Living in a Van Without a Refrigerator
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- čas přidán 27. 01. 2023
- A question I get asked a lot is how I manage to eat well without a refrigerator. I have been doing so for years and thought I'd share some of my favorite tips for eating well-balanced nutritious meals on the road with you. It is as difficult as you may think and you may be surprised by how much you can pack into a tiny space. If you haven’t already, please LIKE, SUBSCRIBE, SHARE and hit the BELL to continue to receive content like this. Hope to see you next Saturday!
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I recently got "The Storm Gourmet: A Guide to Creating Extraordinary Meals Without Electricity " which I've found to be extraordinarily helpful for creating a pantry and meals without refrigeration or stoves. It's aimed at people living in coastal areas who experience severe weather and outages but is very practical when applied to vanlife as well.
I’m going to have to look for this!!
@@ABCpdc Amazon of course. I have the Kindle edition.
Found it! Thanks.
Sounds awesome. I’ll have to check it out.
Do you have to have Prime to get it on Kindle App?
Hi Dee 🙋 For those glass bottles - grab a pack of kids tube socks. Fit like a glove!
Baby socks work with the tiny jars. We also used them for stacking the sterno cans.
Also when in a store ask for the cardboard seperators that are in the boxes they throw out. Can cut them to size & double them if you want a extra layer of protection. We've even used them to seperate the propane bottles.
Nice!!! Great idea🙌🏼
I love the idea of using kids socks! My grandsons are always losing socks, so I have a lot of odd ones on hand
that is very smart!
Great idea!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY Dee. A life worth celebrating ya’ll. 🎂
Thank you, Chrispy!
Happy Birthday!!!!!🎉🎉🎉
Girl after my own heart! Organic, minimalist, effective and efficient! Works for me SOOOOO well 👍❤️
Love it!!
A very helpful guide on how to incorporate healthy foods into living in a car or van. Thank you for sharing. 😁
You are very welcome.😊
Vanlife makes me think of playing house as a kid ..like a playhouse on wheels 😅
Lol… that’s probably why I love it so much😂
This lady is inherently saucy. Perhaps that’s why she doesn’t need a refrigerator. 😂😂😂
😜
You would have been a great person to have along on a wagon-train trip back in the 1820's to 1870's, traveling from Missouri to the western shores or gold fields. These people had no refrigerators and got to go shopping just once, which was at the beginning of their six-month trip!
💪🏼
I absolutely love what you're doing I really do , I'm binge watching at the moment , but I have to say ..I struggle watching your promotion of many, many packaged items 😔 but you're such an inspiration that I can't stop watching you ❤
Thank you for watching. ☺️
While I'm in the fridge/freezer camp, I can understand and respect the simplicity of avoiding the need to worry about breakdowns and manage the required power.
Some of my tricks with the fridge/freezer plus soft-sided cooler bag setup I use, can be used in some circumstances without a fridge or freezer. I put water and other drinks into the freezer, for later swapping into the cooler bag, creating a fridge. It also gives me partially-frozen water (or other uncarbonated drink) bottles to drink. That was a life saver in Quartzsite in July. You could so something similar with snow (or much better, denser ice) harvested outdoors, put in your cooler bag.
A pound of snow and a pound of ice have the same cooling energy, the snow just takes up more space. If you can't find ice, pack snowballs as tightly as you can, lol.
When you're somewhere that it goes below freezing overnight, or with lots of snow, you could lay out water bottles on the ground overnight on snow/ice, to get them at least partially frozen for use in your cooler bag. Likewise, harvesting ice/icicles from Nature, into Ziplocs could work. You could even pack snow around water bottles outdoors, both to cool the bottles and to melt the snow into a pan where it might freeze into ice.
Loves seeing your lists of basic food staples to keep on hand. Some good ideas I'll try, though even after adding some, my own list in each category will still be shorter than yours. Try throwing an oatmeal packet into your pancake mix, I recently started doing that, plus substituting Aldi Strawberry/Kiwi juice ($1.25 per half gallon here, about half the cost of most of their other flavors) for water when making pancakes. Yum, and a very different texture.
Great tips thank you!!!
Beer stubby holders are useful to protect bottles and also propane cans.
That’s a great idea!!! Thanks🤗
Dee you are so creative and smart to adapt with out refrigeration. It is truly a sign of intelligence. Thanks for all the tips. God bless you.
You are so welcome!
