Thats pretty much it. What is refrigeration? Well. Its nothing new technology wise. It does require a decent amount of electrical juice though and Im fresh out of juice. Actually I use zero electricity most days. The cell phone is the only electrical device used daily and that is powered between a balance of charging while driving my truck or portable battery packs that are topped off also in my truck or by a 20 watt portable solar panel. Thats it. The power tools are all cordless and I charge them at a neighbors house which I find to be quite the luxury. The lifestyle isnt for everyone but I cant see myself going back.
Back to refrigeration, we have none. I do miss it but theres ways around it. Simply dont buy foods that require refrigeration. Problem solved. Okay theres some things we like to eat that require refrigeration, like yogurt. How long will yogurt last without refrigeration? 3 days in a cooler (no ice). Salad greens last 2 days. Meat lasts 2-4 days depending on type and packaging. Its been a fun experiment albeit a bit wasteful at first (more compost!).
There is a lot of misinformation out there, I wont get into the political side of things Ill just simply say, we are led to believe a lot of things that are wrong. Eggs do not require refrigeration unless theyve been washed or refrigerated (as in they must continue to be chilled once chilled). We eat month old eggs. Theyre great. Meat can be stored in various ways, salted (still playing with this) smoked and dried. A lot has been forgotten over time and as conveniant a refrigerator can be, theres ways around it. If theres anything Ive learned in life, where there is a will there is a way. Always.
With that said, eventually we'll have a small cooler turned into a refrigerator of sorts (many methods), its dependant on what I cook up for a permanent solar installation. In the mean time there is this:
Old freezers are free. So a free freezer gets buried in the ground as a pseudo root cellar.
Bunch of holes drilled in the bottom and a vent stack. I later cut the stack down to ground level, didnt really need to be that high. At first it was holding 62 degrees. 55-58 is ideal. As the summer heat came on Im now seeing 70 degrees. No good. Perhaps more dirt. More holes in the bottom (where the dirt is cool). I dont know, still playing with it. Ideally its to store salted meats and root vegetables. Ill figure it out, thats the fun of free projects. Learning at little to no cost.
