No refrigeration?

[Van-Tramp]

Has anyone been able to get by without using any type of refrigeration by using shelf stable foods, canned goods, etc.? Obviously in extreme heat this would be difficult unless everything was canned or dried and you never had leftovers to deal with.  Just wondering if anybody has been able to do it.

I went years without turning on my fridge (i had one, just went without turning it on). I wrote about it on my blog http://www.travel.van-tramp.com/portfolio/no-fridge-no-problem/

 

[Ballenxj]

 I wrote about it on my blog http://www.travel.van-tramp.com/portfolio/no-fridge-no-problem/

Interesting. I breezed through it quickly, and will have to return for a better look later as time (and internet) permits.

 

[Rainier70]

I've don't live full time in my 6 X 12 converted cargo trailer, but there are times that I will spend a month or more high in the mountains without coming down for supplies. I have a reactive airway and have to leave the valleys when the wildfire smoke comes in.  Most years I am usually out in the mountains about 4 or more months out of the year.  I keep my trailer fully supplied at all times with enough for me for two months. 

I can use an ice chest for some of that time, but even in a double insulated chest ice doesn't last forever, so my supplies are shelf stable.  I have a small portion of my supplies that are commercial quick fix meals or things like pasta or rice sides, but most of my supplies are either home canned or dehydrated. 

Doing my own canning and dehydrating is the best way I can control food quality and things like salt content.  I use a couple of soft sided coolers for my canned food and some other totes for staples and dehydrated meals.  The coolers are good for the canned food as they prevent freezing from cold nights here in Idaho when my trailer is still packed in the spring and fall.  Packing glass jars has to be done carefully, but it is very doable.  I travel on hundreds of miles of washboarded, washed out, rutted dirt roads, and believe me when I say that a cargo trailer does not travel gently.  I've broken a spring on the axle, but not any jars. 

I can a wide variety of things. Mostly I can in small amounts as usually I am on my own, until a weekend or two that my husband joins me, so lots of half pint jars.  I have canned sausage, roast beef, hamburger, spaghetti sauce, sloppy joe mix, chicken, ham, pork, bbq pork, fish, smoked fish, bean soups, etc. 

I buy some shelf stable milks, juices, pastas, rice, potato flakes, dried hashbrowns, dried potato slices, dried onion, garlic, Nido dry milk, dehydrated sour cream, and dehydrated bleu cheese. Also a few sauce and gravy mixes for when I am lazy. 

I have a small cooler for marginal items that I trade jugs of water in.  I usually camp at very high elevations, and it gets cold at night. If I remember I set a jug of water on top of my pickup and by morning "space radiation" will have it ice cold.  I put that in the cooler and take the warmer one out.  Marginal items are things like butter, waxed hard cheeses, string cheese, Gogurt yogurts, salad fixings, carrots, celery, eggs etc.  Eggs are generally from a local farmer and really don't need a fridge.  I have also coated them with vaseline.  I haven't had any go bad on me yet.  The cooler doesn't stay at refrigerator temps, but it does even out some of the daytime highs.  Even just a cooler with no jug will make a difference.


I have used the mini bell cheeses, but I do prefer cheddar, so I wax my own.  I buy mild cheddar which I cut up into more meal sized chunks and wax with the red cheese wax.  A well waxed cheese will not mold, but it will continue to age if it is not refrigerated.  By the end of the year my waxed cheese is a very delicious sharp cheddar. 

Dehydrated items that I bring:  A lot of vegetables... corn, peas, beans, mixed vegis, broccoli, spinach, celery, mushrooms, cooked beans, cooked rice, cooked pasta.  Dried fruits, jerky, fish jerky, dried ham, beef, chicken.  Dried whole meals and soups.  Most low fat regular meals can be dried and rehydrated.  Some take longer to rehydrate than others, but with a good variety you can cook just about as good as you can at home. 

I know that for some of you that full time, you don't have room for a dehydrator, but there are lots of sources on the Internet where you can buy smaller amounts of dehydrated and freeze dried food to try.  Being pretty much pure ingredients they are way healthier than many store mixes or combined hikers meals. 

This spring I was temped and bought an Engel 40 fridge/freezer.   It gets here next week.  I intend to use it as a freezer.  I don't mind my canned meats in soups, pastas etc, but I am looking forward to a little steak and ice cream!      I hope that this is helpful to some of you.

