If you think living without refrigeration is impossible, I have done it for almost a year. As I continue my love affair with living on the road between house sits, I am on the hunt for suitable refrigeration.
When I started life on the road, I had a small Esky with ice. But daily I dealt with water-soaked butter, bottles of milk floating in thawed water, and soggy vegies because I didn’t have watertight containers.
I sorted the milk issue over the past year by shifting my preferences: from drinking tea with milk, to drinking black tea, or decaffeinated coffee flavoured with caramel syrup or honey. Healthier choices? Maybe. But made from necessity rather than from conscientious choice.
As I consider purchasing a cooling outfit for my car, I know I want a small unit. Bigger units not only cost more but invite me to buy and eat more than I need. By a small unit I mean something in the range of 10 -15 litres. Big enough to hold a litre of milk, a tub of butter and a few fresh vegetables and fruit.
I don’t buy uncooked meat (other than frozen salmon fillets, occasionally). Those fillets need thawing before cooking so I always buy and cook on the same day. Nor do I have the capacity for cooking in bulk or freezing leftovers, so I don’t need a freezer either. Perhaps using a freezer would be economical in summer or if I choose to ‘go bush’.
The idea of going bush, right now, is appealing. I now work at a retail outlet where the piped music in store is atrocious: a tough mix of unasked-for lyrics ranging between punk and sixties nostalgia. I find it distracting when counting my till at the end of the shift: challenging because I find it hard to concentrate while hearing loud hard metal music. The silence of the bush is a welcoming thought.
In the bush, the only sound is my thoughts racing like playful puppies across acres of green space. A far more welcome sound than listening to lyrics about how bad life is or how someone cheated on their lover.
One thing about living on the road with no ice, especially in the summer, is the need to buy small portions of salad. Frequently. It goes without saying that salad does not last long without refrigeration. This choice to buy often affects the hip pocket too. For obvious reasons, it is more economical to buy salad ingredients and put them together than it is to buy salad bowls or small bags of salad. Apart from the economical factor, there is also a cost to the environment, an issue I do my best to ameliorate with prudent choices. Usually I opt for fruit or only buy salad twice a week.
With minimalism guiding my life choices, it is clear I need a small unit. Sure, I have access to refrigeration when I am housesitting, but I am not yet house/pet sitting 365 days a year. So, it is an issue I need to sort out.
Living on the road has taught me adaptability and reinforced my minimalism choices. While my first setup lacked proper refrigeration, I have made healthier diet choices because of it. Win / win, right? Maybe. Some who live on the road divert their diet preferences to include more packeted food like noodles and
But as I consider the longevity of this lifestyle, inevitably, access to a frig or icebox will become part of the permanent equation. Ultimately, my needs for living on the road are juxtaposed between the folds of practical requirements and the choices I make in pursuing a minimalist lifestyle. Finding a refrigeration unit that balances these will ultimately make my choices for both minimalism and life on the road more sustainable.Â
I visited retailers searching for appropriate setups for refrigeration and discovered there is a solar set up I can manage. the four parts of the solar set up include
- The solar panels
- the Battery for storing the energy
- the moderator
Christine Writer 