Living without a refrigerator

I wish we could say that. We tend to be big eaters and make more then we should. Sometimes we eat the leftovers and sometimes it just sits in the fridge. It’s unfortunate but we throw more food away then we should.
"Waste backet or waistline" - Dr. William Castelli
 
We have a chest freezer still.

You be surprised how little you need a refrigerator.

We don’t drink milk, that’s about the only thing you “need” a refrigerator for. Well that and beer and we don’t drink beer either.

The only issue would be produce during the winter. During the other seasons, I just go get it from outside.. Things that have never been refrigerated last very long time you just can’t go down to Walmart for your produce. Gotta go to a farm stand or grow yourself. Once it’s refrigerated it doesn’t keep and is garbage anyway…

Most produce can be stored outside of the refrigerator anyway..
 
I wish we could say that. We tend to be big eaters and make more then we should. Sometimes we eat the leftovers and sometimes it just sits in the fridge. It’s unfortunate but we throw more food away then we should.
I had a “nice refrigerator” It’s actually a piece of shit, was from day one. I’ve thrown more food out in the last year then the thing cost to begin with. There’s no point in having it, eat the food or throw it the f*** out. Don’t leave it to rot in the refrigerator…
 
Where do you keep your cheese?

On a serious note, interesting topic. With just the two of us now, outrageous price of grocery and store being two minutes away, we buy way less. The fridge is half empty, always. We go to the store two to three times a week, getting just what we need. No waste and nothing gets thrown out. We could almost get away without the fridge. But definitely need the freezers.
Cheese doesn’t need to be refrigerated until it’s opened for the most part and you can freeze it

Peterk hit the nail on the head….
Before Covid I had over three years worth of food nonperishable.. I don’t mind emptying the fridge once a week. But I just got to this point where I realized I didn’t need or want it.

Have you ever seen a chicken refrigerate an egg? eggs don’t go bad if you’re not retarded

*side note….. We only eat duck eggs..
 
On a serious note, interesting topic. With just the two of us now, outrageous price of grocery and store being two minutes away, we buy way less. The fridge is half empty, always. We go to the store two to three times a week, getting just what we need. No waste and nothing gets thrown out. We could almost get away without the fridge. But definitely need the freezers.
I hate explaining to people how to use the refrigerator. Get jugs of water or fill it with laundry or whatever.. It’s about thermal mass. Every time you open that door, your power meter is ticking. Empty space is a waste, the more you have in it that’s already chilled the less the compressor runs. But I’m not talking about pinching pennies, It’s just obvious.

I’m waiting for @FrugalFannie to chime in.. But he has a freeze dryer. He’s out of my league.

Dehydrate, can.. Slaughter your own animals.
 
But you sort of are talking about pinching pennies. What’s a fridge cost to run per year? Normally, without filling it with laundry. It’s under $100. Why live in the 19th century if you don’t have to?
 
Forget the fridge. Want to change your life? Live without a TV. You'll be amazed when you realize how much of your life you've wasted sitting on your ass watching other people pretend to do stuff.

This 1000% !!! ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Haven't watched or had a TV in 20 years......and don't miss it one bit.

There's a reason they call them "TV PROGRAMS".
 
But you sort of are talking about pinching pennies. What’s a fridge cost to run per year? Normally, without filling it with laundry. It’s under $100. Why live in the 19th century if you don’t have to?
It’s the food that you throw out that’s the real cost..
It’s not a 19th-century thing human beings have been able to live without refrigerator since the beginning of time…

A refrigerator definitely cost more than $100 a year to run… I was throwing out $300 worth of food a month.

It’s actually not that bad,
it’s been a couple months…

Keep in mind I don’t even have heat. Thankfully it’s been a forgiving winter.
 
It’s the food that you throw out that’s the real cost..
A refrigerator definitely cost more than $100 a year to run… I was throwing out $300 worth of food a month.

Well, but that's YOU, though. We've figured out how much to buy and how much not to buy, and we almost never throw anything out.

Say I lose $2000 a year in electricity and junked chow (not sure if I do). That's a whole lot less, even over a lifetime, than buying a piece of land big enough to support my family, with all the livestock, crops, and pest mitigation, plus taxes and the cost of moving.

I mean, I'm glad your way works for you. But don't pretend it's practical for most people.
 
It is a very, very rare occasion that my wife and/or I throw out food.

I was raised in a large family of 12 as was my wife and both our parents grew up in the depression era......food was never wasted. It was a good lesson that both of us got from our families.

I remember my mother inlaw who grew up on a farm in rural Indiana, talking about people who would come to the farm to work a couple of fields early in the morning and their payment being that evening's supper......usually a large plate of beans and potatoes and cornbread. Occasionally there was some cut of pork or other game meat but that was not the norm.

