Living without a fridge - Fridges, Pantry, Meat Safes, Cellars, Root Stores and Cold Rooms Part One

Has for me not been easy as I use my fridge or fridges extensively, but it has been a learning curve.  Fortunately with the aid of two cool boxes, ice packs courtesy of my freezer and buying bags of ice from the shop I have been getting by.  We have been putting the ice in the bottom of the cool boxes and then stacking everything in on top.  However, as the ice melts it is naturally leaving a puddle in the cool boxes and so I have had to make sure that everything is in a freezer bag to stop the spoilage of what food I have bought in. 

I have also for the milk been storing this in cold water in a metal bucket also topped up with ice.

I must admit this is slightly laborious but for the time being is a means to an end.  I have noticed that I am having to do more smaller trips for goods that will not keep.  There are other methods of making do without a fridge, many of which require a suitable cold area to start with, which is currently not an option for me.

For this particular house I need two fridges as I have no other way of storing stuff safely, but even then with two fridges it does not cover storage for all those Items I would wish to keep and/or have a go at.

Traditionally, the cold place in the house would in older houses be the pantry.  There would in some houses be an ice box but for the general public there would be the cold slab. Quite often Slate or Marble. Of course the winter pantry kept everything cold if not frozen.  I remember the milkman leaving bottles of milk on the doorstep and the cream section freezing and popping through the foil lids.  The birds used to take advantage of this if you were not quick at getting the milk in. but in the summer if  you did not get the milk in straight away the cream on the top of the milk used to curdle unless it was in a shaded area it was still lovely and cold.

I also remember my Mum and my Nan having meat safes in their pantries.  Mum's pantry was tiddly nothing more than a cupboard when we lived in Uppingham in the 1960s which is when hers went.  Although she had used it in the cottage at Gunthorpe.  

Nan's pantry was lovely and cold even in the middle of summer.  It was a long shelved pantry with terracotta tiles on the floor with the meat safe at the end.  There were no windows.  The meat safe was still there when she died.  Not seen a meat safe here are a couple of photos (not mine from auction sites).  The first one is very similar to the ones my Nan and Mum had.

If you have such a cold pantry in your home do not get rid of it as this is a valuable asset to your food storage.  If it is in a mess strip it out do what needs to be done to make it usable and then fit it out to suit your needs.

When I was first married over 40 years ago the house we purchased had a small scullery kitchen with just a sink, with a tiny cold larder tacked on the back of the house. I had a small integral 1930s storage cupboard with a drop down shelf so that you could do your baking and a small table and chairs. It also had a small outside downstairs loo and small shed.  As we started doing the house up we decided to extend the kitchen out but to do that had to demolish the pantry.  The kitchen looked lovely when it was finished but I missed that pantry storage.  Cupboards were not quite the same and I have held to this view ever since.

Where I live presently I have a small Pantry.  It is not what I call a Cold Larder or Pantry but is more of a Dry Larder and ideal for keeping tinned stuff and dry ingredients.  Veggies and stuff to be kept cold does not do too well in here.  This is one of the reasons I also use the under stair cupboard which is cold and ideal.  You have to store appropriate items in the right areas.   I am currently doing up and decorating these storage areas.  A post covering this is to follow at a later date as it is still a WIP (Work-in-Process).

However, this post is getting a little long and so shall continue in Part Two.

Catch you soon.

Pattypan

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