Protecting Meals Recent With a Household-Sized Urge for food in an RV Fridge

Our RV kitchen space inside our 22mkse journey trailer 

Whenever you’re on the highway full time with children, conserving meals recent turns into a problem all by itself. Our 2021 Forest River Gray Wolf 22MKSE got here with a ten cubic foot totally electrical RV fridge. This sounds spacious for an RV however does have its personal challenges. Gallons of milk should lie on its facet to suit and can leak in all places, shredded cheese will get soggy and misplaced within the again, and overpacking blocks the should wanted airflow. After greater than three years on the highway, we’ve discovered the right way to make a small fridge work for our rising household by prioritizing group, airflow, and techniques to scale back meals waste.

Fridge Group 

Crucial factor for RV residing is group. RV fridges cool otherwise than home fridges. Airflow issues a complete lot. We’ve discovered that our fridge and probably many different RV fridges don’t prefer to be over packed and wish regular air circulation. If we don’t take the time to prepare correctly, and don’t be taught from our errors, plenty of meals will go to waste.

• Don’t shove something towards the again wall – Shredded cheese, veggies, butter have all fallen sufferer to the freeze thaw freeze cycle again there. We’ve sadly misplaced so many luggage of shredded cheese getting all soggy and mushy by getting crammed behind the fridge.
• The crisper drawer isn’t one of the best for veggies –  Ours holds perhaps some onions, oranges, and apples. Most veggies we’ve discovered do higher prepped and saved upfront the place we are able to see them earlier than they go dangerous and never getting squished within the backside drawer.
• Prep straight away – We prefer to hold our asparagus standing upright in a plastic cup with a bit of water in it whereas we’re stationary (we drain it earlier than journey days so we don’t should cope with any spills) it retains it from spoiling and lasts. Inexperienced beans get washed, dried, and put in a container on the center shelf. We’ve discovered that If our fruits and veggies are out of sight they’ll go dangerous.
• Have a plan for meals that’s near expiring – When something is on its final day or two, we’ll flip it right into a ready-to-eat meal and meals prep. Now we have these meals prep containers and so they stack neatly, cut back waste, and save our sanity on nights when no one looks like cooking and even on journey days! 
• Storage Containers – Clear containers additionally assist hold all the pieces seen and simple to seize. Though we strive to not use glass for storage within the RV, we do love our Pyrex for leftovers and meals as a result of it’s simple to scrub and doesn’t maintain any funky smells. Plastic containers are lighter and fewer worrisome, however even with the few Pyrex containers we use, we’re grateful we haven’t damaged any but!
• Safe gadgets – Safe gadgets within the fridge so that they don’t tip or spill on journey days. Pack issues securely and use bins/ rigidity rods to maintain all the pieces in place whereas the RV is shifting. 
• Label All the pieces – Future you’ll be grateful! Nothing is worse than having a bunch of produce or meat all able to go and never realizing if it’s good or already expired.

Meals prep lunches in containers

Store Small, Store Typically

One in all our largest classes we’ve discovered is don’t overbuy. That’s simpler stated than finished, particularly while you’re camped in the course of nowhere and the closest grocery retailer is an hour away. However purchasing smaller and extra deliberately has made a giant distinction for our touring household. With restricted area, big grocery journeys simply don’t work anymore. As a substitute, we plan forward and store with the following few meals in thoughts. Smaller grocery runs hold our tiny fridge manageable, assist our meals last more, and guarantee we solely convey dwelling what we all know we’ll truly use. This intentional strategy means much less waste, much less stress, and a fridge that really stays organized.

• Plan meals – We attempt to plan 5–10 meals at a time.This consists of breakfast, lunch, and dinner for 4 folks so though it appears like plenty of meals it does go shortly. 
• Keep away from shopping for extras –  If our potato basket already has a sure kind of potatoes in it then we aren’t going to be shopping for extra. Guess what we’re consuming till it’s empty.
• Select substances that overlap – That is useful in order that nothing lingers too lengthy within the fridge and the least quantity of meals goes to waste.
• Prep meals forward of time – Like I discussed earlier if journey days are coming or we all know meals is about to run out we are going to meals prep to economize and time. 
• Meat prep and storage – We prefer to trim, bag, label, and both refrigerate or freeze our meats forward of time. It retains all the pieces able to go, helps forestall meals waste, and eliminates all of the cumbersome retailer packaging. Prepping this manner additionally cuts down on dinner-time stress and offers us fast, ready-to-go choices for no matter meal we’re planning on cooking.
• Native Markets – Use this chance to seize recent gadgets from native farmers markets and take a look at native meals from cities we’re passing via.

Meals prepping veggies and meat whereas dinner cooks in crock pot

Protecting All the pieces Chilly on the Street

Protecting an RV fridge operating easily can really feel like plenty of work, particularly while you’re residing on the highway with hungry children, lengthy journey days, and always altering temperatures. Over time, we’ve discovered that just a few easy habits make a distinction in conserving meals recent, lowering waste, and avoiding meals going dangerous. These sensible ideas have helped us hold our fridge operating easily and prepared for regardless of the highway throws at us:

• Let leftovers cool fully – When storing scorching meals it may possibly increase the general fridge temperature and put different gadgets in danger so you will need to allow them to cool fully earlier than placing them into the fridge.
• Don’t retailer drinks within the fridge – Particularly when it’s scorching outdoors, opening the fridge door always could cause issues. We personally keep away from storing water bottles within the fridge as a result of it saves area, retains the fridge temperature secure, and prevents the necessity to always open the door. We use our reusable water bottles and use this cool water dispenser for a 5-gallon water jug!
• Preserve the skin vent clear – Airflow is all the pieces in an RV. Make sure to not block fridge vents with chairs, luggage, or different gear and ensure it’s cleaned and mud free.
• Temperature Checks – Test freezer and fridge thermometer typically. Fridges must be round 38°F and 0°F within the freezer.
• Clear and defrost recurrently – Protecting your fridge clear and frost-free prevents odors, improves cooling effectivity, and helps meals last more. We don’t do that as typically as we must always. Dwelling full-time on the highway means our fridge is nearly at all times in use, so discovering the time to empty it out for this tedious activity is usually a problem.

Managing Energy With a 12-Volt Fridge

Once we purchased our camper, we didn’t notice how a lot energy a completely electrical 12-volt fridge would draw. With no propane backup, boondocking turns into trickier for the reason that fridge is our largest energy person. Off grid, we rely closely on our photo voltaic and gasoline generator to maintain it operating. Take a look at our weblog on our photo voltaic generator setup that we use to energy our camper and fridge! Whereas having a bigger electrical fridge is good in comparison with the smaller propane-style fashions, it does add additional problem when boondocking. It’s positively one thing new RVers ought to take into account earlier than committing to a 12-volt solely setup.

After Three Years on the Street

Dwelling full-time on the highway has taught us {that a} small fridge just isn’t a limitation however simply a possibility to be extra artistic, environment friendly, and intentional with our meals. With the fitting habits for fridge upkeep, meals planning, and a bit of flexibility, a 10-cu.-ft. fridge can help huge appetites for a full time RV household. It’s all about good storage, being intentional, and benefiting from the area you may have.

Blissful Trails and Blissful Consuming!