My father inlaw grew up in the mountains and backwoods of Tennessee.....his two jobs as a young kid were to go out hunting/fishing for meat and chopping wood for the cooking stove. His father worked a couple of fields with a 2 mule team. Everything they ate was from the surrounding land, woods and water.
They used to take sacks of corn and wheat to a mill owned by his uncle to be ground into corn meal and bread flour.

Food waste amounts today in the U.S. are staggering.
 
Drink it 1800s style. Warm. It sucks that way but it’s still beer.
Says who? I’m not a preteen anymore stealing dads beers.

2 people. Kitchen fridge. Under counter beer fridge and a chest freezer in the basement

BTW I’ll never buy another chest freezer. Too difficult to find stuff. Uprights only from now on.
 
Spend a lot of time in the UK and most pubs carry a selection of room temp beer. I’ve tried a number of them and to me they all weren’t good. Maybe it’s just me but warm beer just isn’t right.
I like it so cold ice is starting to form on the surface and the glass is hard frozen I drink it from.
 
Spend a lot of time in the UK and most pubs carry a selection of room temp beer. I’ve tried a number of them and to me they all weren’t good. Maybe it’s just me but warm beer just isn’t right.
I’m all for enjoying foods anyway that you like, though I also don’t like any warm beer. I’m happy to hear from gourmands as to what may make things taste better, but, if I like something a certain way, f it, that’s how I’m eating or drinking it. I hate hearing from “experts” who say “if you eat this food like this, then you’re a moron.” You used to see that a lot on those cable food shows as people tried desperately to emulate Bourdain thinking that’s what he would say, until the internet came along and the only way those jokers could stay on cable tv is to compete with each other as to how much gross sh*t they can eat in third world countries while pretending to enjoy being “citizens of the world” while eating pig balls sautéed in urine.
 
A lot of stuff we refrigerate doesn't really need to be. Cheese, butter, eggs, all those things keep well enough at room temp.

But I've got kids. So I buy milk and I end up with leftover food. So I need a fridge. Plus, how else would I chill my beer?

The rule of thumb is if it's not refrigerated at the store it doesn't need to be refrigerated at home, although the opposite isn't always true with things like cheese, eggs & butter. Some cheeses do better in the fridge, particularly when opened, but the harder ones don't need it. Salami, prosciutto and the like don't need refrigeration either although once they're sliced then might as well. As much as I love the smell of a good Italian salumeria, I don't necessarily want my house smelling like that.

Eggs that are washed should be refrigerated because washing removes the protective coating that allows them to be stored at room temp, and most store bought eggs in the US are washed. Farm fresh? No refrigeration needed. I always have a stick of butter in a butter dish on the counter and I leave the rest in the fridge just because I don't have a better place to store it.

The worst is when citrus fruit, tomatoes, onions and the like are refrigerated - it actually ruins them. Took me two years to train Madame on that and to this day she insists on putting oranges in the fridge.
 
Well, but that's YOU, though. We've figured out how much to buy and how much not to buy, and we almost never throw anything out.

Say I lose $2000 a year in electricity and junked chow (not sure if I do). That's a whole lot less, even over a lifetime, than buying a piece of land big enough to support my family, with all the livestock, crops, and pest mitigation, plus taxes and the cost of moving.

I mean, I'm glad your way works for you. But don't pretend it's practical for most people.
I did just win a tax abatement on the land… They don’t give you your money back, but I don’t have a taxes for a couple years..

We don’t have kids, but if I did.. They do a lot more than mowing the lawn. It is completely practical you don’t need refrigerator, AC, or a TV.

I’ll tell you what though, all it’s gonna take is a really cold winter and you’re gonna be dealing with Mgnoob Junior.
 
I don’t have a microwave and haven’t had one in 4 years or so. I only miss it once in a great while.

There’s no reason from me not having one other than not needing it often enough to justify the purchase.
An unplugged microwave is an effective Faraday cage. Even more effective when you bury it. Use this useful information for what you will.
 
I like having the fridge. It’s way better than food poisoning and all the things that killed people in the 19th century. As a matter of fact, I’d go so far as to say that household refrigerators are the invention that keeps us from having our lives revolve around the acquisition of food.

You can live without TV. You can live without lights, you can even get by without heating the house, albeit uncomfortably. The refrigerator allows you some modicum of comfort and control over your existence. I’m not saying it’s a necessity but it’s the one thing that separates us from the third world.
 
Man! I thought I was wierd for not owning a toaster
Warhammer 40K Twitch GIF by Hyper RPG
 
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