How long can my food stay in the refrigerator during a power outage?

A winter storm is coming, bringing with it a threat of ice and power outages. What do you do? You stock up on the essentials for hunkering indoors, including all the foods you'll need for the next few days.

But what if the storm hits and power goes out for longer than a few minutes? Now is a good time to know just how long you have before you have to throw out some of that food.
According to the CDC, you can prepare ahead of time by filling some of your unused space with dry ice, gel packs or frozen containers of water to help keep the temperatures down. Also, have a cooler handy in case you need to shift foods somewhere else.

Once the power goes out, keep the refrigerator and freezer doors shut. If they stay closed, a fridge will keep food cold for about four hours.

A full freezer should keep its temperature for up to 48 hours. The time is cut in half to 12 hours if the freezer's only half full.