Fecking freezer door left ajar ...

Both of Heathkit the reel-to-reel tape recorders I built, were that colour, but some of the test equipment was a pale grey.

My granny's great-aunt started off doing home food deliveries:

JGH

why? food doesn't instantly tirn into bacteria if the temp goes over 0C...

Re freeze it.

So re freeze them.

Or, just a weight on a pulley. No electrics at all.

I can see the resemblance.

It's a shame that lemon buns didn't have quite the same appeal as home delivery pizza.

Owain

Just tilt the thing back with a couple of wedges under the front feet and have self closing doors.

Oh, THAT was a pretty long time, deffo.

MM

I wouldn't risk it. I think if the recommended temperature of -18 deg is not maintained, some foods are going to make you ill, especially if they get a little warmer, and are then frozen again when the fault (open door/lid) is detected. That way food poisoning lies.

MM

No! No! No! You'll get food poisoning, practically guaranteed. And possibly a VERY severe kind, too. DON'T DO IT! NEVER refreeze food that's partially defrosted. You're just asking for trouble, especially if the food is fed to children whose immune systems are not fully developed (especially nowadays when they are not allowed to play outside and thus do not get their usual intake of worms, soil etc).

MM

Oh! Oh! The drugs manufacturers are really going to like you! A walking wallet -- with botulism, gorgeous! (Not walking for very long, though.)

MM

A spring-loaded boxing glove mounted in a cannon barrel on the far side of the room.

No use for this OP's problem then.

Bacteria really don't reproduce very fast at all at fridge temperatures (+4C or there abouts) that's why fridges keep stuff fresh for days. The food in a working freezer with the door left ajar for a few hours is going to get relatively "warm", say -5 to -10C but not very likely to get above 0C.

Of course stuff will also be cooked properly. Most cases of food poisioning are down to a failing in the cooking not killing off the bacteria. A few cases of food poisioning are down to toxins created by bacteria that proper cooking won't do much about but those are few and far between compared to ingesting live bacteria.

That won't work with my fridge/freezer. The freezer has a drawer, and too much friction to close it by tilting. The fridge has a handle on both sides and can be opened either side. The mechanical device to lock the hinges on the side that is not being opened has too much friction to close by tilting. So, I propose having a couple of reed switches connected to a 12 volt light that can't be missed. Another light will show if the front and back doors and garage are not locked.

Grimly Curmudgeon :

How big would that weight need to be to close a door against a full drawer that hadn't quite been pushed fully home?

Don't do that. Cook what you can use and give the rest away to the neighbours, with instructions that it should be cooked and eaten promptly.

How many cases of botulism are there each year in the UK caused by refreezing food that had been allowed to thaw (but had not even been at room temperature for long - my caveat that you snipped)?

Order of magnitude will suffice.

Our freezer has an "annoyance beep" built in when the door is open for more than about 20 seconds. Actually rather good as it increases the "load speed" of getting fresh stuff in and the door shut again.