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Old 22-01-2025, 09:08   #1
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Living Without Refrigeration

I have put together a little book called Living Well Without Refrigeration. For those of you, like me, that don't want to or can't deal with refrigeration on your boat, and are tired of buying ice every few days, this book should be helpful. I talk about how to keep foods fresh, and also include recipes for one-pot meals.


It is available on Amazon in two versions, Kindle E-book and paperback.
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Old 22-01-2025, 09:12   #2
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Re: Living Without Refrigeration

Of the few live aboard boaters/cruisers I have know over the years that started without refrigeration, all in time got it in one way or another. I suspect that those without will not buy a book on it. But who knows.
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Old 22-01-2025, 09:14   #3
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Re: Living Without Refrigeration

does your little book indicate how to learn to drink your rum and warm coke without ice
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Old 22-01-2025, 09:22   #4
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Originally Posted by MicHughV View Post
does your little book indicate how to learn to drink your rum and warm coke without ice
You pollute rum with coke.. that's disgusting..
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Old 22-01-2025, 09:59   #5
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Re: Living Without Refrigeration

Drinking everything with ice is probably an American thing.


Elsewhere people drink mostly drinks at room temperature. Vide the vast use of aircon.


This is how you can tell who is from there, and who arrived to die out on their retirement money.



When you cool any drink you are just hiding the taste. In fact local people in the Caribbean do not ice rhum. Only the tourists do.


None of my local friends in Martinique have aircon in their houses. But most big boats anchored in the lagoon do. These boats are owned by US, Canadian and EU people. Not by locals. Locals have open deck fishing craft. No need for aircon - the wind does the cooling job very well when your skin is wet with your sweat.


The West vs. the rest. The rich vs. the poor. Same old thing.



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Old 22-01-2025, 10:05   #6
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Re: Living Without Refrigeration

My scotch tastes great at any temperature.


Rum--I like it Hot!
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Old 22-01-2025, 11:20   #7
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Re: Living Without Refrigeration

I lived without a fridge in the tropics for a while on my first boat. I drank warm coronas, but still made a lot of meals from fresh veggies and cured/canned meats if I could get them.

I think as a vegetarian it's perhaps a little easier, as many of your protein sources do not need to be refrigerated (although cured/canned/jarred meats somewhat solve this problem).

Ultimately though, like Sailorboy1 said, I eventually installed a fridge and never looked back.
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Old 22-01-2025, 19:08   #8
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Re: Living Without Refrigeration

Quote:
Originally Posted by Tmint View Post
I have put together a little book called Living Well Without Refrigeration. For those of you, like me, that don't want to or can't deal with refrigeration on your boat, and are tired of buying ice every few days, this book should be helpful. I talk about how to keep foods fresh, and also include recipes for one-pot meals.


It is available on Amazon in two versions, Kindle E-book and paperback.
Good luck with your book. I'm sure it will be useful specially for week long cruises to remote places.
I cruised without a fridge for many years, but then I got old and soft
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Old 22-01-2025, 20:11   #9
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Re: Living Without Refrigeration

My previous boat had no refrigerator. We cruised for many weeks to a few months at a time. We'd start with ice, but that would be gone in a few days.

It's really not that hard to cruise without a fridge. You just have to choose your foods accordingly, and do some basic things to store this properly. Lots of veg., and many fruits can last a long time without refrigeration. Dried and cured meats can be good for months or years, and is dried veg and fruit. And of course, there is canned stuff.

My current boat has a fridge, which I like very much. Keeps my IPAs nicely chilled .

Today's marine refrigeration is a technology that is actually quite reliable, and not that hard to maintain and manage. They've come a long way since the early days of flaky and delicate systems. And their current efficiencies mean they don't have to be power-hogs like they used to be.

But as I say, it's not that hard to do without. I'm sure the OP's book is worth the read for anyone new to the idea.
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Old 22-01-2025, 20:38   #10
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Re: Living Without Refrigeration

Doing without refrigeration, why?
The fact that people on islands and in much of the world do without it boils down to two main reasons:
1, Not enough money. 2, No reliable long-term source of energy.
A lessor reason is psychological, the Pardey's being a good example, children of the '60s with a minimalist view, (kerosine running lamps and no engine).
In reality, up until the proliferation of cheaper solar panels and compact/lightweight 12VDC units, refrigeration was a truly expensive space and power robbing high-maintenance item.
Now things have changed, now a person with a trailerable boat can have cold beer without a second mortgage on the tow vehicle.
If you find some "lost" tribe of natives that have never had any sugar and you give them some, what's the first thing they want after trying it, "More sugar".
Refrigeration is the same.
Today even the Pardey's, Donald Street, and the Roth's would have a solar panel/battery/12VDC unit, (even if they kept the kerosine running lamps).
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Old 22-01-2025, 22:17   #11
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Re: Living Without Refrigeration

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Originally Posted by barnakiel View Post
Drinking everything with ice is probably an American thing.