 

[AbuelaLoca]

Whew... that post made me tired! And hungry :-D

I wish I had the energy and know how to do all that!

 

[Rainier70]

I forgot to mention one of the main advantages of using some dehyrated or freeze dried foods.... Portion control. 

It is hard to make a meal and not have leftovers.  Dried foods allows you to do that.  With a canned item you need to eat all of it, and most are sized for a family.  With dried foods you can add just a little.  That is important to me especially with things like mushrooms and tomatoes. 

For example I can make a single pizza using sauce made from dried tomatoes and spices, and toppings of rehyrated mushrooms, sausage, and peppers. The cheese from waxed or string cheese.  That way there are no leftover half cans of tomato sauce, mushrooms, or meats.

 

[DuneElliot]

Me too! I really love Renaissance fairs as well.
I read an article on the long boats that said modern man is still in awe of the wood joinery that was used to make them.
Knives, swords, and Battle Axes? (not ex wives) That's a whole different story that needs it's own website.

You should see the inside of my camper...designed to look like a Viking long house

 

[eDJ_]

I may have mentioned this in the past but I'll give it a go again.

A guy I worked with was a Vietnam Vet who served in an armored vehicle (Tank).

Where he was in the field they would get cases of beer but they were warm.  So to
have ice cold beer,  the guys would break out a Co2 Fire Extinguisher, several blankets,
and lay the beer on the ground and hose it with the Co2.  Then throw the blankets over
it and wait a few minutes.   Viola...ice cold beer in a hot as blazes place.

I asked about getting the fire extinguishers refilled and he said the supply/service trucks ran through
their area a few times each day and pick up such needs as depleted fire extinguishers.

Now if a person had a smaller Co2 fire extinguisher with them,  they could use it in this way until it
was depleted.  Wouldn't take much to ice down a couple beers or to chill the contents of a well insulated
ice chest.   Don't know what it would cost to get it refiled but it would be a convenience to have along.

I understand people go to AirGas facilities and purchase a 10 or 20 lb exchangeable for less than $15 bucks
(as little as $8 for a 10 lb) just like getting propane from Blue Rhino.

Think of it as sprayable dry ice on demand.

 

[TrainChaser]

Consider a old-time, pioneer-style evaporative cooler: http://www.chelseagreen.com/blogs/project-evaporative-cooler-box-draft/

One change to the above design that I saw several years ago had a bowl of water on the top, with a top and 3 sides of fabric and a door of the same stuff (I want to say it was a fairly closely woven burlap type fabric). Think large burlap feed sack draped over some shelving made to fit the bag, and a flap door cut into it for access. The top sat in a large bowl of water with a rock holding it down, and it hung from a support IN THE SUN. It has to be IN THE SUN, as it's the evaporation process that cools the food, not just the water.

Personally, I would set a thermometer in it to see what kind of cooling you get, and probably wouldn't keep anything that can spoil in it for much more than 24 hours. If you have a 'delicate' digestive system, I wouldn't use it at all.

 

[Ballenxj]

You should see the inside of my camper...designed to look like a Viking long house

NICE! Real wood slats to look like logs?

 

[VanGrrl57]

Has anyone been able to get by without using any type of refrigeration by using shelf stable foods, canned goods, etc.? Obviously in extreme heat this would be difficult unless everything was canned or dried and you never had leftovers to deal with.  Just wondering if anybody has been able to do it.

I have done it but it got old for me really quick!  So it can be done. I eventually got one of those "extreme" coolers that keep you from having to buy a lot of ice all the time and I still have it. I did eventually get a refrigerator, though, because I'm trying to eat healthier foods and I like my cereal and milk. My yogurt, too.


VanGrrl57

 

[ArtW]

DuneElliot, if I ever get out there I REALLY want to see the inside of that Trailer, sounds awesome
I used to love working with swords, mostly self taught, so I probably have it wrong lol, but it was a good wsy to get some exercise while having fun

Edj, HEB sells dry ice, dunno how long it lasts in a cooler, but a enough folks buy it we keep selling it, that would solve on problem of a cooler, no water as the ice melts
Also, put the ice below food, it keeps it cold: put the ice above the food, it'll freeze it
I wonder about the economics of that idea

Trainchaser, that's an interesting idea, for those periods when you're ststionary

 

[DuneElliot]

NICE! Real wood slats to look like logs?

Nope...lots and lots of hides and furs, horns, swords etc

 

[IanC]

I'm really into the Viking and medieval era, and the romanticized version of what it was like...but in reality it was tough.