👋👩🐞🙂I just love how organized you are ! Proof a person just doesn't have to have a refrigerator 🤔 I'm a vegetarian & I rarely use a refrigerator! 🙂 you're amazing! Thank you for sharing & all your helpful ideas on organizing & tips ! Stay safe/Stay happy ! 👍🤗 🙂
Love that! Yes, it’s not been missed at all🤭
This was a surprise for me. The few things you bought that I refrigerate, you hang in a bag outside the cooler and you use your cooler for all things I leave on the shelf. Goes to show that simple whole ingredients make live simple. Thanks.
That’s funny! I think moving around makes having things on shelves harder😝
I agree! I love the old school power free alternatives to things. I get inspiration from how the Amish live life x
Yes, I think there is much wisdom there too!💃🏻🐞🙌🏼
Good for you...being simple is the only way to go.
I do find that simpler is better for me most of the time 😛
Just bumped into your channel and I subscribe. Living in a van without a refrigerator is great because I plan on moving into my vehicle and I don't want a refrigerator, so any which way I can find to live easily without having to worry about electronics and wiring of any kind, works is best for me. Plus I always love to see what other individuals who do not have Refrigeration or electricity or a jumble of wires lol...... have as far as food is concerned. Thank you for your video
Thank you and welcome to the channel 💃🏻🚗🐞
I love your sense of organization!
It helps with my sanity😜
You are one smart cookie, Dee!!
That is very kind of you ☺️
That was very interesting Dee. I want to challenge myself this year to live in my van for a longer time. I want to do that without a refridgerator (and without a stove) so this is very useful, but I need to 'translate' it for my situation in the Nethetlands.
Awesome! Tell me how it goes🤗
@@LadyBugout I will 😃
Great tips for those that choose this option. As always happy and safe travels
Thanks, you too!
Looking forward to your recipes. I’m also trying to find refrigerator-free options so this is very helpful. Thanks so much!
Glad it was helpful. I’m looking forward to sharing them too☺️
BTW someone wished you a Happy Birthday. So I, too, wish you well on your special day. Best Wishes for a highly successful year for you and your great channel.
Thank you so much!
Such great ideas from your video and from viewers! I have no fridge either and line my little cooler with sheets of reflectix. It doesn't really take up much space and adds a nice layer of insulation.
Great idea! 🤗
Dear Dee wow just wow ..guess I am blessed to have the feeling of contentment..hope you keep finding what you have found…may you have a wonderful and blessed Christmas…looking forward to watching you in 2024! As always be safe and careful!
Thank you so much, Vicki and thanks for being one of the OG viewers. It’s hard to tell you how much love and support I feel from you 🥰🫶🏼🥰
Awesome tips, Dee! I use a portable Alpicool C20 just for the warmest months and I am boondocking a lot. Otherwise my Igloo cooler works fine and it holds 90% of my foods. It is also a great protection from insects, possible rodent invasion ( none in two years so far) and dust/dirt from old logging roads. My canned goods and sealable food packages go in slide out bins under my bed. Even resealable packages get placed in double ziploc bags for protection. I love your organizational skills. I have shopped at Ikea and found great storage items.
Thank you, Alexander. Sounds like a great set up🤗
I like the low profile of the Alpicool 20 and the 15 because they will fit under a cot.
Love your Video's Take Care. Andy....
Glad you like them! 😊
I new if I bought lettuce and a 🍅 today I could have salad tomorrow. It was still noticeably cool when I put it in the cooler. Lettuce that is .paper towel idea great
Yes, indeed!!! Glad it helped☺️
Great tips, A lot of those go for hiking too.Happy Birthday!!
Yes. Hikers and tent campers have a lot of great tips!!!
There have been so many great vlogs here ❤️❤️❤️❤️
This one is AWESOME!!!!!
TY ✌️
Thanks so much!!
Thanks, Dee! Very informative and thought provoking.. ❤
You are so welcome, Ray☺️
This is great thank you. I don't like using glass containers as well but sometimes it is unavoidable. When I pack my glass, I tend to put items in cardboard or plastic between each glass container to cushion the glass and I have never had a breakage.
That's a great idea!
Hello Dee. If you frequent 2nd hand shops or charities, I highly recomment you pick up a candle food warmer. Buy the candles with a high wall, so the flame sits under metal dish. I have boiled water and heated food in a metal dish on this. Plus you can put a bowl of water on this and a few drops of essential oil and your van will smell beautiful with health benefit of it as well. Use beeswax candles for use indoors......use parafin wax candles out doors with citronilla essential oils to keep bugs away. Very important to have as a back up incase you break or run out of fuel for burner camping stove.
