If it were me, I'd figure that anything that would be okay after sitting out on a kitchen counter overnight would probably be okay after staying in a non-working but closed refrigerator for a day. It's a big insulated cooler.
On the whole, it's probably a good thing that I don't make the USDA's food storage rules, though.
Shit, I had an article by a blacksmith on my Tumblr that talked almost well about the difficulties of making armour for women that came across feminine, but I did not tag it with anything I remember. Oops.
Was it this one, ita ! ?
[link]
(the pointless armor male-equivalent might get some raised eyebrows at work)
I remember that armor article too. And have no clue how to find it, as the forests of tumblr are a dark and scary mystery to me. But I'll confirm that it existed and was awesome!
eta: Sox wins an internet.
Bingo, Sox. I don't think he went far enough with a solution, but he was good at pointing out issues and discussing why they were issues.
I'd worry most about mayo, meat and some kinds dairy.
Meat, yes. Mayo has enough acid in it to keep for a while. (Mayonaisse doesn't spoil in the sun, it just separates and looks gross. But it's not unsafe to eat.)
Huh. I have a shockingly thorough Fan Lore article.
…
I didn't expect that.
Someone remind me that the answer to hip pain is NOT amputation, please.
Amputating a hip seems impractical.
USDA breaks it down some. [link]
The problem with the USDA lists is you don't know how long the food was above 40 degrees. It takes a full refrigerator an hour or more to start creeping above 40, and food will stay cooler than the refrigerator for a while. I think some of it is way too cautious. Eggs probably hang around that long after they are laid and you can tell if milk has gone bad. In the case of meat, if it smells okay and it's going to be cooked thoroughly, I can't figure out what harm it could do.
Luckily, I have no raw (or cooked) meat or eggs in the fridge, and the milk won't be much of a loss. I'm not going to worry about my mustard and ketchup and that kind of mass-produced stuff.