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Going Fridge-less: An Un-User's Guide
13.1.16
Some simple tips for living without a fridge:
- Be prepared for more frequent trips to the grocery store. Find good walking shoes and local green grocers or supermarkets. Note: will also keep you fit - hooray for accidental exercise!
- Buy food by weight, rather than in pre-packaged amounts. Bulk wholefoods stores, local butchers and fishmongers, markets, and the supermarket deli section are great places to start.
So fresh n' so clean...
- Buy the freshest possible produce that (if possible) hasn't been refrigerated before. This maximises the shelf life of your produce. You're most likely to find produce that hasn't been pre-refrigerated at farmer's markets and local food markets.
- Store bananas separately. As they ripen, bananas produce significant amounts of ethylene gas, which will speed up ripening of any surrounding fruits. (Note: all fruits produce ethylene, but bananas produce a lot).
- Check out what's in your fridge - what actually needs to be stored there? What will be just fine left in the pantry? You may not be able to go completely fridge-less, but you will use less electricity by taking out anything unnecessary. A lot of us keep bread in the fridge - this is actually the worst place for bread! Here are ten foods that should NOT be refrigerated. Also, check the temperature setting of your fridge - is it too low for what you need?
- Dairy - this is a stumbling block for some. I don't drink much milk and, if I crave it, I will have some at work. But I do like cheese! Most cheeses will last quite a while without refrigeration - the harder the cheese, the less it needs refrigeration. Hard cheeses (parmesan, cheddar), processed "cheese" (the wobbly stuff suspiciously similar to the plastic wrapping in which it comes) will last many months without refrigeration. Soft cheeses (cottage cheese, ricotta, goats cheese) can last up to a week. Did you know that most cheese should be eaten at room temperature?
- Learn traditional methods of preserving food. Pickling, curing and fermenting are easy methods that also add nutrition to vegetables and make them easily digestible. If you really get into it; drying and dehydrating are also ways to preserve food. Meat eaters - you can look into curing and dehydrating. Read up on preserving methods online, join a workshop (CERES park in Brunswick sometimes run classes, as does Little Veggie Patch Co in St Kilda). Ask your nai-nai, nonno, babushka, or borrow a friends'.
Going completely fridge-less will not work for everyone! However, I hope this post allows you to rethink how you use your fridge.
Are you over-using your fridge? Do you buy more food than you need?
What's in your fridge that doesn't need to be there?
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