Vegetables

[wanderinglaurence]

Hi. I'm new and planning my rig. I'm a vegan. But more important is I eat vast amounts of fresh, organic fruits and vegetables. I'm concerned about making this work. First problem is how to wash, prep and store, eg. 15 heads of Romaine lettuce at a time? The biggest RV 12V fridge is around 100L. My current best idea so far is to get a large capacity Engel cooler (165L or 240L) like 50 X 20 X 17 and use a portable ice maker to keep it stoked for a 10-14 day stay. If worst comes to worst, I have a pre-paid coffin.

Thanks. More generally, I would hope this thread stays active for everyone trying to eat healthy off grid and nomadic. I would love to hear what works for you, and anything remotely related. This topic is a big void in these forums.

 

[WanderingRose]

This endeavor may be akin to a serious uphill climb at elevation.

Your fresh and organic diet is admirable, but may be difficult to sustain if you want to be out in the wilds for up to two weeks at a time.

Go for it, I say, but be prepared to modify anything and everything as you go so as not to be on an exercise in futility.

I have read a lot about those Yeti coolers, and how long they will keep things frozen, and I wonder if prepping your smoothies and freezing them would be an option?

As in, do two weeks worth, freeze them and then do your off grid escape?

Rinse and repeat.

Good luck, and keep us posted here.

 

[Spaceman Spiff]

 . . . First problem is how to wash, prep and store, eg. 15 heads of Romaine lettuce at a time? . . .

How much volume does one days (refrigerated) food take?  Multiply by 14 to get the volume needed for 2 weeks.  
That will tell you how much (cubic feet) refrigeration you need.
Then you can calculate how much energy it is going to take to run the refrigerator(s) and ice makers.
That tells you how much solar/wind/generator/batteries you need.

IMO 2 weeks is pushing it.  How long do the foods in your diet keep?  I know that I cannot keep things like fresh spinach and strawberries for two weeks.

 

[Treknik]

Perhaps you could include lacto-fermented vegetables in your routine. Cabbage is a great vegetable for this along with onions, green beans, carrots, apples, chard, etc. Yes, even romaine lettuce. There are many very tasty recipes. While fermenting (often in mason jars) they don't need to be refrigerated. When ready they need to go in the fridge but can be kept for a year or more.

If you are getting started I recommend this book although there are plenty of how-tos on the internet: https://tinyurl.com/v6wej3re

Fermented Vegetables: Creative Recipes for Fermenting 64 Vegetables & Herbs in Krauts, Kimchis, Brined Pickles, Chutneys, Relishes & Pastes
Paperback – October 7, 2014 by Christopher Shockey

 

[VanFan]

Thrilled to see this!  I have recently reduced my unknown and dangerously high blood pressure significantly by changing my diet over the last three weeks.  It's been hard to imagine how to keep that up as we hit the road again.

Have you considered sprouting seeds/grains?  Kate (TwoKnives) and I explored this a long time ago for van living.  I think she used a hemp bag; I have an Easy Sprouter.  Very portable, easy, and no soil or lighting needed.  Does require clean water for rinsing, though.  Probably hard to produce the quantities you need, but very nutritious for the space!

 

[mattvei]

check on youtube, rvillage, escapees etc. there are lots of special interest groups within each of these major groups and you can probably find everything that you're looking for within them

 

[XERTYX]

I'll look and see if I can find the video I first saw on this type of "refrigerator". It was a young couple with a small RV. Their propane fridge bit the dust and they replaced it with a chest deep freezer. They bought a thermostat online that plugged into the 120v AC inverter then into the freezer. It turned a large volume deep freezer into a large volume chest refrigerator.

It's not small. But they claimed it used very little power. Idk about 15 heads of lettuce per se. But its bigger than most of the 12v fridges I've seen. If not bigger than all of them on the market.

I would imagine you'd need a pretty decent amount of solar and a couple of batteries to be safe going that route.

I'm just curious. How many different ways do you eat lettuce? Like as wraps as well as in salads and on sandwiches? I like lettuce myself. I dont think I've ever eaten that much over a 2 week stretch though. Even back in the day when I was eating vegetarian and trying to stay vegan.

Also as far as portable ice makers I cant recommend them. They do freeze water into cubes.. or ovals actually. They are not very thick and are already dripping the moment they come out of the machine.

When I was running one to fill a cooler I had to keep it on pretty much constantly. Once the cooler was full to capacity I had to drain water off and keep adding more ice and drain and add and drain and add. Eventually you would reach a point where it would hold ice til the following morning. But only after hours of filling and draining. The cubes melt really quickly.

This I have never tried BUT... I would sooner try to use a 12v freezer to freeze plastic bottles of water and use those in a super efficient cooler than try and use an icemaker again.

 

[G0ldengirl68]

Fermented Vegetables: Creative Recipes for Fermenting 64 Vegetables & Herbs in Krauts, Kimchis, Brined Pickles, Chutneys, Relishes & Pastes
Paperback – October 7, 2014 by Christopher Shockey

Excellent, and better than I could have done as I only viewed a video (I'll attach) a couple of days ago.  I love vegies, and being single, I can't buy a lot at a time or they'll perish, so, I did find a video, and it happened to be on fermenting.  I had just made a yummy recipe with saurkraut, and it got me wondering!  Hope this might work for any vegans, or anyone that might want to try it

The guy is pretty windy so I skipped ahead, a lot but, there's bound to be more "how-to's" on this topic   Welcome by the way, I am pretty new as well.  Looking forward to exploring the possibilities "out there", Denise

 

[crofter]

There are vegan dwellers on the forum, one being Bob's assistant. I think they remove the passenger seat and put the large 12v compressor fridge there.

Be sure to test the cooler before using. My alpicool tends to freeze the bottom of the cooler. You could also make block ice in your 12v compressor fridge, and use an ice chest for fresh foods. Link to video.
-crofter

 

[GoingMobile]

Interesting challenge. I think going a step away with adding some dried or fermented choices that keep longer to supplement fresh might be required.  However Lutefisk is going too far! Or perhaps a rooftop garden, or sprouting? Good luck and report back with your experiences for us to learn from.