Sunday, September 28, 2008

Dare I Go Fridge-less?

My refrigerator choices are:

my unreliable RV fridge currently running on propane
or my mini-fridge with it's non-freezing mini-freezer
or my old non-frost-free fridge in my mobile home.

Then I ran across this article Life Without A Fridge from Path To Freedom. Basically, they live in Southern California and don't own a refrigerator. I used to live in So. Cal. so I know the weather is a bit milder than here in Arizona. They also live within walking distance of a grocery store and pick up food daily. I suppose I could go to the store everyday and only buy enough for one meal. Perhaps I could utilize canned food more. I think the cost of electricity is cheaper than the cost of daily groceries. I can just imagine what I would buy if I went to the store everyday. I'd probably buy those pre-cooked meals from the deli. Plus, buying meals everyday would mean a lot of extra packaging and trash for me. I don't have one of those environmentally friendly stores on my side of town.

So, I'll stick with refrigeration for now. Maybe one day when I can scooter to the farmer's market or grow my own food I'll pull the plug and live without, but until then I'll enjoy my ice cream.

5 comments:

Over the Cubicle Wall said...

You could always try this. It is for arid climates. I am sure ice cream would still be a problem though:

http://www.rolexawards.com/laureates/laureate-6-bah_abba.html

Northern Nigeria is an impoverished region where people in rural communities eke out a living from subsistence farming. With no electricity, and therefore no refrigeration, perishable foods spoil within days. Such spoilage causes disease and loss of income for needy farmers, who are forced to sell their produce daily. Nigerian teacher Mohammed Bah Abba was motivated by his concern for the rural poor and by his interest in indigenous African technology to seek a practical, local solution to these problems. His extremely simple and inexpensive earthenware "pot-in-pot" cooling device, based on a principle of physics already known in ancient Egypt, is revolutionising lives in this semi-desert area.

Daizy said...

Very interesting. If it was 80 degrees in the house then it would be up to 14 degrees cooler in the cooling pot, so 66 degrees. That would be good for fruits and vegetables and some other things. I would have to stop cooking for the whole week ahead of time like I do now. And yes, ice cream would still be a problem...too bad the ice cream man doesn't visit my neighborhood!

Anonymous said...

you are my frugal heroine for even thinking of doing this...
:)

Over the Cubicle Wall said...

I was assuming they measured everything in Celsius degrees, so up to 14 C would be about 57 F. Or elsewhere, it stated that below 20 C was maintained. So, maybe expect about 68 F. Of course, you have to keep it wet to work, so that would mean more water for you to collect.

It is too humid here, or I would give it a try, out of curiosity's sake.

Daizy said...

over the cubicle...It is an interesting experiment. I bet those pots would cost more than $2 and $4 here. Maybe I could get some in Mexico.

Thanks laura! How about I just buy an ice cream machine? Would that be cheating? :P