We Make Do Without A Refrigerator

(Page 3 of 3)

July/August 1976
By Ken & Maurine Joens 
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To avoid waste, we put up our condiments—catsup, pickles, preserves, and the like—in small jars so that we can consume the whole contents of an opened container within a day or so.

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Our sourdough bread starter took a turn for the worse when the refrigerator stopped. (We even thought it was dead for a while, but it eventually revived.) All we do currently is keep the culture at room temperature, feed it every day or so . . . and marvel at the way it stays vigorous and happy. I might mention that biscuits, cookies, etc., are actually easier to make now, because the sourdough is always "ready to go" without our having to prepare it or plan ahead in any way.

When we know we aren't going to bake for a while, we leave only a small amount of starter back (a few tablespoons instead of the usual one or two cupfuls). If we were to save a cupful of the culture and feed it every other day without using it, the starter—at room temperature—would soon overrun the house!

We've learned the hard way that many edibles won't keep as long without refrigeration as with it. Interestingly enough, though, we don't lose as much food to spoilage now as we did when we had our fridges. That's because everything we consume is fresh and sitting out in the open, tempting us either to [A] eat it forthwith or [B] cut it up to dry on our drying racks (which we suspend over the stove when there's no sun outside). Believe me, having the victuals in plain sight this way is much more desirable than keeping them hidden in the back of the cooler, where they're apt to be forgotten until they've collected a blanket of mold.

To sum up then, our first days without refrigeration could only be called "calamitous" . . . but now we can honestly say that if we had our refrigerators back, we wouldn't know what to put in them! (We might enjoy the ice occasionally, but that would hardly make the expense worthwhile.)

Makin' do without a refrigerator isn't easy at first. Like riding a bike, however, "it's simple once you know how".*

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  • WINTER Star 9/19/2008 1:17:56 PM

    Visiting Granny's farm was an eye-opener. She didn't use a refrigerator, either. It had only been a few years since she got running water to the kitchen, when we visited there in the mid-1970's.
    She had cooked up a mess of food, and it was displayed on the kitchen table for all to come get what they wanted, buffet style. After, she simply covered it with clean towels to keep flies off it, and little fingers out of it.
    It was understood that people could help themselves to more of whatever was leftover, during that hot afternoon.
    The food was largely gone by the time we left a few hours later, extras packed up to send home with visitors to munch on their trips.
    Her kitchen porch was facing north, so storing fresh food was always some cooler.

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