Crap! I think my freezer was left open

[nabum]

I just went into the freezer to grab a bag of milk to thaw for tomorrow and noticed that there are ice crystals inside of the freezer indicating that the freezer door was probably left ajar at some point today. The door never appeared to be open so I assume it just wasn't sealed properly. Nothing looks bad/different.

I keep my pumped milk in a soft sided cooler bag inside of the freezer. Everything is frozen now, but I have no idea if it thawed, how much it thawed, or what might have happened to my stash.

Any advice? Should I just go ahead and plan to use what's in there but check for smell/taste? I am going to be really upset if I have to toss my stash. :-( At this point if I have to toss it, there's no chance that I'll be able to replace it.

[Ashley&Scott]

Are you sure it was left open? Is it a deep freezer or fridge freezer? My deep freezer has ice build up but has never been left open.

How much time between your last check of the freezer & noticing the ice crystals? (hours or days?)

[nabum]

It's a fridge freezer. I'm not sure... a few hours?

[Ashley&Scott]

If it was only a few hours I bet it's fine. I would keep it & then do the smell test when you defrost. (Is there any way to mark these bags just in case you end up needing to throw them out)

[nabum]

Thanks. I'm going to cross my fingers that it's still OK. It's only about 70 oz, but I'm going to be super sad if I have to toss it. At one point I had a decent stash (200ish oz) and then we went OOT for the weekend and my mom managed to use 150 oz in 2 days. Still upset and bewildered about how she went through so much... anyhow, my stash has never rebounded.

[Deleted]

This happened to me...when we went OOT FOR 3 days. I've been smelling it as i use it and so far so good. I think the freezer kicks into overdrive thus the ice crystals.

Also our power went out once for 6 hours and everything was still rock hard when it popped back on.

I'm pretty sure I've used up all my luck!