Great tips. Thank you💃🏻
Thank you for these tips. It will definitely help in the future.
Glad it was helpful!
Great info! Thank you for sharing with us!
My pleasure!
Thank you, Dee. Well done!
You are so welcome!😊
Really useful, thanks! And happy birthday :)
Thank you! 😃
Thank you so much fornthe info. Can't wait to see your cooking/baking video
Coming soon!
Great ideas! Thanks ❤️
Glad you like them, Kimberly!☺️
Happy Blessed Birthday Dee🎉.
I loved this video; you have some great information here that I am sure will benefit many including myself 😊
Thank you so much! Glad it was helpful.
Hi Lee 👋
Thank you for sharing this info with us.
You are so welcome!
That's the best way to go! Things I am mindful of on my adventures are water, gas and DC power.
Yep! It’s crazy how much we have to think about those things😝
Great informational video. Thank you Dee. Happy, happy birthday beautiful lady!!
Thank you so much!🥰
Such helpful information. Love how you think outside of the (ice)box!
Lol😂 thank you my dear!!!
Thank you! Looking forward to your next video as well!
Thank you 😊
Dear Dee what unusual new idea..it was nice to see something so unusual ..thanks for sharing..have safe day and as always be careful!
Thank you! You too, Vicki ☺️
@@LadyBugout oh forgot to tell you..stay warm lol
Interesting topic. Thank you 🌻
Glad you enjoyed it!
Thanks for sharing Dee! I love to see how options work, and I too like to keep things simple if I can. Great video! Have an awesome week!
Thank you! You too!☺️
Very interesting - thanks for sharing! 💚
My pleasure!🤗
Always enjoy your videos! THIS one: Most Valuable!
I appreciate that!
Thank you for showing this to the community. Great inspiration.
Glad you enjoyed it!😊
Great simple healthy options.
Thank you 🙂
Thank you, Bob!☺️
😀 GO Dee! thanks MUCH and stay warm :) Happy Birthday too, Cheers!
Thank you! Will do! 💃🏻
Happy belated birthday, Dee 🎂 🎉 hope you had a wonderful day!!!!❤
Thank you!! I did 💃🏻
Great video. Nice to see how you pack and store your food and condiments. Have never seen that small of a resealer. Want one for myself 🙂 Thanks again. Keep warm and safe ☕🚐❤️
Thanks for watching, Melody. That little resealer is amazing!!!
Wow, Dee. Excellent advice & planning. Looking forward to the video about how you use those items. Stay warm!
Coming soon!
Very informative and helpful video, thank you!
Glad it was helpful!
The view out your door is gorgeous. I like how you use the soft sided cooler to hold those times. Such a great idea.
Thanks so much! 😊
So much great info! Thank you for sharing your tips and tricks! I am very much looking forward to your recipes! I hope it’s a series! Happy Birthday! You look extra pretty today!
Aww thank you Debbie 🥰 I needed that!!!
Once again, you are an inspiration👍 I'm going to start car camping this spring so I can keep chasing waterfalls👍 thanks for the ideas.
Sounds great! Have fun💃🏻
Love to see your simple, nutritious method of eating on the road.
Thank you!
Happy Birthday To You Dee 🎈🎂.
Thank you! 🤗
Thank you for the awesome information and I'm looking forward to those recipes happy birthday
You are so welcome! I’m look forward to sharing them☺️
"You have an amazing spirit of adventure and resilience. Your full-time van life is a testament to your courage and determination to live life on your own terms. I admire your drive and dedication to make the most of every moment."
Thank you!
@@LadyBugout As a fellow traveler (not full time) I very much enjoy my own company and the beauty of these wonderful States and roads. I myself go more in the backcountry but the same rules apply. Thank you for sharing ideas.
Love ur set up and home 🥰🐞
Thank you! 🤗
You've found some very clever solutions and products to living without a fridge. More power to you! Looking forward to seeing what you make from your pantry ingredients!
Thanks so much!
Awesome information. I don't, at this time, live off grid or go camping. But there are times during the year, because I live on the Gulf Coast, that we are without electricity because of hurricanes. Many useful ideas for living without refrigeration. Have a blessed week.
Glad it was useful ☺️
Always good to see you my friend much love❤️😻😎🐈
Likewise my friend🐞🥰💃🏻
Fabulous Dee. Really good information. I have a tiny 15 litre fridge, so store a lot of stuff outside the fridge. Great pantry set up and storage tips!
Thanks. I’m glad it was helpful😊
Dear Dee so organized and healthy wish I was more like you…looking forward to video on your cooking…as always thanks for sharing and be careful and safe!
