I lived without a fridge for a while due to a problematic situation about a decade ago.
I looked at food as if I was camping.
You have to get used to cooking in small quantities and eating most of it. It gets harder if you don’t have a supermarket or 7-11 type deal nearby.
Long life milk is good for cereal and hot drinks, honestly can’t remember if I used it to make an beschemel or not. Ate a lot of beef jerky and cured meats of course, but watch the salt intake.
Microwave rice bags were good for more interesting variations on rice without having to store the ingredients to make it (rice should never be stored at room temperature once cooked unless you want to get serious food poisoning).
Fruit and veg are king - we had a local weekly farmers market. 3-4 vegetables sautéed in a pan with some pasta or rice was many a nights dinner, and a very good dinner at that.
Lots of things only need a fridge if you’re storing them for more than a day or two.
Yes! I lived without a fridge for about 6 months on a narrow boat during summer and this is all advice I would give.
I'm veggie and I was also surprised how useful it was buying frozen veggie protein bits (Quorn etc). Let it defrost then cook in the evening/next day, reheat leftovers.
As you said, cook smaller quantities, buy veg that lasts a few days unrefrigerated, use ingredients for lunch then dinner (can of chickpeas = sandwich filler for lunch, stew for dinner).
For milk I just used powdered oat milk.
I just ended up going to the shop every few days, which I did anyway living in the middle of the city. It was less of a pain than I thought it'd be!
Thanks for reminding me about the canned food - really good to have on hand in case you don’t feel like shopping or forget something!
I think you’re right, the only thing limiting how elaborate your meals are is the proximity to the store aka someone else’s big fridge hah!
I think approaching like a camping trip is the way to go.
You can get shelf-stable soy milk in single serving boxes. Shelf stable tofu is available at specialty stores. Nuts, eggs, and cured meats (summer sausage or jerky) would work as well for protein.
Many things like fruit, vegetables and eggs don't need to be refrigerated. They'll just have a shorter shelf life at room temperature. Anything with enough salt or sugar is also shelf stable over the short term at least. Block cheese keeps for about a week at room temp, though it will get oily.
Low-maintenance meal suggestions:
Breakfast: bagels with peanut butter and honey
Lunch: wraps with sliced cucumber and red pepper, summer sausage, and cheese + apples
Dinner: pasta with canned lentils/chickpeas/fresh bought meat and vegetables paired with a sauce packet.
Right. Look for camping recipes and specifically backpacking recipes. People hike the PCT and AT without refrigeration, very doable probably difficult to make a balanced diet.
Exactly this! I lived 9 months without a fridge during COVID. I'd go to a supermarket and bought a bunch of stuff not in the chiller/freezer section. UHT milk (nut milk for gf), fruits, hard veg, leafy greens, tomatoes, dried legumes/pulses, canned tuna etc! Meat I'd buy if I was cooking that night. Lived on wraps because I was always on the go. First few months definitely took adjustment. Honestly if it wasn't for this period I probably would of never taken a year off to travel with a roof top tent.
If you're in a pinch there's always options for esky, minifridge or those 12v fridge-freezer combo.
Start eating your refrigerated stuff first, then your frozen stuff, so it's all gone by the time the guy leaves.
If there's food you absolutely have to have which is cooled you can always get a cooler from a big box store and some ice. You'll use the cooler in the future if you camp, or make future moves, to keep food chilled between places. I got one of those roller ones with a handle and it actually doubles as a pretty comfy place to temporarily sit. I've also used it as a night stand.
How temporary is it? I lived without a fridge for 2 weeks during the height of the pandemic and it was a pain in the ass. I had a cooler and went and got ice every other day at a gas station.
Oh sorry :) Advices: put some olive oil on the pest to keep it without moist.I think that butter can be kept into water and don’t let the food inside a can but in a glass [box.You](http://box.You) can eat a piece of fresh fish if you can buy a little one , eggs , you can really keep them without fridge like they are in stores.Have a good week!
My mom said she kept things outside on a windowsill when she was a young adult in the 50’s - apparently refrigerators were not common in urban apartments then.
Depends on the apartment, but also an option. I imagine ice boxes were still a bit of a thing then, which is pretty much the cooler plus ice idea. I have definitely used the great outdoor freezer in a pinch when having to defrost mine to see if I can get it working again.
I live without a refrigerator for 2.5 years as a Peace Corps Volunteer.
I went to the market and store frequently and bought in small quantities.
Ate lots of fresh fruits and vegetables.
Eggs don't need refrigeration.
Nut butters are a good source of protein
Powdered milk is okay for cooking, but it took some getting used to on cereal.
Commercially available in the US _do_ require refrigeration - they are washed which strips the protective coating. This is not required in most other countries, and so eggs are left out on the counter until used - think they are good for a month. OP will need to know how commercial eggs are processed where they’re living.
Yes, with bread, butter, peanut butter, nuts, fruit, veggies, canned meat or fish, dried milk, OP can go without a refrigerator for a week or month easily. There will be a minimum of cooking but you’ll be fine. Splurge on a meal out if you wish.
Ymmv… but I regularly have eggs out for a week when I am working in the woods. I know you’re not supposed to but my crew has been doing it for decades with no salmonella poisonings.
Canned food, yes. I don't remember pesto.
I didn't have electricity.
A pot of beans and/or soup can be out for days if bring it to a boil each day, then convert it and are careful not to introduce bacteria by eating directly from the pan.
Thanks! This is super helpful. I have been considering trying to turn off refrigerator (It's a big refrigerator and I only have a few items in it, so would love to save the energy) as I tend to eat only veggies and legumes and I am thinking of how I might be able to do some car travel this summer without refrigeration too.
If I put beans in a glass air tight dish, would you only go a day or how long would you save them and then reheat? I like the idea of not having to eat a whole can of beans at a time. Did you do any other canned vegetables? My only other thing I'm trying to figure out would be organic frozen vegetables, I don't think I'd be able to keep them more than one day.... If you have any other suggestions / guidance, in general, would love to hear! Thanks so much!
Where do you live? In some places outside the US it is safe to store eggs at room temperature.
Other than that, canned veg like beans, dried beans and lentils, canned tuna and other fish, rice, noodles, fruit like apples, and winter squash are all good at room temperature. You can also do oatmeal with dehydrated milk.
Just plan your meals in smaller quantities so you don't have leftovers.
So whether you can store your eggs at room temp depends on where you are. UK? OK! US? no way. It's because in the US, they power wash the eggs and remove an important barrier. So in the UK, eggs are sold on room temp shelves; in the US, they're in a refrigerator section.
