The Cold Room

Eggs in the Cold Room

The other day there was quite a discussion about going fridgeless over at Crunchy Chicken. Some, such as Greenpa and Sharon, have been fridgeless for a while. I, on the other hand, have been fridgeless for a whole (looking at my watch) 3 weeks. I cannot say that this was a easy adjustment. In fact, I still call the cold room a refrigerator (“hey, insert child’s name, can you put this in the fridge?”) However, I think it is remarkable that I think of this as a refrigerator, and not as another room. The same as every other change we have made, it simply takes time to get used to it.

The cold room is a small room in the northern part of the house. The room leads to the root cellar, but also has two doors — one into the house and one that leads outside. In the room I have placed a temperature gauge. A few times a day I check on the temperature in the room — I make sure that it stays between 30 and 40 degrees. It is not too much work to check on it – I only have to open a door. If the room is too cold, I crack open the door into the house and if it is too warm, I crack open the door to outside. I also add door snakes to the various areas, if needed. Monitoring the temperature has not proven to be difficult.

I have arranged the room with a wire shelf. On this I place items. As we know, heat rises, thus I put the items which need to be coldest on the bottom of the shelf, and the things which can be warmer near the top.

The one thing that I love about being fridgeless, is that the food is in my face. I don’t have rotting fruits or veggies, because they are not hidden in a crisper (composter) drawer. I open the door and everything is there, not hidden from view. I realize that this system is only truly available for part of the year. In the hot summer months things will have to change.

Do I recommend this to all? Of course not, however I do think it is a good idea to find a way to go fridgeless, so that if it becomes necessary for any reason, that you are prepared for the adventure. I plan on videotaping this soon!