[Cob] fridge vs. no fridge

[Kindra Welch]

Hey Tys... in New Mexico we started with no fridge, just coolers, then
upgraded to basement (basically your under floor storage) and finally to
basement + hand-me-down fridge.  According to our eating patterns its the
greens, other veggies, leftovers and apple juice that suffers most with no
fridge.  Good organic food is 30 miles away. Having no fridge doubles or
triples our shopping trips during the week, otherwise the food spoils.  The
veggies definitely keep longer in the basement but not a whole week, the
apple juice only about 3 days before turning. In order to make only 1 trip
to town per week, we happily accepted the fridge our neighbor was giving
away.  Also the ability to prepare a large amount of food and then tuck it
away for a quick lunch is quite convenient.  I found without a fridge that
we ended up losing all of our leftovers.
So ideally we would have time to cook at every meal, eat lots of fermented
and home canned foods, have a garden and orchard to harvest veggies straight
from the land, but that requires: time, practice, experience, spot with full
sun, and enough time between frosts to get things going.... all of which are
a little scarce in our particular situation.
I would say, turn off your fridge for a month and see what you figure out.
Kindra

-----Original Message-----

Date: Fri, 28 Dec 2007 11:18:10 -0800
From: "Tys Sniffen" <tys at ideamountain.com>
Subject: [Cob] the cold box/fridge debate

<snip>


But now I'm thinking I don't want a fridge at all.  Having to vent the back
of this propane one, or getting some sort of very efficient electric one
(and having to vent that or plan for the heat escape as well) seems at the
least, inelegant and at worst, troublesome.  I'd love to be more independent
from the propane company.  Then again, I have this propane fridge, it's paid
for.



The biggest hurdle is convincing my wife we'd be fine with a freezer and a
cold box.  Anyone out there living without a fridge?  Done any comparisons
with cold box vs fridge and food storage?
Cheers,

Tys