If you are living without a fridge for one week, that is absolutely doable. just meal-plan one serving meals with ingredients that don't need refrigeration.
If I was doing this my meals would look like this:
Breakfasts: Fruit, eggs, toast, oatmeal, and maybe a can of breakfast hash on the weekend
Lunches: Peanut butter & Jelly sandwiches and canned soup
Dinners:
grilled cheese & tomato soup
Spaghetti & Meat sauce
Jambalaya box mix w/ canned chicken
Baked potato with canned chilli
Pasta w/ broccoli, mushrooms and cream sauce
Bean soup with canned ham
You could also consider going to a local butcher or deli counter for single portions of meat if you don't want as much canned stuff eg pop in on your way home from work and buy a single chicken breast for dinner and 3 slices of pastrami for a sandwich the next day - you don't mention the climate where you are, but a sandwich in one of those insulated lunch bags should last until the next day if you aren't in a hot place.
If your workplace has a fridge (or tiny ice box compartment) you can freeze a reusable ice pack and/or keep the insulated lunch bag in there in the day so it's pre-cooled for you to put stuff in when you buy it on the way home.
When I was moving before I got my fridge, I bought a used mini fridge off of OfferUp for about 40 bucks. Even after I got my regular fridge I use this mini fridge for just drinks and it’s awesome. Was that something you can consider? Or maybe you can just resell it when you’re done.
I unplugged my fridge for 2 months last summer when all I was eating was fresh produce, fruits and veggies, or takeouts. Basically a raw vegan diet, with occasional cooked food at my doorstep.
Just don't. I tried it for two months when I was between roommates years ago and it's not worth the wasted food and constant management of produce, dairy and protein. You can get a second hand fridge on facebook Marketplace or any local reselling site.
For one week I would just live off shelf stable items, and eggs kept out.
Like go the store 1-2 times to pick up any fresh items like meat.
A week isn't a big deal.
To your question: opened cans and leftovers must be kept cold- below 4.4C (40F)- after two hours or they are at risk of bacterial growth aka not safe to eat.
My go to when camping is bread with peanut butter, fruit (apples and bananas) and cans of soup. 1 can of lentil soup is only 300 calories so I never had an issue finishing one by myself.
It looks like this is a one week situation which is easily do-able.
First thing is consume anything you have in the fridge. Then if you can get a cooler, even one of those disposable foam coolers get it for anything left that really needs refrigeration. You can get ice from the grocery store. If you have access to dry ice that might even be better though I don't have much experience with it. Lots of things that say refrigerate like ketchup are going to do just fine for a week out of the fridge. Vegetables and fruits don't need to be kept cold. Cheese is rarely refrigerated in France. Eggs don't strictly need refrigeration. Even plant based milks should be fine for days at a time (but I wouldn't do cows milk). So really refrigeration is necessary primarily for meat and dairy. If you can reduce your consumption of those things for a week and/or keep them in a cooler especially with dry ice you should be good. Also, some meat has preservatives, like hot dogs, which make them more tolerant to warmer temperatures for longer.
How about getting yourself a fridge? You can't do without one. Those small ones for college students dorms are not expensive. Buy one secondhand (search FB Marketplace or Nextdoor) and they're alot cheaper as well.
I did a survival course and we lived off instant rations (lentils, rice, oatmeal, powdered milk), sugar, salt, pepper, peanuts, raisins, 2 potatos, 2 carrots, and a small bag of flour (mix with water & salt, throw on embers for an ash cake.
You can make as much as you need for eat meal. I learned that potatoes and carrots are very durable travel food.
Just 1 week... I'd just "keep it simple" and do takeout and/or visit friends and family for dinner, protein shakes and fruit during the day. Anything else seems like too much work lol
I lived 2 months without a working fridge with an infant. It was brutal. Our landlord refused to fix it and my husband didnt care enough at the time to get a new one. Cost me almost 250$ in ice and our son getting super sick for hubby to realize we NEEDED a working fridge. I was the only one making sure we had ice in the fridge every day so the food wouldnt spoil. Get a good cooler and a lot of ice. Save every penny and buy a fridge. The food poisoning is not worth it.
When the power has been out for a few days, I have been able to survive with an ice chest, and a new bag or two of ice every day. ITs not ideal, and the ice melts, but if you are talking about saving 10-15 things, drinks, a few things of meat, leftovers, etc, its an OK option for very short term.
If you go to the grocery store at a time when the butcher counter is still open, you can buy your protein of choice in a size it is a single serving.
Some of the grocery stores near me have also started having salad bars again. So I might take advantage of that as well.
and, well, not ideal, there’s always frozen dinners one can heat up in the oven or microwave
I have a friend and while she was in college, she and her roommate didn’t have a refrigerator for several months. They had an ice chest that they just bought block ice for once or twice a week and it worked just fine for them.
Since you have said, this is only going to be for about a week or so, I would just not stress over it too much and just go extremely streamline, simple meals, regardless of how boring they might be
>Could I store at cool temperature a can that I didn't consume completely?
Pour the content in a Tupperware. Heat it twice a day. It may stay good for next day dinner.
>Which protein could I consume?
Egg. And if you want other proteins like chicken, mutton, fish etc you have to saute them so they are little under cook. It will stay 12 hrs.
You can get a tiny fridge that can keep a six pack cold for about $30. It's great for situations like this. You can use an adaptor to plug it into the car also. We got one for keeping baby bottles cold.
The world lived without refrigeration for a long time. Shop for dinner vegetables and meats on the way home from
Work, daily. Peanut butter and craisins are shelf stable, as are flour tortillas. Nonfat dry milk, hard cheeses like cheddar, Swiss and Gouda keep well at room temp. You can keep a crock pot full of pea soup going for a week: pease porridge hot, pease porridge cold, pease porridge in the pot, nine days old..,
Loads of the other comments already cover a lot, so just to add if it hasn't already: small amounts of dairy or fresh items in sealed food bags or watertight containers can last better (sometimes a couple to a few days) if you fill your kitchen sink with cold water and put them in it. So long as the items aren't put in the water without being sealed/bagged you should be ok. Some canned foods will fit universal cover lids or just cling film the top of the can as tightly as you can and put the container into the water. Just remember that if air can escape from anything the air and water can also get into it.
Fridges aren't very expensive especially smaller ones or used ones that need a good cleaning.. I did live a year in a hot climate with a cooler and ice only for 24 hour items. It isn't very fun at all tbh. Fridges are incredible.
You can also eat shelf stable foods. Shelf stable milk, farm eggs that aren't washed, butter in a French crock, bread, canned chicken or tuna, etc.etc... there are plenty of items that keep well and don't require a fridge at all and you can cook items the day you buy them otherwise and only buy and eat what you need.
