Living without Electricity: How to do without a Refrigerator Off the Grid

[Brie217Participant]

http://brie-hoffman.hubpages.com/_38j6ujm10h7dy/hub/Living-without-Electricity-How-to-do-without-a-Refrigerator-Off-the-Grid

[chowanParticipant]

i dont know what ghee is either but lard will substitute for butter in most recipees and it does not need refridgeration.

[elnavMember]

clarified Ghee is butter and is sold in nearly all east indian grocerey stores.

You will find it stocked on regular shelves not refrigerated.

Brie is right about old time recipes. Health nuts have convinced us smoked meats is bad and may cause cancer due to ssmoke particles. Well my grandparents in their eighties did not die from cancer although they ate a lot of home smoked meats sausages etc.

We recently got hold of one of the vacuum sealer appliances. Talk about extending shelf storage life. Although it does use electricity you can modify it if you really don’t want to run on inverter and a battery. Every mechanic has a hand operated vacuum pump in his tool kit. You could heat up the sealing wire in a flame. Or accept the small amount of power needed from an inverter and battery pack.

What I am getting at is the vacuum seal proces makes it possible to extend storage life on a shelf, not necesarily in a fridge. Oxygen is what causes spoilage. Buy a package of beef jerky (smoked and dried meat) Inside you will find a small package which is labelled O2 absorber. This keeps the product fresh and tasty longer.

[elnavMember]

I found ome interesting websites on how to mke a non electric fridge

http://www.theruralindependent.com/food-preservation/zeer-pot-2

Have a look!

[chowanParticipant]

very good idea the zeerpot elnav

that got me thinking of another couple of ideas i have read or seen somwhere

one was a 44 gallon drum lying on its side covered with a very heavy layer of

straw then mud then straw then mud then straw to make a small scale root cellar

i was thinking it must have some lid on it to keep out the critters but also

to allow ventilation

another was the way they used to make ice in the desert having a pit insulted with straw and covered with straw during the day but opening it up at night

to the clear desert sky to make ice

[elnavMember]

A long time ago I recall reading how the roman nobility used to serve iced drink at their parties. Mention was made of saltpeter but back then I did not know about home made ice cream. Someone gave me an icecream machine and that is when I realized how the Romans must have done it. I donated the ice cream machine to the church youth group for use at the summer camp. I no longer have the instruction booklet, but esentially it used the lowered freezing point of salt water versus fresh water and evaporation combined with mechanical agitation to work. No electricity involved.

Root cellars yes it needs screens to keep out the critters but most critters sek warmth and dryness so if they do not smell or sense food they are seldom attracted. I guess in a desert environment cool dry darknes may offer a refuge from summer heat.

[maximoParticipant]

It’s not that difficult to live without a refrigerator, especially if you have access to fresh foods on a daily basis. I’ve been traveling through Southeast Asia and I have seen in markets and homes the use of fresh daily food and to make the food last longer they use coolers. There is someone who brings them the ice on a regular basis. That’s an option.

The other option is to get foods that don’t need to be refrigerated and/or can last a long time without refrigeration. Elnav posted about smoked meats which I think is great. Also remember you can build up your food storage pantry with dehydrated foods, freeze dried foods, and canned foods. So, I think we just need to shift our thinking from having a refrigerator to not having one. And that’s exactly what you are doing, so I hope you gain a lot of insight on how to live without your fridge.

[maximoParticipant]

It’s not that difficult to live without a refrigerator, especially if you have access to fresh foods on a daily basis.

I’ve been traveling through Southeast Asia and I have seen in markets and homes the use of fresh daily food and they use coolers to make the food last longer. There is someone who brings them the ice on a regular basis. That’s one option.

The other option is to get foods that don’t need to be refrigerated and/or can last a long time without refrigeration.

Elnav posted about smoked meats which I think is great.

Also remember you can build up your food storage pantry with dehydrated foods, freeze dried foods, and canned foods. So, I think we just need to shift our thinking from having a refrigerator to not having one. And that’s exactly what you are doing, so I hope you gain a lot of insight on how to live without your fridge.

http://www.foodstoragecafe.com

[Author]

Posts