I am really leaning toward seeing about converting one of the upright freezers in the workshop to a refrigerator. It's the cheapest route right now that I can find, and while I don't suppose I'd mind a nice new fridge, I don't want to spend the money to get one. An older, used one might not be bad, but you take your chances on if it will last...or work any better than what I have in the kitchen right now.
Obviously, we need to rethink our way of life around here. Not having left-overs to deal with would certainly help the fridge situation. We can purchase, or re-bottle, smaller amounts of condiments we use regularly...mustard, ketchup, salad dressings and mayos. I don't need to keep eggs in the fridge. I'm not storing them that long...even buying them, I buy a case every other week. That isn't so long. I could easily them up with noodles, baked goods and even freeze some now and again.
I don't know about the milk, though. That has me wondering still. I don't typically have alot of dairy in there....some block cheeses for slicing for sandwiches, sometimes sour cream and/or cottage cheese. We have pickles and jam in there (I can most things in quarts...). Lunch meats are moved from the freezer each week for the menfolk's lunch needs. My butter is from Sam's right now, the 5# bucket. I am really looking at this from a different angle now after reading and talking with folks today. I think we can make a change to no or very limited refrigeration needs pretty easily. Guess I'm just a bit nervous to actually take the plunge.
Refrigeration alternatives
I have gotten so caught up in the various ways of perfecting refrigeration that I have failed to realize that one of the best schemes is to reduce the need for it by pursuing alternatives. Anybody who uses a refrigerator seldom considers what mankind did before the refrigerator was developed. Some may remember cutting ice from lakes, storing it in well-insulated buildings, and the daily task of transferring small chunks to the “icebox” in the house. But let’s go back still further in time.
In the pre-icebox era, how was food preserved? Basically, people used one or more of four techniques: root-cellaring, canning, dehydration, or controlled supply. Let’s look at them one at a time.
26. Build and use a root cellar.
The secret to the root cellar is that it’s tucked down into the midst of the biggest thermal flywheel we know—the earth. In a 12-hour span, air temperatures may vary as much as 100 degrees F above ground. Several feet into the earth, however, there may not occur a one-degree change. Season to season, the same in-earth spot may vary by only 10-20 degrees F.
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Here is a thought. It worked for us for well a long time. Post on the free cycle that you are looking for a dorm size frig. WE have one that fits under the kitchen caps. It holds 4 gals of milk plus some. Ours has a little freezer that we never use but the frig works great. You can make your freezer into a frig and then only store what you need in the house in the small one. Just a thought.
god bless
glenda
~Always Planning for Whatever May Come... Mrs Survival site
~Sewing and baking, of course
~write letters
~Pasta made, dried and stored away
~barn repairs, on-going
~bush hogging & timber clean-up, on-going
~clean & organize workshed
~DECLUTTER ONE ROOM WEEKLY!!
~build a new mailbox post
~monthly quilt blocks
No indulgences of self will can be trivial, no denial unprofitable; Heaven or Hell depends on this alone. A parent who studies to subdue it in his child works together with God in the renewing and saving of their soul. The parent who indulges it does the devil's work, makes religion impractical, salvation unattainable, and does all that in him lies to damn his child, soul and body, forever.
Susanna Wesley
At Our School Desks
We are a Christian family desiring to raise our children with the primary focus of Training their Hearts!
I have no greater joy, than to hear my children walk in truth... III John 1:4
Train up the child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it... Proverbs 22:6
Oh, that their hearts would be inclined to fear me and keep all my commands always, so that it might go well with them and their children forever!... Deuteronomy 5:29
Our mission in life is not to go to some far-off foreign land, but to work at home and in our churches and home communities. Our goal should not be to leave behind riches and possessions, farms and homes for our children, but a priceless heritage they will cherish enough to work fervently to pass along to their children. It has been done for generations and with God's help it can still be done. In teaching our children, we are striving toward a deep understanding of who they are In Christ. I am . . . a child of God, a gift to my parents and my country. I'm a person of great value because God made me. I can . . . do all things through Christ who strengthens me. God has made me able to do everything required of me. I ought . . . to do my duty to obey God, to submit to my parents and everyone in authority over me, to be of service to others, and to keep myself healthy with proper food and rest so my body is ready to serve. I will . . . resolve to keep a watch over my thoughts and choose what's right even if it's not what I want.
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