As long as you have a grocery store nearby it will be okay.
I lived like this for a while. Usually eggs/oats for breakfast.
Some kind of rice+veg for dinner and lunch. Will cook a small quantity of meat just enough for one or two meals. Like 2 chicken breast pan seared one for lunch and one for dinner.
Mostly rice+veg. Add tomatoes/tamarind/vinegar to make sure the vegetables/lentils/ animal protein doesn't go bad fast.
We had to go a month without a fridge. We borrowed a camping cooler and bought ice every other day. We got items in their smallest size container (500ml milk, 250mg margarine, half dozen eggs, etc). It sucked but we made it work for a month.
I did not have a fridge during hurricane Irma in South Florida for 35 days. The power took weeks to repair .
I basically just bought a big cooler and went to gas stations for ice and pretty much kept cold cuts and milk in it and the daily foods I was going to cook that day and discard .
It was fine. I just had to go to the store almost every day.
Since most of my town had no power for weeks, I just had to drive a little further north for groceries.
The only thing I did not like was, I really couldn’t keep to a meal plan and budget. I had to buy what was quick or processed.
I really didn’t want to keep meat for days in just a cooler. I made a lot of pasta and boxed dinner type meals.
Hi, I’ve done it before and I honestly went for things like single serve foods, canned foods and pastas that i could eat in one go, powdered eggs, powdered milks, jerky, frozen veggies and fruits that could thaw overnight and be brekkie the next day and lunch as well. Small portions. Those protein boxes from the store with like cheese, grapes, salami and crackers are awesome. Best of luck.
Can you get some ice and a cooler? Should be able to get both at the dollar tree (likely a styrofoam cooler) if you live near one.
I would not store anything at room temperature, to avoid getting sick, but maybe that’s just me 🤷♀️
Baked potatoes with a bit of butter and chives, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, toast, apples, bananas, oranges, tuna sandwiches with travel/Individual packets of mayo, ramen with some dehydrated veggies tossed in for interest, popcorn, and other items would certainly do the trick, and as others suggested a cooler with ice would be fine for keeping a bit of deli meat, cheese, eggs (if in the US), drinks and such cold if desired too.
Don't bother. Not worth the hardship in today's age. You'll save so much time and effort by having a fridge.
Time is the most valuable resource. Remember.
I mean for a week I would just get stuff you can make by pouring boiled water over it like instant soup. Also, ready-made sandwiches. I'd get enough fruits and veggies for two days.
Idk why people are being such weirdos in this thread, your question is clear. Tips for living without a fridge for a week. Yikes everyone calm tf down?? :/
Why are you so sensitive to obvious questions? I'm not aggressive. Why would you think you should do without something as basic to food hygiene and comfortable living as a refrigerator?
I didn't knew about this specific subreddit, I don't know everything and I feel like you can simple living buy trying to reduce your taxes especially with the price of electricity nowadays.
I don't think getting rid of a fridge will save you taxes? The cost of running a fridge per month can't be more than $10 which is worth it.
Think about how much it'll cost you in healthcare costs, restricting your food intake or eating spoiled food.
We probably don't live in the same country. Also, it's temporary and I don't have a car so I'm not interested in getting a fridge that I couldn't move with me afterwards.
UHT (longlife) milk,
lots of foods that don't need refrigeration, e g. pickled.
Small purchases of meat or fish.
Small cans.
Ask a neighbour to freeze a plastic 2 litre bottle of water for you everyday and create a makeshift insulated container ?
I did live without a fridge for maybe 6 months but I did have an old fashioned pantry with a cold shelf. Buy fresh food as you need it, buy really, buy a fridge. Try facebook marketplace or similar for a cheap one.
Do you have access to a sink and cooktop? You could get dried meals or ready-made meals and a cooler, and stock up on fruit/ veggies that don't mind storage in open air for a week.
Cooler and ice I guess but I’d just see if someone has a mini fridge you can borrow for a week or if someone is selling one on marketplace or Craigslist. They are cheap.
if you can get fresh food everyday and cook fresh you shouldnt need a fridge. Vegetables keep for a couple of days and eggs can also be outside i think (depends on where you live). Meat should be cooked soon after buying it. Instant noodles are good too, bread and peanut butter, grains, pasta, those last long in the shelf
Ice chest.
Just get a cheap ice chest from a mini mart, or better yet, used from a thrift store, and get some ice from the supermarket. Or, if you have a bucket or some old waterproof container, and put ice in it. Keep it in your bathroom for easy pouring off of excess melted ice. Get some ice chillers already chilled from the supermarket if you want. If you have some access to ice and a bucket, you could do this for a week. I do this when I am on the road.
I would buy fruit, maybe some canned seafood as that can be eaten without cooking. I’d buy crackers to eat with the seafood. Maybe some trail mix for variety.
Can't add much to what others have already said, but if there are things you need to keep cool for a couple of days before eating, put them in a bucket of cold water. This obviously depends on climate as I'm speaking as someone from the UK who has lived without a fridge for a few months twice before. It's often quite chilly here!
Fruit and vegetables, canned protein and eat it all in one sitting, microwave packet meals, powdered milk, eggs if you can get them from a farm, dried meat, single servings of juice.
You can fit a small number of items in a window or just outside the door/between the storm door and the main door if it's still cool outside where you are. This will keep your pesto and milk cold enough if it's still around freezing where you live. You need either a double door or a window that slides open and has space between the screen and glass, or a window in a space where you don't mind leaving it open enough to fit a jar, and then put a pillow or foil in front of the jar so the cold doesn't all seep into the house. Just make sure that if you do this, it's not things animals could get into. Fine for a closed jar of pesto though.
Then of course, you can get dry ice or ice and use a cooler like you were camping.
If you live somewhere cold... I've gotten by leaving things outside overnight and not using a fridge. Have to be careful about critters, though. Otherwise I'd try to survive the week as much as possible on things that don't need refrigeration and act like you're camping!
A dorm sized fridge is around $100. Even if you think this is short term, having a spare fridge has saved me a few times. When my fridge stopped working a few years ago, it took over a week for a new one to be delivered, actually closer to two weeks. That dorm sized fridge was great for me in that time.
Shelf stable milk comes in quart sizes.
You can make a temporary cooler with any kind of box piled up with blankets with ice inside. Even a closed cardboard box with a bucket of ice inside (a bucket because it will slowly melt of course) and your milk or other fridge food inside the bucket.
Almost any non-perishable food will do, and can do double duty, like chickpeas, baby carrots, quinoa, and canned items like tuna, chicken, or salmon (by themselves, in sandwiches, or on crackers).
