As a restaurant or grocery store owner, you want to keep all of your food serve-safe. However, some situations are out of your control. For example, if there’s a power outage, you could be faced with a lot of perishable food and no safe place to preserve it. If you are hoping to avoid the financial consequences and health risks of such a situations, use the following guide to protect the contents of your commercial freezers and refrigerators.

What to Do With Commercial Freezer & Fridge Contents During a Power Outage

1. Preserving What You Can

In preparation for a potential future power outage, fill containers with water and place them in your commercial freezer. When electricity disappears, you can use these buckets of ice as temporary refrigeration equipment. If an outage is expected, reach out to local ice suppliers, and invest in a generator that runs on gas. When the power goes out, move perishable foods in open or walk-in units to smaller coolers with the ice-filled containers, and close the door. A shut refrigerator will preserve food for four hours.

2. Discarding Safety Hazards

If the outage extends past two hours, you’ll have to discard some perishables to prevent cross-contamination. Remove any meat, seafood, and poultry from your commercial freezers and refrigerators, as well as dairy items like soft cheese. If you have any pre-cooked leftovers in your kitchen equipment, you’ll also need to get rid of these after the two-hour mark. After four hours without electricity, it won’t be safe to serve any perishable foods, including produce.

3. Managing an Extended Outage

If the outage has proceeded beyond two hours, you’ll have to look into alternative options for preserving your ingredients. If you don’t already have a gas generator, try to find one nearby, or invest in dry ice from a local seller. Since they run on gasoline, you can also use a refrigerated truck to preserve large amounts of perishables. If you can get ahold of dry ice, you’ll need at least 50 pounds to preserve the contents of an 18-cubic-foot freezer for two days.

If you’re looking for more insight into restaurant equipment upkeep, turn to Commercial Refrigeration of KY. Based in Campbellsville, this company has over 30 years of experience offering high-quality commercial freezers and other appliances to a wide variety of clients. If you encounter a problem, they also offer 24/7 on-call repair services. For more information on their services, visit the website, and call (270) 465-2910 to request a quote.