Off-Grid Refrigeration
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During a long-term power outage or living off the grid, what methods can be used to preserve refrigerated foods?
Read about one Homesteading Family's story of living without Refrigeration. [The Zeer Pot, Please don’t Recommend that I Use One!] This has been one of my greatest challenges to leaving civilization, so I have collected these ideas for contemplation. Take a look at some alternatives: |
Suggestions from the Web:
1 - Ice: Buy a Cooler and keep it filled with ice
2 - Don't overcook to prevent leftovers that need refrigeration
3 - Keep cooked leftovers simmering on the stove (no more than 24 hours) until the next meal to prevent bacteria
4 - Grow/raise food yourself so you can glean as needed insted of buying at a grocery store; having to store it for use
5 - Avoid refrigerating things that don't really need refrigeration
6 - Build a "spring house" (a building built over where a spring comes up out of the ground).
7 - Use the cold outside temperatures of winter
8 - Submerge [sealed] foods in a well or stream
9 - Know when foods will actually go bad to skip refrigeration and not worry about having to prolong their expiration.
10 - Build an Evaporative Cooler using shelves and damp towels
11 - A Zeer Pot has mixed reviews on keeping small quantities of food cool.
12 - Use a Solar Oven as a Radiant Fridge/Cooler
13 - Build an Ice House
14 - Consider preservation methods like dehydrating or canning instead of refrigeration.
15 - Build a Root Cellar
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Root Cellars are an excellent way to store food. Once upon a time, root cellars were the only way people had to preserve their food. It's still a great way to store fruits and vegetables, especially when you need to store more than you have room indoors and without electricity. Take advantage of nature's "ice box." All it takes is a shovel, a little elbow grease and a trash can to Make a Mini Root Cellar In The Backyard In Less Than Two Hours. Depending on the need and resources, there are many DIY Root Cellar Plans & Ideas to Keep Your Harvest Fresh Without Refrigerators.
Turn an Old Refrigerator Into A Root Cellar
Build a Root Cellar or Survival Bunker
References & Suggested Readings:
Summer Heat - Staying Cool Without AC
Alternatives to Help You Survive Without Refrigeration
Dehydrating Food
Keep Foods from Spoiling
Camping, Emergency & Long-Term Food & Storage
Cheap & Easy Off Grid Refrigeration Options
Great Options for an Off-Grid Refrigerator