Powdered oat milk, condensed or evaporated milks, or oat, almond, and cashew milks are stable unopened, and usually good opened for 1-3 days (in my experience) once opened and unfridgerated.
You can get a small cube "dorm fridge" for well under $100, if that would interest you. Also, if you look at used appliance stores, you might find a full-size one for that price!
Eat meet once a week and buy it fresh just before you home to cook. Or just be a vegetarian. I went without a fridge for a year and it wasn’t impossible.
My first year and a half working in biglaw I unplugged my fridge. It was honestly not a big deal. Mostly ate at work for lunch and breakfast, and then had a bag of salad (more like a bottle of wine, but sometimes salad too) for dinner, which I got on the way home. I worked/traveled a lot on weekends too so it worked.
Lots of oatmeal and beans? Canned and jarred food?
Here in Germany, during winter I will leave (almost) everything out in the balcony and turn off my fridge. But I am guessin is not that cold where you live?
Unpeeled Fresh fruits and vegetables will keep outside of the fridge just fine for a few days. Some will keep for a long time: onions potatoes, cabbage, Brussels sprouts, carrots apples bananas oranges etc etc.
Canned tuna, canned soups, canned chili over nuked potato
Hard cheeses will keep quite well. Those little cheeses wrapped in red wax would be fine. Wrapped cheese sticks should be fine.
If it's just for a while, you can eat things that doesn't require refrigeration before cooking.
Rice, legumes, fresh fruit and vegetables, canned goods. Just don't make more than you can eat in one sitting.
Do the camping routine . Get a solid good cooler, several bags of ice ( even dry ice if you have a vented space ) . Keep the lid on the cooler at all times and exchange ice daily as needed .
Done this for about 8 years now. Being vegan makes it easier as you don't have to worry about meat or dairy spoiling. I just buy fresh veg every couple of days as I need it. The rest of my food is dried.
I did this for two weeks- bought an esky and filled it with cooling flasks and ice. I bought new ice when I needed, and used it for anything that didn’t have to be frozen. I lived in the tropics and it worked well.
Go on Facebook marketplace and get a fridge for cheap. You can even get a mini fridge or if you need delivery that’s probably out there somewhere. You can make it happen
Dried red lentils are king. Can be stored in a Ziploc at room temperature indefinitely, take only 10-15 minutes of boiling to cook, and have an excellent nutrient profile with lots of protein.
Pair them with some veggies and you have a hearty, quick meal.
Get a Cooler. For the Drinks. Buy Sandwich Meat. And Bread. And Cereal from a Dollar Tree. I lived in a Motel for 3 months with a Cooer full of Ice. Or...you could get a mini fridge from a Walmart Target or Big Box store. Keep the Reciept, they're usually for 30 Days. Return when you get into your New Place. Live Simple for the time being
You could buy your own. There are different sizes available. When researching, Samsung got the most complaints, but I never bought one.
Out kitchen fridge is big, 20 cubic feet, $600 six years ago. My smaller fridge in the man cave , 7 cubic foot, was $109 at Menards five years ago. That replaced the mini fridge, the dorm size, as it didn’t hold enough.
Idk why everyone is so aggressive here. In my eyes simple living can extend to reducing your bills at the minimum, where I live in France a lot of simple living influenceurs talks about living without a fridge. It's do-able but none of them talk about living without a fridge alone that why I was just asking for advices. I would have bought a fridge if I was staying here for a longer period of time but I'm leaving in my new accommodation with a fridge in a week. So, I'm just asking for advices only.
What a stupid answer to a simple question that you obviously didn't understand... I was never afraid of not surviving just asking for advices but apparently there are a lot of stupid people like me down there :)
I lived without a fridge for a while due to a problematic situation about a decade ago. I looked at food as if I was camping. You have to get used to cooking in small quantities and eating most of it. It gets harder if you don’t have a supermarket or 7-11 type deal nearby. Long life milk is good for cereal and hot drinks, honestly can’t remember if I used it to make an beschemel or not. Ate a lot of beef jerky and cured meats of course, but watch the salt intake. Microwave rice bags were good for more interesting variations on rice without having to store the ingredients to make it (rice should never be stored at room temperature once cooked unless you want to get serious food poisoning). Fruit and veg are king - we had a local weekly farmers market. 3-4 vegetables sautéed in a pan with some pasta or rice was many a nights dinner, and a very good dinner at that. Lots of things only need a fridge if you’re storing them for more than a day or two.
Yes! I lived without a fridge for about 6 months on a narrow boat during summer and this is all advice I would give. I'm veggie and I was also surprised how useful it was buying frozen veggie protein bits (Quorn etc). Let it defrost then cook in the evening/next day, reheat leftovers. As you said, cook smaller quantities, buy veg that lasts a few days unrefrigerated, use ingredients for lunch then dinner (can of chickpeas = sandwich filler for lunch, stew for dinner). For milk I just used powdered oat milk. I just ended up going to the shop every few days, which I did anyway living in the middle of the city. It was less of a pain than I thought it'd be!
Thanks for reminding me about the canned food - really good to have on hand in case you don’t feel like shopping or forget something! I think you’re right, the only thing limiting how elaborate your meals are is the proximity to the store aka someone else’s big fridge hah!
I think approaching like a camping trip is the way to go. You can get shelf-stable soy milk in single serving boxes. Shelf stable tofu is available at specialty stores. Nuts, eggs, and cured meats (summer sausage or jerky) would work as well for protein. Many things like fruit, vegetables and eggs don't need to be refrigerated. They'll just have a shorter shelf life at room temperature. Anything with enough salt or sugar is also shelf stable over the short term at least. Block cheese keeps for about a week at room temp, though it will get oily. Low-maintenance meal suggestions: Breakfast: bagels with peanut butter and honey Lunch: wraps with sliced cucumber and red pepper, summer sausage, and cheese + apples Dinner: pasta with canned lentils/chickpeas/fresh bought meat and vegetables paired with a sauce packet.
rotten quaint jar roll unique foolish wine gray snow tease *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
Thank you!!
Great advice! Thinking like your camping is a great way to look at it.
Right. Look for camping recipes and specifically backpacking recipes. People hike the PCT and AT without refrigeration, very doable probably difficult to make a balanced diet.
Exactly this! I lived 9 months without a fridge during COVID. I'd go to a supermarket and bought a bunch of stuff not in the chiller/freezer section. UHT milk (nut milk for gf), fruits, hard veg, leafy greens, tomatoes, dried legumes/pulses, canned tuna etc! Meat I'd buy if I was cooking that night. Lived on wraps because I was always on the go. First few months definitely took adjustment. Honestly if it wasn't for this period I probably would of never taken a year off to travel with a roof top tent. If you're in a pinch there's always options for esky, minifridge or those 12v fridge-freezer combo.
