What if I got rid of my refrigerator

Could you do without your refrigerator?

(Photo by Chance Agrella/FreeRangeStock.com)

Let me just say right up front: I’m not ready to try this. Not even a little bit. But I have been mulling it over. What would it take to get rid of my fridge?

The idea came to me when I was googling whether unplugging electronics when not in use saves a lot of electricity or if the savings are only minuscule. (Note: I never found a definitive answer, so I figured I’d give it a shot and see for myself.) Several of the sites I stumbled upon contained discussions on whether a refrigerator could be unplugged overnight. That is not an option in my neck of the woods. It can get way too hot, even at night, to trust that the food within would stay safe to eat if the fridge were unplugged for eight hours or so.

But it did get me thinking: The fridge is probably in the top 3 electricity users in my home, if not the biggest. Could I get by without it?

Technically, yes, I could. I know this because for centuries, humans had no means for keeping leftovers or storing flash-frozen veggies. The trick is whether I could work that into my lifestyle. I figured I can't have been the first person to think of this, so I turned to the internet to see if and how other people go fridgeless.

I found a lot of resources online of ways people make it work. Some create root cellars or use other means to keep food cool. Others have a smoke house or dry fresh meat to make it last longer. Others still have modified their dining habits to accommodate the lack of a refrigerator. I plan to work toward a combination of the latter two methods.

And maybe one day, I'll be able to pull the plug on my refrigerator, too. (Our tiny house could use the space in other ways, too.)