From KSDK News, July 7, 2004

A lack of refrigeration is forcing people to throw away iceboxes full of food. "We''re convincing the children that this is a pioneer adventure." That''s how Joan Krumrey refers to the past 30 plus hours without electricity. With family visiting from out-of-town, the Krumrey''s stocked up on food. Joan says,"We went out and shopped and loaded up the refrigerator and the freezer."

Now they''re throwing it all away. "The lunch meat you know went and we had a pound of hamburgers for a fun-type meal. We have milk that has to go too."

And that''s exactly what they should be doing says Barnes-Jewish Hospital Clinical Nutritionist, Mary Ellen Beindorff. "Better to be safe than sorry." Beindorff says refrigerated foods should only be kept up to 4 to 6 hours.

She says freezer foods can stay longer. "If you haven''t opened the freezer, the freezer''s been closed that whole time really up to 12 hours it should be fine. I mean in some cases we''re saying up to 24 hours, again if that freezer has not been opened at all."

The Krumrey''s are fortunate to have good neighbors who lent them a generator. Norman Krumrey says, "They got done using it and they said we could use it."

Meantime, no electricity means no television for the Krumrey grandchildren. Tom Janik says, "The only problem is that we can''t play Game Cube." But, the family says It''ll make the best of it until the power comes back on. Joan says, "They didn''t miss their TV and Nintendo too much. But, Grandma will be happy when it''s back on."