffs was lost with just opening the door. And I think back on the times when my kids just opened the door and stared...

[Kouign Aman]

I knew, but I never thought about practical applications.

Now I'm seeing the benefit of having a mini-fridge in a child-equipped house, for storage of beverages and snack fruit/veg. I wonder how quickly it would pay for itself (purchase price and electricity vs cost of open big-fridge door).

[Megan Blocker]

I was out of town during the blackout in 2003. I came home to a working air conditioner, but my power, according to my neighbors, had been out for almost 48 hours and had just come back on about an hour before my return.

My fridge was still cold, and the stuff in the freezer had barely started to melt.

Amazing.

[rooftop1000]

Just a good place to mention this trick....

before leaving on vacation place an ice cube in a bowl in the freezer...

if it is still a cube when you get back you know the power didnt happen to go out while you were gone.

tracey