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We never want to think about finding ourselves in a weather emergency that results in a loss of electrical power or flooding in our home damaging our possessions and contaminating our immediate food and water supply. But it can and does happen. Knowing what to do to assure the safety of your food supply before an emergency hits and how to respond after the emergency passes is important for your and your family’s health and safety.
Both the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the International Food Information Council (IFIC) have some good advice as we prepare for seasonal storms. The IFIC suggests that we begin to stock our pantries with “a few days’ worth of ready-to-eat foods which do not require heating or cooling.” Such items include canned tuna and salmon, crackers, fruit juices and milk in shelf stable packages, nut butters, packaged ready-made puddings, cans or jars of fruit, packaged cereals, and dried fruits and nuts. It’s also important to have a case or two of bottled water on hand.
A year ago, the FDA published a document “What Consumers Need to Know About Food and Water Safety During Hurricanes, Power Outages, and Floods”. The document, which can be found on http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/~dms/fsdisas.html, outlines a number of steps to take to assure food safety if you lose power or flooding occurs in your home. While many of their suggestions are focused on disaster recovery, they list several things that we can do right now to put us in a better decision making position regarding our food supply’s safety if a disaster does occur.
• Place appliance thermometers in all of your freezers and refrigerators. If there is a power outage, these thermometers will let you accurately determine whether or not your food supply has been exposed to conditions that would render it unfit to eat. The freezer should be maintained daily at zero degrees F and the refrigerator should be below 40 degrees F.
• Keep several containers of water in your freezer to act as ice packs if the power goes out. If your water supply is contaminated, these can also serve as emergency drinking water as they thaw.
• Have a large sturdy cooler on hand. Stash several large gel packs in the freezer to have ready if you need to transfer items to the cooler for longer term storage.
• Keep food physically close together in the freezer rather than spreading the items out. The “huddled” items will stay cooler longer if the power goes out.
If you do lose power, resist the temptation to open the freezer or refrigerator doors. The refrigerated food will stay cold for about 4 hours if the doors remain tightly closed. A full freezer can keep its temperature for nearly 48 hours—24 hours if it’s half full.
Once your power is restored, check those thermometers. If the refrigerator reads 40 degrees F, the food should be safe. If the freezer thermometer reads 40 degrees F or below or the food still has ice crystals on it, the food may, according to the FDA, be safely refrozen or cooked.
But for safety’s sake, when in doubt, throw it out. You, the FDA reminds us, cannot rely on visual checks and/or presence or lack of odor to tell you that food is safe or not safe to eat.
If you experience flooding, the FDA says to discard any food that is not in a waterproof container and has come in contact with the water. This includes jars of home canned foods since they cannot be effectively cleaned and sanitized. Any cans that are damaged, dented, or have punctures or leakage must be discarded.
In the FDA’s document on this topic, they outline a lengthy process that you can undertake to salvage and sanitize canned goods or foods in sealed pouches that may have come in contact with flood waters. After reading it, I’d be inclined to just throw that food out, but I think you should read the document yourself and make your own decision about whether or not you would use that process to recover your food supply.
The advice of the FDA and the IFIC is worth taking. With a little bit of time and effort, you can have the necessary items in place to assure that your food supply is safe during and after a weather emergency.
©2026 CDKitchen, Inc. No reproduction or distribution of any portion of this article is allowed without express permission from CDKitchen, Inc.
To share this article with others, you may link to this page:
https://www.cdkitchen.com/cooking-experts/victoria-wesseler/582-emergency-food-safety/
Food Safety For Weather Emergencies
We never want to think about finding ourselves in a weather emergency that results in a loss of electrical power or flooding in our home damaging our possessions and contaminating our immediate food and water supply. But it can and does happen. Knowing what to do to assure the safety of your food supply before an emergency hits and how to respond after the emergency passes is important for your and your family’s health and safety.
Both the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the International Food Information Council (IFIC) have some good advice as we prepare for seasonal storms. The IFIC suggests that we begin to stock our pantries with “a few days’ worth of ready-to-eat foods which do not require heating or cooling.” Such items include canned tuna and salmon, crackers, fruit juices and milk in shelf stable packages, nut butters, packaged ready-made puddings, cans or jars of fruit, packaged cereals, and dried fruits and nuts. It’s also important to have a case or two of bottled water on hand.
A year ago, the FDA published a document “What Consumers Need to Know About Food and Water Safety During Hurricanes, Power Outages, and Floods”. The document, which can be found on http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/~dms/fsdisas.html, outlines a number of steps to take to assure food safety if you lose power or flooding occurs in your home. While many of their suggestions are focused on disaster recovery, they list several things that we can do right now to put us in a better decision making position regarding our food supply’s safety if a disaster does occur.
• Place appliance thermometers in all of your freezers and refrigerators. If there is a power outage, these thermometers will let you accurately determine whether or not your food supply has been exposed to conditions that would render it unfit to eat. The freezer should be maintained daily at zero degrees F and the refrigerator should be below 40 degrees F.
• Keep several containers of water in your freezer to act as ice packs if the power goes out. If your water supply is contaminated, these can also serve as emergency drinking water as they thaw.
• Have a large sturdy cooler on hand. Stash several large gel packs in the freezer to have ready if you need to transfer items to the cooler for longer term storage.
• Keep food physically close together in the freezer rather than spreading the items out. The “huddled” items will stay cooler longer if the power goes out.
If you do lose power, resist the temptation to open the freezer or refrigerator doors. The refrigerated food will stay cold for about 4 hours if the doors remain tightly closed. A full freezer can keep its temperature for nearly 48 hours—24 hours if it’s half full.
Once your power is restored, check those thermometers. If the refrigerator reads 40 degrees F, the food should be safe. If the freezer thermometer reads 40 degrees F or below or the food still has ice crystals on it, the food may, according to the FDA, be safely refrozen or cooked.
But for safety’s sake, when in doubt, throw it out. You, the FDA reminds us, cannot rely on visual checks and/or presence or lack of odor to tell you that food is safe or not safe to eat.
If you experience flooding, the FDA says to discard any food that is not in a waterproof container and has come in contact with the water. This includes jars of home canned foods since they cannot be effectively cleaned and sanitized. Any cans that are damaged, dented, or have punctures or leakage must be discarded.
In the FDA’s document on this topic, they outline a lengthy process that you can undertake to salvage and sanitize canned goods or foods in sealed pouches that may have come in contact with flood waters. After reading it, I’d be inclined to just throw that food out, but I think you should read the document yourself and make your own decision about whether or not you would use that process to recover your food supply.
The advice of the FDA and the IFIC is worth taking. With a little bit of time and effort, you can have the necessary items in place to assure that your food supply is safe during and after a weather emergency.
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©2026 CDKitchen, Inc. No reproduction or distribution of any portion of this article is allowed without express permission from CDKitchen, Inc.
To share this article with others, you may link to this page:
https://www.cdkitchen.com/cooking-experts/victoria-wesseler/582-emergency-food-safety/