Elsewhere people drink mostly drinks at room temperature. Vide the vast use of aircon.


This is how you can tell who is from there, and who arrived to die out on their retirement money.



When you cool any drink you are just hiding the taste. In fact local people in the Caribbean do not ice rhum. Only the tourists do.


None of my local friends in Martinique have aircon in their houses. But most big boats anchored in the lagoon do. These boats are owned by US, Canadian and EU people. Not by locals. Locals have open deck fishing craft. No need for aircon - the wind does the cooling job very well when your skin is wet with your sweat.


The West vs. the rest. The rich vs. the poor. Same old thing.



b.
It probably dates back to prohibition, when moonshine and bootleg alcohol was of such poor quality chilling and mixing made it more palatable.

Anyway, I started with no refrigeration, then a tiny bit, and only recently have a decent freezer. I eventually figured out how to provision and cook good food without refrigeration, but I looked for such a book at first. All the recommended books I found silly, as they were mostly stuff I could or would cook at home, and seemed little benefit over any other cookbook.
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Old 22-01-2025, 22:23   #12
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Re: Living Without Refrigeration

Quote:
Originally Posted by Bowdrie View Post
Doing without refrigeration, why?
The fact that people on islands and in much of the world do without it boils down to two main reasons:
1, Not enough money. 2, No reliable long-term source of energy.
A lessor reason is psychological, the Pardey's being a good example, children of the '60s with a minimalist view, (kerosine running lamps and no engine).
In reality, up until the proliferation of cheaper solar panels and compact/lightweight 12VDC units, refrigeration was a truly expensive space and power robbing high-maintenance item.
Now things have changed, now a person with a trailerable boat can have cold beer without a second mortgage on the tow vehicle.
If you find some "lost" tribe of natives that have never had any sugar and you give them some, what's the first thing they want after trying it, "More sugar".
Refrigeration is the same.
Today even the Pardey's, Donald Street, and the Roth's would have a solar panel/battery/12VDC unit, (even if they kept the kerosine running lamps).
For me, it was cost of all the upgrades. Without refrigeration, 100W of solar and 200Ah of lead acid was plenty. While solar seems cheap, price an arch, 500W-1000W of solar, and 600Ah of lead-acid battery. And then add the freezer. That is thousands of dollars, and when balancing the budget (Sails or Freezer, Standing Rigging or Freezer, Life raft or Freezer, Dinghy or Freezer, etc.) the Freezer ALWAYS comes up on the bottom, until all those others are done.
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Old 22-01-2025, 22:43   #13
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Re: Living Without Refrigeration

Bravo!

I lived years aboard without refrigeration. I found the availability of ultra pasteurized milk and everything else in cans greatly improved over the years.

I have also learned a lot about keeping eggs fresh for a long time and only twice ever cracked open a rotten egg which is pretty dang easy to notice.

I never tried the natural cured Virginia ham thing and was more into caned meat stews and locally caught fish.

I am sure most will object to what I right below so skip this next section if you have tender stomachs.

I found it was entirely possible to keep leftovers at least 24 hours safely. After preparing a meal what was left in the pot was reheated with the lid on to kill any bacteria that entered from serving spoons. Then the lid was kept on tight overnight. Essentially this kept any harmful bacteria from growing. The next day I would reheat the leftovers again before serving. If I was going to eat leftovers for dinner, I sometimes would reheat in the morning without ever removing the lid and then a second time.

And no, this procedure never once gave me food poisoning. I bet all of you were far more likely to have that from keeping raw food too long in the dinghy or in the fridge before cooking. .
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Old 23-01-2025, 00:22   #14
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Re: Living Without Refrigeration

Everyone has their own living standards aboard, some want ice cream and frozen drinks in the tropics, who would begrudge them if they can pull it off on their boat?

To me, it is a question of fruits and veggies. Meats are better precooked, canned or pouches etc. On a long passage of 2 weeks or more, the fruits and vegs that require refrigeration won't last much longer with refrigeration than without,

It isn't too hard to live without fridges, a large portion of the world does it. Fridges only became standard household appliances along with air conditioners not so long ago even in developed nations (some of us remember the ice guy delivering blocks of ice.)

But then there's the issue of a nice cold drink. This can be a lifesaver if you're facing heatstroke. And its supposedly best to freeze fresh-caught fish before consumption due to potential parasites.

So the solution like everything else on a boat is a compromise: a smaller, lighter and cheaper portable fridge.
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Old 23-01-2025, 03:18   #15
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Re: Living Without Refrigeration

We enjoyed our refrigeration in the 1990's and following years with our efficient Danfloss compressor that could be sustained with our solar panels and wind generator; however, all through the 70's and 80's we did not have refrigeration while cruising. Our choice was sometimes block ice, but more often selecting the most appropriate foods. We even found a good canned bread that came in large cylinders.
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