True that about Vikings- it cracks me up that children's sports teams are named for clans of murderers, rapists and thieves - essentially the ISIS of their time. Actually, I wonder if it's the romanticized life of marauding that leads the city dwelling ISIS recruits from Europe to sign up. Same with pirates. Romantic versions are wonderful things - none of the blood and guts.

 

[Ballenxj]

Nope...lots and lots of hides and furs, horns, swords etc

That works too. At that point you could also be a mountain man or Trapper? Options.

 

[DuneElliot]

True that about Vikings- it cracks me up that children's sports teams are named for clans of murderers, rapists and thieves - essentially the ISIS of their time. Actually, I wonder if it's the romanticized life of marauding that leads the city dwelling ISIS recruits from Europe to sign up.   Same with pirates. Romantic versions are wonderful things - none of the blood and guts.

And the horned helmets :dodgy: ...makes me want to pull out the White Out!!!

The Vikings weren't actually as bad as many think they were, but this is not the thread to talk about it (hijacked enough already). The certainly weren't the ISIS equivalent.

 

[Ballenxj]

Nope...lots and lots of hides and furs, horns, swords etc

Sent you a PM with a link you might like.

 

[lenny flank]

True that about Vikings- it cracks me up that children's sports teams are named for clans of murderers, rapists and thieves - essentially the ISIS of their time. Actually, I wonder if it's the romanticized life of marauding that leads the city dwelling ISIS recruits from Europe to sign up.   Same with pirates. Romantic versions are wonderful things - none of the blood and guts.

Argh, the history fan in me must correct this.......

Yes, that is the popular conception of Vikings. but they were lots more complex than that. They were also explorers and settlers--they founded modern Russia, reached North America, and inhabited most of France and England. ("Russia" is named after the Rus Vikings, and "Normandy" is named after the "Northmen".) They founded cities from Kiev to Dublin. They had one of the earliest functioning democracies in Europe (the Icelandic parliament is a direct descendant of the original Viking "Althing" government). technologically, their sea-faring was far more advanced than anyone else's at the time. They left a long list of literary sagas that make up some of the earliest European literature. And they were one of the very last indigenous European cultures to surrender to Christian domination (and subsequently join in with Europe's idiotic religious wars.)

Given all that, I can forgive them if they raided and pillaged once in a while (particularly since virtually every other European society at the time also did their share of raiding and pillaging---there is a reason why we call this time "The Dark Ages").

 

[Ballenxj]

lenny flank

Argh, the history fan in me must correct this.......

Yes, that is the popular conception of Vikings. but they were lots more complex than that. They were also explorers and settlers--they founded modern Russia, reached North America, and inhabited most of France and England. ("Russia" is named after the Rus Vikings, and "Normandy" is named after the "Northmen".) They founded cities from Kiev to Dublin. They had one of the earliest functioning democracies in Europe (the Icelandic parliament is a direct descendant of the original Viking "Althing" government). technologically, their sea-faring was far more advanced than anyone else's at the time.

They also farmed Iceland. <--- They were smart enough to name it that, and the ice covered isle Greenland just to keep unwanted raiders from other countries away.
I read an article about their craftsmanship in boat building being unparalleled by other cultures of the day. They had to be fierce because as pointed out, everybody back then were raiding and plundering. Look at what England did, and look no further than the catholic church for even worse atrocities.
I love how they get singled out and compared to modern day miscreants for doing what everybody else was doing back then. They just happened to be better at it.

 

[lenny flank]

I read an article about their craftsmanship in boat building being unparalleled by other cultures of the day.

When I was in Oslo I had the chance to get a close look at the boats in the Viking Ship Museum there (one of my friends is a professor at the University). They were light-years ahead of everyone else in Europe--nobody else at the time could build a shallow-draft sea-capable boat, or navigate it out of sight of land.

The only other culture in the world at the time which reached that level of technological skill was China.

 

[lenny flank]

When I was in Oslo I had the chance to get a close look at the boats in the Viking Ship Museum there (one of my friends is a professor at the University). They were light-years ahead of everyone else in Europe--nobody else at the time could build a shallow-draft sea-capable boat, or navigate it out of sight of land.

The only other culture in the world at the time which reached that level of technological skill was China.

But since I don't wanna threadjack a post about "refrigerators" any more than I already have, I'll make the history geek inside me shut up now.