During June I was away for quite a bit of the time housesitting. I was given the key and instructions a few days before I went down there but I have been to this house before. It is always clean and tidy. I get there, fiddle with the key, push the door open and go into the tidiest kitchen I have ever seen. Every bench was clear, nothing on them at all. The middle bench did have the flour mill on it but that stays there all the time. Oh, the sink had some Castile soap on it. Soap that I helped make so that made me smile.
It was also one of the coldest kitchens I have ever been in.
My first job was going to be cleaning the cat litter boxes so I brought my stuff in, put some food I had brought onto the bench, dumped my bags in the loungeroom, went outside to let the chooks out as they had been locked up for a couple of days, had a walk around the place, just to make sure that it was still there then back inside to find the cats and say hello and tell them that yes, I was getting to their boxes.
Once the boxes were cleaned I made myself a coffee and went out the front to sit and sip while watching for some wildlife.
I finish my coffee and walk in the front door and think "Bugger, that didn't take long" The lovely tidy house that was was no more. It looked just like home. How sad!
I lit the all ready to go loungeroom fire and made up a bed. Sorted.
I knew this house had no fridge, no freezer, no TV, no internet, no lounge suite to sit on but I knew that there would be plenty of books to read so that's what I planned on doing. Because I find it hard to read when it is dark I did turn a light on even though it made me feel a bit guilty. Why? The last electricity bill from this house was under $15 for the quarter, I didn't want to be the one that brought it up to $17.
So it's dark and I'm hungry but there was no going to the 'fridge and just getting something out to eat. It was prepare and cook from scratch, just enough to eat. And do the same for each meal. It was a lot different from home where I like to cook up enough to last a few days then grab some when I wanted it and bung it in the microwave to get hot. None of that happening here, being in the house with no fridge took planning and a different way of eating. It wasn't hard though as this is a vegan house with no fridge so there was no meat to go off. I didn't take any cheese, yoghurt or anything perishable. I ate dried beans, lentils, vegetable and fruit. Oh and eggs, I took eggs because they are easy and they don't need a fridge. And the kitchen was cold! so I could have left a bowl of icecream on the bench and have it still frozen the next day. Well, OK, the icecream would have melted but it was cold enough to not have to worry about the fruit, veg and eggs coming to any harm.
This house with no fridge has no fridge during Summer either and it does get warm there. I supose being a vegan household there is not the need for one but I think it would make life a lot easier. Some things aren't about easy though are they. Millions of people in the world manage fine without a fridge. I managed fine, the woman who lives there manages fine.
Could you live in a house with no fridge? Would you want to? Tell me why.
More photo's of The Old Rectory.
3 hours ago
We lived without a fridge, and with a couple of small kids, for years. We lived on stand-alone solar power, and fridges use a lot of power. We had a gas fridge for a while, but when that died, we just went without. It isn't actually hard when you have a garden and chooks. Even now, we only have a very tiny fridge, and all that is usually in it is sourdough starter, milk, yoghurt (though that doesn't actually need refridgerating - it was invented as a way of keeping milk), occasionally one meal of meat or fish (but we don't eat a lot, and usually the same day I buy it), parmesan, (but that's more to keep it out of the way of critters - it actually doesn't need refridgeration either), feta... that's about it. We have chooks so eggs are daily fresh. I make mayo when we need it. Butter is better out of the fridge. We don't eat a lot of pickles or jams but even if we did, they don't need refridgeration either. Fresh fruit and veg. Nuts,seeds, lentils, beans, grains. Sourdough. Honey, vegemite, nut paste, tahini. Soy sauce, chili sauce, homemade tomato sauce. None of the good stuff needs refridgerating. I think those great big fridge freezers are a bit of a trap. They use huge amounts of energy to set you up for eating food that is not really fresh.
ReplyDeleteI need my refrigerator! I would be lost. If the kitchen was so cold, cheese would not spoil, would it? How long are you going to be there?
ReplyDeleteMy house gets stinking hot during summer, I dont' have a veg garden or fruit orchard here, so have to buy and as these things have come out of cold storage they really don't seem to last long outside the fridge. My parents will often give me several bags of vegies when they are passing through and it is often 2 weeks worth and they definately need storage somewhere....I also prefer to cook large batches so that we have leftovers, some eaten for lunch over next few days and others into containers in the freezer for those nights when it's needed...so yep I would like to keep my fridge thanks
ReplyDeleteI would like to live without a fridge or freezer to lower our bills, but I like cold water. Actually, I love electricity but I know I could manage jsut fine without, I guess we live lives that require a fridge, like eating meat and cheese and cream. I never thought about not needing a fridge if you changed the way you ate, something to ponder :)
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