live without a fridge?

[HMSSophia]

I live alone, am vegetarian and find myself thinking, why do I have a fridge? In the summer ok, maybe, but in the winter? Surely a ridiculous luxury?

What other than meat actually needs to be in the fridge? I have a cool larder, so could put eg cheese there. Frozen food well I don't eat it much - the occasion veggie burger which I could buy fresh. (My fridge has a tiny freezer compartment)

Am I mad? Would it save me ££ on bills to not have one?

If you were ill you’d still have to go out to get food.
The larders of years ago, when they didn’t have fridges, had a sort of air brick so that the cold air from outside kept the food cold. I think they had a slate shelf too, that is colder than a wooden shelf.

Cold drinks? Milk? Salad? Hummus/dips? Things you have opened and not yet finished? I think you'll make yourself ill!

The air temperature is getting a lot higher compared to yester years your fresh produce will perish quicker. If you attempt this you'll need a proper larder with a stone shelf to keep things cool. I suppose you could attempt it over the winter and just use the fridge in the summer.

In 2022, no I don't see a fridge as a 'ridiculous luxury'.

I'm vegetarian & live alone. My fridge is full of vegetables, salad, humous, olives, cauldron vegetarian sausages, tofu, cheese, Greek yogurt, butter, berries, water. Open jars of beetroot, gherkins, pickled onions etc

often additional portions of curry/bake/Swoodles stir fry as I cook more when I do cook.

do as you please, but running a fridge isn't expensive & I, personally, have serious aversion to D&V.

Of course it's possible to live without a fridge, but you'd need to adapt what you buy and maybe shop more often. When I was growing up we didn't have one until I was about 11. Perishable food wasn't kept for very long, milk was delivered daily and kept in a bucket of cold water in summer. We also had a thing called an Osokool which cooled by evaporation for a few things.

But would more trips to the shops and possibly more wastage mean that not having a small fridge was actually more efficient for you, OP? The energy you put in will end up as heat so that somewhat offsets the waste in winter.

Apart from the high summer, you can probably manage fine without a fridge if you're willing and able to shop often enough that you don't have to keep food that is normally refrigerated for more than a couple of days.

Contrary to popular belief, food doesn't turn into poison if it's out of the fridge for a few hours, especially if you don't eat meat or fish.

But if you already have a fridge, it's not going to be a huge saving.

I've just looked on ao.com, which gives annual running costs of new fridges with a little ice box - based on 15.4 p a unit, it says just over £20 a year, but this is obviously out of date as most people will be paying nearly double that amount for electricity now, but even accounting for that and possible lower efficiency of an older fridge, you're looking at about a pound a week in electricity to keep it going, so only you can decide whether it's worth that amount for the convenience.

You could easily save more than a pound a week by doing a weekly shop from a supermarket instead or a more expensive local convenience store, or by not wasting food that's been out of the fridge for too long.

I lived without a fridge in numerous bedsits and similar domiciles in the 1970s. You had to buy small quantities of food daily and use them quickly. Fruit and vegetables keep far longer in a fridge than at ambient temperature. (In winter the outside windowsill was a useful cold store, but let a blast of cold air into and already inadequately heated room when opened, and sometimes functioned as a freezer rather than a fridge so for example milk was frozen not chilled.)
The domestic fridge is an underrated boon to everyone, particularly women.

A fridge really isn't what's burning the electricity.

I had no fridge for a month- had to buy a pint of milk daily and keep it in cold water.

My fridge is always full.

I think its doable. Use insulated containers and cool boxes. If you drink milk I'd recommend cravendale because it withstands the summer temps better and stays fresh longer. I stop milk deliveries at this time of year and switch for this reason.

In the winter you can keep things, wrapped, on the window sill. A Google or Pinterest search will bring up diy passive cooling things / non electric fridges for off grid living.

You could also get a small fridge or mini fridge for times when you need it.

That's really helpful - I have adhd so the very idea of having to "manage" food on windowsills, cool boxes, do more daily shopping etc makes my blood run cold. I have a small -German, amazing! - fridge as it is and if the consumptuous is tens of pounds a year, I'll keep it thanks :)

It’s 2022 not 1922 - a fridge is not a luxury. Do you think the same about your shower or washing machine?

All my salad goes in the fridge. Fruit like strawberries and grapes go off quickly if not refrigerated. We eat left overs a lot - they need to be stored in the fridge for a day or two if not being frozen.
If I open a can of tomatoes, chickpeas, beans etc and don’t use it up in one go then that goes in the fridge. Jars of olives and capers and pastes like tamarind if opened all go in the fridge. Tomato purée tubes that are opened. Unless you eat just very simple meals and consume everything within a day or two you will most likely create quite a bit of food waste.

It's probably harder in some ways to manage without a fridge if you're alone than if you're a family, because so many foods aren't available (or are more expensive) in single servings.

How would you chill your wine!!?

My MIL could live without one.

Cooks huge lots of food (stews, bolognese) and leaves them on the hob all week, heating them up everyday.

Leaves milk out on the side too (UHT but it still goes off if opened).

Roast chicken? Just leave it in the oven for days, it’s fine, the door is shut!

🤢🤢🤢🤢🤢

I don’t know how they are all still alive. Me and my children never eat there.

Aha you've hit the mother of all points there ... the fridge stays!

Aha you've hit the mother of all points there ... the fridge stays!

Do you have a stream nearby? My in laws stayed in this lodge for a night that had no fridge - a bit like a ‘glamping’ place I guess - FIL tied some string around his beers and MIL’s wine and popped it in a nearby stream. Just incase you were still keen and looking for alternative ideas 😄

My friend didn't have one as her DH was an alcoholic, so the cash went elsewhere. It was grim, milk always sour, etc.

There are other hills to conquer.

Assuming you have a reasonably modern fridge, it will be the cheapest appliance of all to run by some margin. A few p a day.

it’s ovens etc that massively affect your energy usage. Trying to coordinate cooking things together (even if you end up reheating in the microwave) has made a big difference our end. Also tumble dryers, which we now use very rarely.

Ooops
zombie thread