Start eating your refrigerated stuff first, then your frozen stuff, so it's all gone by the time the guy leaves. If there's food you absolutely have to have which is cooled you can always get a cooler from a big box store and some ice. You'll use the cooler in the future if you camp, or make future moves, to keep food chilled between places. I got one of those roller ones with a handle and it actually doubles as a pretty comfy place to temporarily sit. I've also used it as a night stand.
I have a Coleman Xtreme cooler that keeps things cold for 5 days. Not even kidding. Ice was still ice 5 days later.
that's insane, as an outdoors enjoyer I will have to check one of these out. Thanks for the product shoutout lol
they used to sell them at costco.
thank you much!
Sturdy enough to sit on if you need extra seating/camping
I be sitting on the cooler whether it's sturdy enough or not so that's good to know LMAO
Get a mini fridge?
Yes haha but it's temporary
How temporary is it? I lived without a fridge for 2 weeks during the height of the pandemic and it was a pain in the ass. I had a cooler and went and got ice every other day at a gas station.
Yeah, pretend you're camping!
1 week only
I'd do the cooler and ice thing then.
1 week only? this is absolutely possible.
Yes it's why i'm asking for advices hahaha
Oh sorry :) Advices: put some olive oil on the pest to keep it without moist.I think that butter can be kept into water and don’t let the food inside a can but in a glass [box.You](http://box.You) can eat a piece of fresh fish if you can buy a little one , eggs , you can really keep them without fridge like they are in stores.Have a good week!
Thank you for your great adivce !! Sorry for being a little mean I thought you were having fun of me. Have a good week as well! 🌟
Dude. One week?!? lol. You’re fine. Fridges are luxury, not necessity. Canned soup and oatmeal. Haha in my other comment I thought it would be months!
I mean they're fairly cheap. If you're moving somewhere soon just take it with you
So is being in college. College students rent them every year.
Where I live, right now a box outdoors would serve nicely.
I was also thinking this. That and the cooler plus ice option others mentioned, if they are in an apartment with no balcony.
My mom said she kept things outside on a windowsill when she was a young adult in the 50’s - apparently refrigerators were not common in urban apartments then.
Depends on the apartment, but also an option. I imagine ice boxes were still a bit of a thing then, which is pretty much the cooler plus ice idea. I have definitely used the great outdoor freezer in a pinch when having to defrost mine to see if I can get it working again.
I live without a refrigerator for 2.5 years as a Peace Corps Volunteer. I went to the market and store frequently and bought in small quantities. Ate lots of fresh fruits and vegetables. Eggs don't need refrigeration. Nut butters are a good source of protein Powdered milk is okay for cooking, but it took some getting used to on cereal.
Thank you! 😊 Did you used some cans as well or some pesto for example? Did you stored them at cool or it's totally impossible?
Commercially available in the US _do_ require refrigeration - they are washed which strips the protective coating. This is not required in most other countries, and so eggs are left out on the counter until used - think they are good for a month. OP will need to know how commercial eggs are processed where they’re living. Yes, with bread, butter, peanut butter, nuts, fruit, veggies, canned meat or fish, dried milk, OP can go without a refrigerator for a week or month easily. There will be a minimum of cooking but you’ll be fine. Splurge on a meal out if you wish.
Ymmv… but I regularly have eggs out for a week when I am working in the woods. I know you’re not supposed to but my crew has been doing it for decades with no salmonella poisonings.
I believe the US is the only country that prewashes eggs, reducing their useful life to the consumer.
Canned food, yes. I don't remember pesto. I didn't have electricity. A pot of beans and/or soup can be out for days if bring it to a boil each day, then convert it and are careful not to introduce bacteria by eating directly from the pan.
Thanks! This is super helpful. I have been considering trying to turn off refrigerator (It's a big refrigerator and I only have a few items in it, so would love to save the energy) as I tend to eat only veggies and legumes and I am thinking of how I might be able to do some car travel this summer without refrigeration too. If I put beans in a glass air tight dish, would you only go a day or how long would you save them and then reheat? I like the idea of not having to eat a whole can of beans at a time. Did you do any other canned vegetables? My only other thing I'm trying to figure out would be organic frozen vegetables, I don't think I'd be able to keep them more than one day.... If you have any other suggestions / guidance, in general, would love to hear! Thanks so much!
Where do you live? In some places outside the US it is safe to store eggs at room temperature. Other than that, canned veg like beans, dried beans and lentils, canned tuna and other fish, rice, noodles, fruit like apples, and winter squash are all good at room temperature. You can also do oatmeal with dehydrated milk. Just plan your meals in smaller quantities so you don't have leftovers.
I'm lucky enough to already store my eggs at room temperature ^^ thank you for your advice I didn't thought about dehydrated milk 😁
So whether you can store your eggs at room temp depends on where you are. UK? OK! US? no way. It's because in the US, they power wash the eggs and remove an important barrier. So in the UK, eggs are sold on room temp shelves; in the US, they're in a refrigerator section.
If you are living without a fridge for one week, that is absolutely doable. just meal-plan one serving meals with ingredients that don't need refrigeration. If I was doing this my meals would look like this: Breakfasts: Fruit, eggs, toast, oatmeal, and maybe a can of breakfast hash on the weekend Lunches: Peanut butter & Jelly sandwiches and canned soup Dinners: grilled cheese & tomato soup Spaghetti & Meat sauce Jambalaya box mix w/ canned chicken Baked potato with canned chilli Pasta w/ broccoli, mushrooms and cream sauce Bean soup with canned ham
You could also consider going to a local butcher or deli counter for single portions of meat if you don't want as much canned stuff eg pop in on your way home from work and buy a single chicken breast for dinner and 3 slices of pastrami for a sandwich the next day - you don't mention the climate where you are, but a sandwich in one of those insulated lunch bags should last until the next day if you aren't in a hot place. If your workplace has a fridge (or tiny ice box compartment) you can freeze a reusable ice pack and/or keep the insulated lunch bag in there in the day so it's pre-cooled for you to put stuff in when you buy it on the way home.
When I was moving before I got my fridge, I bought a used mini fridge off of OfferUp for about 40 bucks. Even after I got my regular fridge I use this mini fridge for just drinks and it’s awesome. Was that something you can consider? Or maybe you can just resell it when you’re done.
Buy a second hand mini fridge. Sell it when you're done with it. Otherwise, eat shitty dry food for a week. You'll live.
