Life Without Refrigeration – It Does Exist

As outside temperatures creep upward from the low teens we’ve had lately, our food is migrating once again, from the bedroom windowsill back to the cooler.

We have no refrigerator on the homestead. We use a shelved box set into the wall of our enclosed porch that is familiar to my parents’ generation. I think it used to be called “the cooler,” although today that term implies a plastic thermal box. The old fashioned cooler relies primarily on shade and air circulation to keep foods cool. In very hot weather, chunks of ice would be set on top of the box to help. In very hot summers, we use tubs of seawater and a canvas sheet. Draped over the outside wall, evaporating water helps cool the box. Mostly, we watch for spoilage, buy small quantities, and use it before we lose it. We also adjust our eating habits seasonally to lessen the need to keep leftovers or other perishables. Cooking always means heating thoroughly to prevent food poisoning, as we did even when we lived a “normal” life.

In winter, the opposite conditions keep us busy. Mostly, we enjoy longer shelf life for perishables. Pots of leftovers can be stored on the floor of the arctic entryway, with proper precautions against rodent invasion. During cold snaps, the box won’t insulate well enough to keep liquids from freezing. Anything left on the porch becomes a popsicle in short order. When that begins, we move food to the bedroom sill.

The cabin’s master bedroom is an add-on to the original structure. The woodstove’s warmth doesn’t penetrate well there, and the less insulated windows allow the room to grow quite cool. Luckily, this is how we prefer to sleep: cold room, warm quilts. A jug of milk or other perishable, while not cooled to refrigerator temperatures, stays fresh for a long time.

In the modern world, we’ve lost sight of how long food can last without refrigeration. I remember reading a time scale printed on the back of a milk carton, and being amazed by the number of days milk could be expected to stay fresh at room temperature. When you factor in the margin of safety against litigation this display incorporated, the chart showed what a luxury a refrigerator actually is.

I’m not advocating getting rid of your refrigerator; I’m simply observing that it isn’t as necessary to life as one might think. Some day we might try one of the myriad cooling schemes suggested by friends and family, if we decide the results justify the expense and effort. But for now and so far, we’re doing okay without it.

This piece is a condensation of a slightly longer post on our blog. The original tells of a few other strategies for keeping food fresh on our homestead.

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Mark Zeiger is a regular contributor to Self Reliance Works. He and his family homestead off the grid in Southeast Alaska. See more at www.akzeigers.com.