Frozen Food query

[#1]

The door on our 7 year old fridge freezer fails to close correctly so having removed the fridge door I can see a plastic insert inside the casing that has split and is impossible to get at without cutting into the door which I hav no wish to do, however I have come up with the bright idea of changing the door opening from left to right and details are given on in the instruction booklet on how to do this.

Both the fridge and freezer doors will have to be removed and various bits swapped around, I am not too bothered about the contents in the fridge but am concerned about the stuff in the freezer which brings me on to the main questions.

1. What is the best way to keep stuff cool once the freezer door is off.

2. What is the maximum time it is safe to leave frozen food at normal room tempature.

I estimate the job should take no longer than 1 hour and hopefully much less but I need to keep in mind the doors may have to be returned to their current position should I come across some unexpected problem, experience has taught me that the simplest of jobs can present a problem and in this particular case time is not on my side.

[#2]

One suggestion:- Rent a  freezer for a day or two http://expressappliances.co.uk/fridge-freezer-rental/

[#3]

We wrap all the frozen stuff in several blankets when defrosting our large chest freezer and a couple of hours are no problem in addition things like icecream we put in our insulated bag (the one we use for bringing them back from the shop) along with the special blocks which are normally used for keeping drinks cool

Note that the frozen food is kept close together to avoid to much warming up

[#4]

Well if it's anything like the Mrs has stashed away in our freezer for months on end forgotten, maybe you can chuck some of it away?

Other than that work with food still in freezer remembering cold air drops not rises, and have a couple of insulated bags to hand as Oldjim suggested but yes indeed, the simplest jobs often turn out to be the most troublesome. Did my daughters fridge freezer door change over a while back with no problem 

Good luck. 

[#5]

Take a cardboard box, line it with duvets, blankets, bath towels and other insulating things (or if you have some laying around, fibreglass insulation), place the frozen food into said box, fold the aforementioned insulation over, and that'll keep everything reasonably cool for a couple of hours, if not longer, though swapping the hinge points shouldn't take that long anyway...

Also a perfect time to de-clutter the freezer of veg bags from three years ago, the half emptied pack of Aunt Bessie's yorkshire puddings that are ice-burned, and that mystery bag of "meat" that nobody will own up to putting in there...

[#6]

Glue a few powerful magnets to the freezer and also to the door.

Then put the door back on - 5 minute job!

[#7]

Just leave the frozen food in the drawers should be ok while you swap hinges , worked for me

[#8]

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@Oldjim wrote:

We wrap all the frozen stuff in several blankets when defrosting our large chest freezer

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That's basically what I do when defrosting my freezer. Take all the filled drawers out, pile them up, then cover with a few large towels.

They've always been fine for 30-60 minutes while the freezer is defrosted and wiped clean.

[#9]

Many thanks for the replies.

Fortunately I still have the instruction manual which give details about changing the door, what I do not have is the spare top left hand door hinge that came with the fridge freezer, assuming I would never need it I have no idea where it is, fortunately I have been able to order a left hand door hinge from ransom spares for £ 10.