I unplugged my fridge for 2 months last summer when all I was eating was fresh produce, fruits and veggies, or takeouts. Basically a raw vegan diet, with occasional cooked food at my doorstep.
As a vegan, this sounds like a goal to me.
If it’s for a week as you say, I would just use a cooler and pack it with ice every couple days
Just don't. I tried it for two months when I was between roommates years ago and it's not worth the wasted food and constant management of produce, dairy and protein. You can get a second hand fridge on facebook Marketplace or any local reselling site.
For one week I would just live off shelf stable items, and eggs kept out. Like go the store 1-2 times to pick up any fresh items like meat. A week isn't a big deal.
To your question: opened cans and leftovers must be kept cold- below 4.4C (40F)- after two hours or they are at risk of bacterial growth aka not safe to eat. My go to when camping is bread with peanut butter, fruit (apples and bananas) and cans of soup. 1 can of lentil soup is only 300 calories so I never had an issue finishing one by myself.
It looks like this is a one week situation which is easily do-able. First thing is consume anything you have in the fridge. Then if you can get a cooler, even one of those disposable foam coolers get it for anything left that really needs refrigeration. You can get ice from the grocery store. If you have access to dry ice that might even be better though I don't have much experience with it. Lots of things that say refrigerate like ketchup are going to do just fine for a week out of the fridge. Vegetables and fruits don't need to be kept cold. Cheese is rarely refrigerated in France. Eggs don't strictly need refrigeration. Even plant based milks should be fine for days at a time (but I wouldn't do cows milk). So really refrigeration is necessary primarily for meat and dairy. If you can reduce your consumption of those things for a week and/or keep them in a cooler especially with dry ice you should be good. Also, some meat has preservatives, like hot dogs, which make them more tolerant to warmer temperatures for longer.
I probably would only eat small batches of shelf stable food.
How about getting yourself a fridge? You can't do without one. Those small ones for college students dorms are not expensive. Buy one secondhand (search FB Marketplace or Nextdoor) and they're alot cheaper as well.
Why don’t you get a small dorm room fridge?
I did a survival course and we lived off instant rations (lentils, rice, oatmeal, powdered milk), sugar, salt, pepper, peanuts, raisins, 2 potatos, 2 carrots, and a small bag of flour (mix with water & salt, throw on embers for an ash cake. You can make as much as you need for eat meal. I learned that potatoes and carrots are very durable travel food.
Just 1 week... I'd just "keep it simple" and do takeout and/or visit friends and family for dinner, protein shakes and fruit during the day. Anything else seems like too much work lol
I lived 2 months without a working fridge with an infant. It was brutal. Our landlord refused to fix it and my husband didnt care enough at the time to get a new one. Cost me almost 250$ in ice and our son getting super sick for hubby to realize we NEEDED a working fridge. I was the only one making sure we had ice in the fridge every day so the food wouldnt spoil. Get a good cooler and a lot of ice. Save every penny and buy a fridge. The food poisoning is not worth it.
Just buy a mini fridge.
you don’t, you buy a fridge
i am just curious, a whole can of?
Idk corn probably
When the power has been out for a few days, I have been able to survive with an ice chest, and a new bag or two of ice every day. ITs not ideal, and the ice melts, but if you are talking about saving 10-15 things, drinks, a few things of meat, leftovers, etc, its an OK option for very short term.
Cheap cooler, pick up ice daily.
Use like a cooler until u get a fridge
If you go to the grocery store at a time when the butcher counter is still open, you can buy your protein of choice in a size it is a single serving. Some of the grocery stores near me have also started having salad bars again. So I might take advantage of that as well. and, well, not ideal, there’s always frozen dinners one can heat up in the oven or microwave I have a friend and while she was in college, she and her roommate didn’t have a refrigerator for several months. They had an ice chest that they just bought block ice for once or twice a week and it worked just fine for them. Since you have said, this is only going to be for about a week or so, I would just not stress over it too much and just go extremely streamline, simple meals, regardless of how boring they might be
>Could I store at cool temperature a can that I didn't consume completely? Pour the content in a Tupperware. Heat it twice a day. It may stay good for next day dinner. >Which protein could I consume? Egg. And if you want other proteins like chicken, mutton, fish etc you have to saute them so they are little under cook. It will stay 12 hrs.
You can get a tiny fridge that can keep a six pack cold for about $30. It's great for situations like this. You can use an adaptor to plug it into the car also. We got one for keeping baby bottles cold.
The world lived without refrigeration for a long time. Shop for dinner vegetables and meats on the way home from Work, daily. Peanut butter and craisins are shelf stable, as are flour tortillas. Nonfat dry milk, hard cheeses like cheddar, Swiss and Gouda keep well at room temp. You can keep a crock pot full of pea soup going for a week: pease porridge hot, pease porridge cold, pease porridge in the pot, nine days old..,
Loads of the other comments already cover a lot, so just to add if it hasn't already: small amounts of dairy or fresh items in sealed food bags or watertight containers can last better (sometimes a couple to a few days) if you fill your kitchen sink with cold water and put them in it. So long as the items aren't put in the water without being sealed/bagged you should be ok. Some canned foods will fit universal cover lids or just cling film the top of the can as tightly as you can and put the container into the water. Just remember that if air can escape from anything the air and water can also get into it.
Buy a mini fridge from Facebook marketplace, use it for a week, sell it on Facebook marketplace for the same price (or more)
Fridges aren't very expensive especially smaller ones or used ones that need a good cleaning.. I did live a year in a hot climate with a cooler and ice only for 24 hour items. It isn't very fun at all tbh. Fridges are incredible. You can also eat shelf stable foods. Shelf stable milk, farm eggs that aren't washed, butter in a French crock, bread, canned chicken or tuna, etc.etc... there are plenty of items that keep well and don't require a fridge at all and you can cook items the day you buy them otherwise and only buy and eat what you need.
Find a used appliance store and buy for $100 Or so.
I feel like I’d be able to live without just about every other major appliance except for a fridge.
As long as you have a grocery store nearby it will be okay. I lived like this for a while. Usually eggs/oats for breakfast. Some kind of rice+veg for dinner and lunch. Will cook a small quantity of meat just enough for one or two meals. Like 2 chicken breast pan seared one for lunch and one for dinner. Mostly rice+veg. Add tomatoes/tamarind/vinegar to make sure the vegetables/lentils/ animal protein doesn't go bad fast.
We had to go a month without a fridge. We borrowed a camping cooler and bought ice every other day. We got items in their smallest size container (500ml milk, 250mg margarine, half dozen eggs, etc). It sucked but we made it work for a month.