Thank you, Vicki ☺️
Another wonderfully informative video Ms Dee
I love how organized and neat you manage to keep ladybug in your travels
Great ideas, tips and suggestions too
A Very Happy Birthday Wish for you and many more 🎂🎂🎂🎂🎂
Have a wonderful day, take care and safe travels 🙏🏻
Looking forward to your next video 😃
Thank you! Glad it was helpful 🙌🏼
@@LadyBugout
You’re very welcome and Thank You again👍🏻🙏🏻😊
Dee, I always love your how you do it videos! We have the same soft cooler. I love the outer pockets! I guess I should have said, I think we have the same one. 🤷🏻♀️. I also use the packages of cooked rice, beans, etc. because of watching you. They were never on my radar before. Thank you for doing this video.
Hey Rita! You are very welcome. I’m glad it’s useful information. My cooler has outside zipper in the front as well, so maybe it’s the same one.
Thanks for the advice.
Any time!☺️
Thank you for another great video. I get yarn and string at thrift stores and occasionally purchase yarn or make plarn. I can wip up a crochet cozy for almost any bottle in an hour or less. If we ever cross paths I hope I have a few on hand that will fit some of your bottles. I make a lot with a shoulder strap too. I am looking forward to your cooking videos. Happy birthday and safe travels.
That sounds cool🤗
Happy birthday my friend 💯👍! U look FAB! ❤️
Thank you☺️
Happy Birthday!🥳
Thank you💃🏻
Happy 2 you, thanks for another excellent video.
Thank you☺️
Happy birthday!
Thank you🤗
That's quite the haul! I have mostly everything that you've shown as I said before, you and I are very similar.....from our vans and age (I think lol), to our way of eating! Great video, Dee! Ty
That is awesome! Van twins ☺️
Muchísimas gracias, I've enjoyed learning new shelf-stored products. I too can only eat certain things. I covered my cooler with reflectix which helps keep cold in as well.
Glad it was helpful!
Thank you for taking the time to provide such an extensive “product info list”.
You are very welcome!🤗💃🏻🐞
Great Tips!!! Is it your Birthday?? Happy Birthday My Friend!! 🤗🥳😘
Yes it was on the 26th😝. Thank you.
I just found your channel and I love love your pantry! I can’t wait for your recipes! Thanks so much Dee! I just watched your video with Carol 😊❤️Happiness Birthday!!!
Thank you, Nancy…and welcome to the channel!
@@LadyBugout 😊😊
Thanks for the tips.
You’re very welcome 😊
I shared this on my Facebook page
This is really a "Bug Out" shelter 🐞🐞🐞🐞🐞🐞love your storage.
Thank you. I appreciate it!
Sooo awesome!! I really appreciate you sharing this. 👏🏻 🙏🏻
You are so welcome! 🤗
Happy birthday to the girl with the best hair on CZcams ❤️☺️ Great video, Dee!
Hahahahah. 🤗Thank you so much!!
Amazing.
Thanks! ☺️
Bonjour Dee , Awesome , you are so smart & so healthy 🙏 Happy Birthday and 2023 with big warm hugs from New Zealand 🤗💌
Thank you for the encouragement and well wishes☺️
Van Life without the fridge is the best!!! I missed that for sure.😁 I need my fridge to make eggrolls though!😆 Hope to see you down the road Dee!🤗
I hope so too! Ahh yes and nobody can do without your egg rolls Hehehehe 😋
Happy birthday 🎉🎈😊
Thank you☺️
Great tips, I find tinned food is helpful, especially lentils, beans, tomatoes, fruits etc, also uht milk, rice and pasta and some packaged flat beads seem to keep better than regular bread.
Great tips! Thanks for sharing them☺️
Fantastic suggestions I am going to take some of those from now on.
Glad it was helpful!
Thank you for sharing . I love these ideas❤You are soooo organized🤪
Lol- I have to be to find anything😜
@@LadyBugout I’m still rearranging my van. Did I tell you I am finally hitting the road on Feb 15! Wooot! Two years I’ve tried, lol
Hi Dee. Happy Birthday
Thank you, Alan! 🤗
Can’t wait to see the recipes!! 🏆🏆🏆
Coming soon!
Thank you !
You're welcome!
God, I love alternative thinkers. Subscribed!
Awesome! Thank you! Welcome aboard🤗
Happy Happy Birthday 🎁🎂🎈🎊🎉
Thank you Sherry!
Precooked rice, curries in pouches are good, too
Yep!!! Love them.