Life with no fridge isn’t straightforward, however it may be achieved. I grew up with out working water and electrical energy, so I’m accustomed to the challenges of residing with no fridge.
Right now, I’m a grateful fridge proprietor, however I’ll be the primary to confess that residing with out one has some advantages.
Thirty years in the past, I constructed a home on a number of acres of land that I had inherited. I lived there for a number of years with no fridge, electrical energy, or different facilities.
I discovered rather a lot about residing with no fridge, so I’ll share a few of the profitable strategies I used. Hopefully, people who find themselves in an identical scenario will discover these strategies useful.
How I Saved Meals With out Refrigeration
Storing meals with no fridge appears to be like rather a lot totally different than storing meals when you might have about 25 cubic toes of chilly space for storing in your kitchen. Nevertheless, there are a number of methods to retailer meals with out one.
Utilizing An Ice Chest
After I lived with no fridge, my essential methodology for holding meals chilly was an ice chest.
I at all times put the meals I needed coldest, just like the milk and contemporary meat, proper subsequent to the ice. Coolers include disadvantages past house limitations, although.
One of many greatest issues I had got here from utilizing blocks of ice. A block of ice in a cooler retains meals chilly sufficient for a number of days, however you’re left with numerous melted ice water.
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Draining the ice water out of your cooler helps preserve your meals dry, however there’s numerous chilly in that water, and whenever you drain it out, you lose all of it. Since I didn’t have an countless provide of ice, I needed to make mine final.
I rented freezer house on the native butcher to maintain our farm-raised pork, and it was additionally good for freezing jugs of ice. Frozen jugs of water or ice packs are a a lot neater methodology than blocks of ice.
Maintain Your Cooler Cool
Coolers have restricted effectivity, so the place you retailer your cooler is necessary. I used to cowl my cooler with an outdated sleeping bag. I ultimately upgraded and put my cooler inside a foam board insulation field I constructed.
Through the hottest a part of summer season, discovering a cool a part of the home turned a lot tougher, so I dug a gap in a shady spot exterior my again door and put my cooler in it. Then, I used a chunk of froth board insulation to cowl the highest. It was a little bit of a ache as a result of I needed to pull the cooler out to empty and clear it, nevertheless it saved my meals colder.
Finally, I improved this design by constructing a concrete field underground with a gravel base. That was rather a lot simpler and neater, and the concrete’s thermal mass helped preserve every thing cooler longer.
Root Cellaring
Earlier than the invention of fridges, folks used root cellars and chilly rooms, and they’re nonetheless the very best place to retailer greens long-term.
I used my root cellar to retailer greens, eggs, cheese, and butter. Study right here an affordable and straightforward method to construct a root cellar in your yard.
Working With Mom Nature
The place I dwell, life with no fridge is far totally different in the summertime than within the winter. When the temperature exterior dropped within the fall, I saved my cooler exterior.
As soon as winter hit, there was an countless provide of ice to maintain every thing chilly. All I needed to do was set out a jug of water in a single day. By morning, it was frozen and able to pop in my cooler.
Meals Preservation Methods
Whereas residing with out refrigeration, I additionally grew a big backyard. For a number of months of the yr, lots of the meals I cooked got here immediately from the backyard. The simplest method to stop contemporary meals from spoiling is to go away it on the vine so long as attainable.
I canned, pickled, and dried most of my backyard surplus, so it by no means wanted refrigeration. The basis greens and cabbages went into the foundation cellar, and I canned the wild sport my husband harvested.
Purchasing Extra Steadily
After I lived with no fridge, I bought small portions of contemporary meals and shopped extra often. Perishable objects like contemporary meat gained’t final greater than two or three days in a cooler, so I needed to skip the majority offers.
Cooking With out Refrigeration
It may appear fairly easy to seize a cooler and a few ice and ditch the fridge, however I needed to change my cooking habits too.
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Here’s what I discovered.
Meal Planning
Have you ever ever stood within the doorway of your fridge, staring on the contents and questioning what to make for dinner?
That doesn’t work whenever you’re residing out of an ice chest.
The less journeys I needed to make out and in of my cooler, the higher.
Since I used to be extra acutely aware about what I bought, I at all times knew what was in my cooler and deliberate my meals earlier than I even opened the lid.
Leftovers
I’ll admit that leftovers may be fairly nice, however how typically do you retailer them in your fridge for a number of days with out touching them, solely to throw them away later?
Life with no fridge is simpler whenever you aren’t coping with leftovers, so I not often saved any until they had been going to be eaten for lunch the subsequent day. Leftovers don’t final as lengthy in a cooler, so avoiding them by cooking smaller parts is safer.
Meals That Don’t Want Refrigeration
There are numerous meals that don’t require refrigeration. Grains, rice, beans, and pasta are wonderful meals selections, whether or not you might have a fridge or not. And whenever you solely prepare dinner sufficient for one or two meals, you by no means want to fret about holding them chilly.
Canned meals is one other nice alternative. After I lived with no fridge, I canned complete meals, like quart jars of stews and soups, which made cooking a lot simpler. Meals like canned chili or tuna can sit in your shelf for years, however frozen meals have a a lot shorter shelf life.
In relation to greens, some meals are simpler to maintain with no fridge. Storing lettuce is difficult in a cooler, however different inexperienced greens, like squash and broccoli, preserve nicely in a cooler or root cellar.
Advantages Of Not Having A Fridge
Whereas some folks see a fridge as an absolute necessity, it isn’t. Because it’s attainable to dwell with out one, it’s a comfort, and never everybody is able to have a fridge.
Regardless that working a fridge is fairly low-cost and makes life rather a lot simpler, there are some benefits to not having one.
First, you change into extra acutely aware of your meals selections. Residing out of a cooler with restricted storage capability modifications every thing, from the way you store to the way you prepare dinner. Since we waste about 40% of our meals within the US, it’s good to be extra acutely aware about what you purchase and eat.
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Second, consuming more healthy is simpler since you need to put together extra meals from scratch. For instance, you don’t have the temptation of popping frozen tater tots within the oven, so that you’re extra prone to eat a baked potato.
Reflections on Life With no Fridge
Life with no fridge compelled me to be artistic with my meals selections, and I discovered rather a lot about meals storage options.
It was a problem to dwell with out one, and the time I spent with no fridge made me admire the comfort of refrigeration much more.
I’ve lived with no fridge a number of instances in my life, and one of many issues I missed essentially the most is ice cubes, particularly for cool drinks in the summertime.
Nevertheless, similar to every thing else to do with a fridge, they’re handy, not essential.
There are a lot of explanation why somebody must dwell with no fridge, and also you by no means know what the long run holds.
When you ever end up in a spot the place you don’t have the comfort of a fridge, use an icebox and replenish on non-perishables, and it gained’t be as exhausting as you suppose.
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