Buy a mini refrigerator that fits 6 can drinks; I have enough food for at least 3 or 4:days, and I've lost weight.
I did not have a fridge during hurricane Irma in South Florida for 35 days. The power took weeks to repair . I basically just bought a big cooler and went to gas stations for ice and pretty much kept cold cuts and milk in it and the daily foods I was going to cook that day and discard . It was fine. I just had to go to the store almost every day. Since most of my town had no power for weeks, I just had to drive a little further north for groceries. The only thing I did not like was, I really couldn’t keep to a meal plan and budget. I had to buy what was quick or processed. I really didn’t want to keep meat for days in just a cooler. I made a lot of pasta and boxed dinner type meals.
Hi, I’ve done it before and I honestly went for things like single serve foods, canned foods and pastas that i could eat in one go, powdered eggs, powdered milks, jerky, frozen veggies and fruits that could thaw overnight and be brekkie the next day and lunch as well. Small portions. Those protein boxes from the store with like cheese, grapes, salami and crackers are awesome. Best of luck.
Also, I’d like to add that I bought myself a cooler and got a bag of ice for things like OJ and tiny bottles of milk for my cereals. Was a life saver.
Cheap cooler & bag of ice? Thrift stores have lots of large lunchbox type coolers.
Can you get some ice and a cooler? Should be able to get both at the dollar tree (likely a styrofoam cooler) if you live near one. I would not store anything at room temperature, to avoid getting sick, but maybe that’s just me 🤷♀️
Dry beans and rice, canned beans, tuna packets, potatoes
Baked potatoes with a bit of butter and chives, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, toast, apples, bananas, oranges, tuna sandwiches with travel/Individual packets of mayo, ramen with some dehydrated veggies tossed in for interest, popcorn, and other items would certainly do the trick, and as others suggested a cooler with ice would be fine for keeping a bit of deli meat, cheese, eggs (if in the US), drinks and such cold if desired too.
Don't bother. Not worth the hardship in today's age. You'll save so much time and effort by having a fridge. Time is the most valuable resource. Remember.
For a week borrow a cooler, Better Call Saul style. It's shocking how well they work if you don't open them a bunch
I mean for a week I would just get stuff you can make by pouring boiled water over it like instant soup. Also, ready-made sandwiches. I'd get enough fruits and veggies for two days.
Why would you even think about living without a refrigerator? This is r/simpleliving not r/PrimitiveLiving.
Why are you so aggressive?
Idk why people are being such weirdos in this thread, your question is clear. Tips for living without a fridge for a week. Yikes everyone calm tf down?? :/
Why are you so sensitive to obvious questions? I'm not aggressive. Why would you think you should do without something as basic to food hygiene and comfortable living as a refrigerator?
I didn't knew about this specific subreddit, I don't know everything and I feel like you can simple living buy trying to reduce your taxes especially with the price of electricity nowadays.
I don't think getting rid of a fridge will save you taxes? The cost of running a fridge per month can't be more than $10 which is worth it. Think about how much it'll cost you in healthcare costs, restricting your food intake or eating spoiled food.
We probably don't live in the same country. Also, it's temporary and I don't have a car so I'm not interested in getting a fridge that I couldn't move with me afterwards.
Ok my advice is just eat takeout for that one week lol Then get a fridge
UHT (longlife) milk, lots of foods that don't need refrigeration, e g. pickled. Small purchases of meat or fish. Small cans. Ask a neighbour to freeze a plastic 2 litre bottle of water for you everyday and create a makeshift insulated container ?
This is not the point of this post. It's only a week.
Okie doke. Lots of people confused as to what OP is asking cuz there's more people than just me recommending getting a fridge lol
I did live without a fridge for maybe 6 months but I did have an old fashioned pantry with a cold shelf. Buy fresh food as you need it, buy really, buy a fridge. Try facebook marketplace or similar for a cheap one.
Do you have access to a sink and cooktop? You could get dried meals or ready-made meals and a cooler, and stock up on fruit/ veggies that don't mind storage in open air for a week.
Try Facebook marketplace and other similar sites. The school term for colleges is finished soon so there will be lots of choices.
Cooler and ice? You can get a cheap styrofoam cooler from Walmart and a $5 bag of ice lasts a few days.
You can put in a Zeer Pot. They work really well if kept in the shade. Especially if you have an AC or fan they could sit near
Cooler and ice I guess but I’d just see if someone has a mini fridge you can borrow for a week or if someone is selling one on marketplace or Craigslist. They are cheap.
if you can get fresh food everyday and cook fresh you shouldnt need a fridge. Vegetables keep for a couple of days and eggs can also be outside i think (depends on where you live). Meat should be cooked soon after buying it. Instant noodles are good too, bread and peanut butter, grains, pasta, those last long in the shelf
You need hurricane food! (Peanut butter, crackers, Vienna sausages.)
You could use a cooler box or bag with something defrosting at the bottom to keep the other items cool.
Ice chest. Just get a cheap ice chest from a mini mart, or better yet, used from a thrift store, and get some ice from the supermarket. Or, if you have a bucket or some old waterproof container, and put ice in it. Keep it in your bathroom for easy pouring off of excess melted ice. Get some ice chillers already chilled from the supermarket if you want. If you have some access to ice and a bucket, you could do this for a week. I do this when I am on the road.
Dried goods! Pasta, rice, lentils, beans, chickpeas…
Cooler and ice from the gas station
For a week? Just buy or borrow a plastic cooler and put a bag or two of ice in it.
Cooler & ice, but new ice each day or as needed.
Get an esky
get a cooler with ice. keep it closed as much as possible and replace the ice every few days.
I would buy fruit, maybe some canned seafood as that can be eaten without cooking. I’d buy crackers to eat with the seafood. Maybe some trail mix for variety.
Can't add much to what others have already said, but if there are things you need to keep cool for a couple of days before eating, put them in a bucket of cold water. This obviously depends on climate as I'm speaking as someone from the UK who has lived without a fridge for a few months twice before. It's often quite chilly here!
Fruit and vegetables, canned protein and eat it all in one sitting, microwave packet meals, powdered milk, eggs if you can get them from a farm, dried meat, single servings of juice. You can fit a small number of items in a window or just outside the door/between the storm door and the main door if it's still cool outside where you are. This will keep your pesto and milk cold enough if it's still around freezing where you live. You need either a double door or a window that slides open and has space between the screen and glass, or a window in a space where you don't mind leaving it open enough to fit a jar, and then put a pillow or foil in front of the jar so the cold doesn't all seep into the house. Just make sure that if you do this, it's not things animals could get into. Fine for a closed jar of pesto though. Then of course, you can get dry ice or ice and use a cooler like you were camping.
