To Keep, or not to Keep?

We finally got our power back, the heat is on and the oven is high heat and wide open to warm things up, and I'm clearing out the fridge. The only good thing about the electricity going out in the winter is it help keeps things cold.

I'm not trusting milk or eggs (I'm in the US) after being out of power for almost three days. I think vegetables, ketchup, jelly, maple syrup and stuff would be ok (please do correct me if I'm wrong!)...but there are some things I'm not sure whether to keep or throw out.

1. mayo
2. cheese
3. instant yeast
4. crescent rolls
5. tahini

We had a lot of meat in the freezer, that stuff did mostly thaw out (but was still very cold), but I'm thinking that will be ok as well?

Thanks for any help you can give me!

I'm no expert, so I'll only say that the cheese will be fine! 

1. mayo -toss
2. cheese - toss
3. instant yeast - hmmmm
4. crescent rolls-toss
5. tahini -dunno.

We had a lot of meat in the freezer, that stuff did mostly thaw out (but was still very cold), but I'm thinking that will be ok as well?

It's okay to keep but you must use it within 3 or 4 days.  Don't refreeze it.  

If mayo is unopened you can keep it. Else, toss it.

We had the fridge die a few month ago - I tossed pretty much everything, including meat/chicken that had been in the freezer. But that was in Memphis in the summer and I didn't want to risk it.

I was hoping to at least be able to keep all that meat!  I guess I'll have to try to be creative since there's only so much we can eat.

But you can freeze what you've cooked. If you haven't tossed the eggs yet, maybe you could use them to make meringues or a pavlova. 

3. instant yeast - in a packet? Keep. fresh yeast? Toss.

5. tahini - should be fine, think of it like peanut butter...

3. instant yeast - in a packet? Keep. fresh yeast? Toss.

5. tahini - should be fine, think of it like peanut butter...

It's instant yeast that was in a bulk pack, so I had it in a plastic container.

The yeast will be fine... and yes cook the meat then you can freeze it...

For cheese it would depend on the kind... and how cold it was...

Mayo... I wouldn't risk it unless unopened as been said before.

I can't see why the eggs wouldn't be okay - after all here in the UK they are sold off the shelf (not in a refrigerated cabinet) and they last well.

I never refrigerate my tahini (it's like peanut butter, and that's in the cupboard) so I can definitely say you're safe on that regard. And ditto with the instant yeast - mine always lives in the cupboard and my baking is just fine!

Oftentimes both eggs and cheese are stored unfrigerated...I don't see why a few days would hurt - eat the cheese until it starts growing mold .

Eggs don't need to be refrigerated, but if they go from the fridge to the counter, I think their life would be much shorter... at least that's what I read.

Oftentimes both eggs and cheese are stored unfrigerated...I don't see why a few days would hurt - eat the cheese until it starts growing mold

If it's a hard cheese, just cut the mouldy bit off. The whole point of cheese is long-term storage of milk! Mould does not generally penetrate hard cheeses, so as long as the knife you cut with doesn't touch the mould and you cut off extra around the mould in all directions, the rest should be fine to eat.