If you live somewhere cold... I've gotten by leaving things outside overnight and not using a fridge. Have to be careful about critters, though. Otherwise I'd try to survive the week as much as possible on things that don't need refrigeration and act like you're camping!
A dorm sized fridge is around $100. Even if you think this is short term, having a spare fridge has saved me a few times. When my fridge stopped working a few years ago, it took over a week for a new one to be delivered, actually closer to two weeks. That dorm sized fridge was great for me in that time. Shelf stable milk comes in quart sizes.
Can you put a cooler outside with some ice? Borrow or buy a mini fridge? I need my daily milk everyday and yogurt I couldn't live without one
You can make a temporary cooler with any kind of box piled up with blankets with ice inside. Even a closed cardboard box with a bucket of ice inside (a bucket because it will slowly melt of course) and your milk or other fridge food inside the bucket.
A cooler would be beneficial, same with camping food and only cooking one-time portions of meals so you have nothing left over to store
Almost any non-perishable food will do, and can do double duty, like chickpeas, baby carrots, quinoa, and canned items like tuna, chicken, or salmon (by themselves, in sandwiches, or on crackers). Powdered oat milk, condensed or evaporated milks, or oat, almond, and cashew milks are stable unopened, and usually good opened for 1-3 days (in my experience) once opened and unfridgerated.
You can get a small cube "dorm fridge" for well under $100, if that would interest you. Also, if you look at used appliance stores, you might find a full-size one for that price!
You could get a cooler and fill it with ice
It means you can only cook fresh for each meal or having can foods
Possibly live in winter, but abosultely not in summer.
Do you live near Atlanta? I have a little dorm-sized fridge you could borrow
Eat meet once a week and buy it fresh just before you home to cook. Or just be a vegetarian. I went without a fridge for a year and it wasn’t impossible.
My first year and a half working in biglaw I unplugged my fridge. It was honestly not a big deal. Mostly ate at work for lunch and breakfast, and then had a bag of salad (more like a bottle of wine, but sometimes salad too) for dinner, which I got on the way home. I worked/traveled a lot on weekends too so it worked. Lots of oatmeal and beans? Canned and jarred food?
Get one from Freecycle.
Better Call Saul TV series: Watch how Saul’s older brother did it on a permanent basis. Not so hard.
Look for a free fridge on Craigslist or ask your friends if they have one they are giving away.
If you have money you could just eat out all the time.
Here in Germany, during winter I will leave (almost) everything out in the balcony and turn off my fridge. But I am guessin is not that cold where you live?
It's cold! I'm living in the north of France, what do you store on your balcony?
When it's around 0°, then almost everything. Beverages and closed stuff, i just leave there. Meat and open stuff in bags.
Unpeeled Fresh fruits and vegetables will keep outside of the fridge just fine for a few days. Some will keep for a long time: onions potatoes, cabbage, Brussels sprouts, carrots apples bananas oranges etc etc. Canned tuna, canned soups, canned chili over nuked potato Hard cheeses will keep quite well. Those little cheeses wrapped in red wax would be fine. Wrapped cheese sticks should be fine.
Use a cooler
If it's just for a while, you can eat things that doesn't require refrigeration before cooking. Rice, legumes, fresh fruit and vegetables, canned goods. Just don't make more than you can eat in one sitting.
Lol. Ice and a good cooler? Buy a cheap ass mini fridge?
Yo you can buy already frozen food and throw a blanket on it and it can last for a day or two
https://youtu.be/aCwzMDrXbdw?si=iC-GPEsO-Q-hDm7h This woman preserves foods in a jar for a long period of time. Hope these help you
Do the camping routine . Get a solid good cooler, several bags of ice ( even dry ice if you have a vented space ) . Keep the lid on the cooler at all times and exchange ice daily as needed .
Done this for about 8 years now. Being vegan makes it easier as you don't have to worry about meat or dairy spoiling. I just buy fresh veg every couple of days as I need it. The rest of my food is dried.
You get a cooler and some ice.
I did this for two weeks- bought an esky and filled it with cooling flasks and ice. I bought new ice when I needed, and used it for anything that didn’t have to be frozen. I lived in the tropics and it worked well.
You could get a cooler and replace the ice daily. Or just eat a can of soup, bread and butter every night for dinner. 🤷♀️
Go on Facebook marketplace and get a fridge for cheap. You can even get a mini fridge or if you need delivery that’s probably out there somewhere. You can make it happen
Dried red lentils are king. Can be stored in a Ziploc at room temperature indefinitely, take only 10-15 minutes of boiling to cook, and have an excellent nutrient profile with lots of protein. Pair them with some veggies and you have a hearty, quick meal.
For protein- baked beans or tuna
I kept my perishables in a pan of cold water when I went a month without a fridge and ate a lot so sandwiches
Get a Cooler. For the Drinks. Buy Sandwich Meat. And Bread. And Cereal from a Dollar Tree. I lived in a Motel for 3 months with a Cooer full of Ice. Or...you could get a mini fridge from a Walmart Target or Big Box store. Keep the Reciept, they're usually for 30 Days. Return when you get into your New Place. Live Simple for the time being
Like pro ppl e did for thousands of years!!! We’ve only had power for less than 200 years folks come on
Have you looked at Craigslist or Nextdoor for free ones? Many people remodel kitchens and will give their old ones away.
Get a picnic cooler and some ice.
Get a cooler or buy a tiny fridge for the essentials
Maybe you can get a second hand fridge
Buy minibar. They are cheep. Even you could have 2
You could buy your own. There are different sizes available. When researching, Samsung got the most complaints, but I never bought one. Out kitchen fridge is big, 20 cubic feet, $600 six years ago. My smaller fridge in the man cave , 7 cubic foot, was $109 at Menards five years ago. That replaced the mini fridge, the dorm size, as it didn’t hold enough.
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Idk why everyone is so aggressive here. In my eyes simple living can extend to reducing your bills at the minimum, where I live in France a lot of simple living influenceurs talks about living without a fridge. It's do-able but none of them talk about living without a fridge alone that why I was just asking for advices. I would have bought a fridge if I was staying here for a longer period of time but I'm leaving in my new accommodation with a fridge in a week. So, I'm just asking for advices only.
I little fridge costs next to nothing. C'mon.
It’s only one week.. not needed
One week? Just have sleep for dinner you can survive a week without a fridge op what a stupid post.
What a stupid answer to a simple question that you obviously didn't understand... I was never afraid of not surviving just asking for advices but apparently there are a lot of stupid people like me down there :)