Making the most out of the fridge
Submitted: Saturday, Jun 27, 2015 at 14:06
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oz doc
Hi all, I am sure several of you will have some top tips to resolve my problem.
For many years we have camped with a 60L engel which had a fridge compartment and separate freezer section. This suited our needs very
well at the time. Our camping style has now changed and so we have recently moved to a smaller 40l engel which is all fridge or all freezer=no compartments.
My concern is how to pack it so that we can take away some frozen meat/meals and still keep the cheese, milk, ham in good order? I'm talking about packing for a 3 day weekend. If we go on long trips I'm happy to use it just as a freezer and take an esky along. For a weekender though- I'm keen to just take the engel. Your thoughts are most welcome.doc
Reply By: Member - Bigred13 - Saturday, Jun 27, 2015 at 14:33
Saturday, Jun 27, 2015 at 14:33
Hi Oz Doc , I have not used ours in that way only all freezer or all fridge , but I have often thought about lining the area you want for fridge with a few layers of cardboard to keep the cooling coils away from the food ,may need to set a thermometer in the middle somehow to
check the temp .Kogan has some for sale at $5 now ,would be interested to hear others on this subject ,and I will try it next time I use
mine .
AnswerID:
556408
Reply By: Bob Y. - Qld - Saturday, Jun 27, 2015 at 14:35
Saturday, Jun 27, 2015 at 14:35
Funny that you've posted this, Doc. We are camped at
Granite Gorge, near
Mareeba, and I've just taken some steak and snags out for tea tonight.
Have a 40L Engel, and I've had it set on just over "1" for this trip. Put 4 pieces of rib fillet and 6 snags on the bottom of the fridge on Tues arvo, and removed them today (Sat) about 1pm. The steaks are still frozen and the snags are frozen, but not solid. Due to me travelling alone this trip, and the fridge wasn't packed by Herself, I also froze a couple of carrots. :-(
A couple of 1L UHT milk packs on the bottom didn't get frozen.
From previous comments on this subject on EO, it is best to place the frozen items at the bottom, then cover them with a piece of cardboard or foam, and put the fresh stuff above.
Bob
AnswerID:
556409
Follow Up By: oz doc - Saturday, Jun 27, 2015 at 14:42
Saturday, Jun 27, 2015 at 14:42
Ta Bob. Wasn't sure if packing the froz stuff at bottom was best or packing vertically against the compressor side and putting a foam divider between froz and fridge stuff. Wondering if a layer of bubble wrap would prevent the frozen carrot issue. I guess if I'd done more homework I would have found that you can get 40 L fridges with two fixed fridge/freezer compartments before I bought this one. doc.
FollowupID:
842580
Follow Up By: Motherhen - Saturday, Jun 27, 2015 at 23:40
Saturday, Jun 27, 2015 at 23:40
I tried that once oz doc, with the divider upright and the frozen stuff against the compressor. I used a bit of cardboard as a divider but thought polyfoam would be better and worth a try. I think it had potential.
I never got any further with experimenting because we bought a camper and put an upright Engel fridge in it. We now have a caravan with single door fridge that has an internal freezer box which is not satisfactory for longer term storage. We ended up with two Engels so one usually stays in the car for lunches and the other under the caravan bed where it can be used as a freezer or extra fridge if needed.
FollowupID:
842605
Reply By: George_M - Saturday, Jun 27, 2015 at 16:09
Saturday, Jun 27, 2015 at 16:09
oz doc
When we travel for any length of time (over three or four days) we use our 40L Engel exclusively as a freezer.
We also carry a six-pack cooler for butter, cheese, dips, etc. We keep the stuff in the six-pack cooler cool, but not frozen, by using a freezer block - the ones that fit neatly into the top of the six-pack cooler, and about 2cm thick.
We keep another freezer block in the Engel, and swap them over every day.
George_M
AnswerID:
556411
Reply By: Allan B (Member, SunCoast) - Saturday, Jun 27, 2015 at 16:40
Saturday, Jun 27, 2015 at 16:40
We run a 35 litre Waeco and like Bob Y we keep frozen stuff on the bottom. There is a temperature gradient from bottom to top and I would expect your Engle to be the same. The zone for 5 or 6 cm above the bottom will keep food frozen with the centre zone at 3 or 4 degrees and the top zone a bit warmer which suits stuff like butter and greens.
We do not place any insulation over the top of the frozen food as there is no cooling below (in the floor) and the cooling of this zone depends on the chilled air from above descending down to the frozen food.
It all works fine for us for a few weeks on long remote
treks. Two fridges or a larger fridge would be nice but we have no space to spare.
Incidentally, the fridge evaporator (cooling plates) surround all four walls so the area nearest the compressor will be no cooler than any other wall.
AnswerID:
556413
Follow Up By: Member - ACD 1 - Saturday, Jun 27, 2015 at 17:25
Saturday, Jun 27, 2015 at 17:25
Same, same as Allan.
Frozen stuff on the bottom with no insulation in between. I generally freeze everything
rock solid in the house deep freezer for a few days/week before packing.
If I run the 40, all the frozen goes on the bottom. If I take the 60 I pack up one side with frozen and the other with fresh. Just be careful what touches the frozen stuff as it will get 'bruised' 'frozen' or 'mushy' not sure which. Tomatoes particularly bad for it.
I usually get 4-5 days solid frozen, then it starts to thaw. It is still markedly colder than the fresh stuff up to 8 days out. The more frozen I have, the longer it lasts.
I also use insulated travel bags for the fridges and have the rear section of the landcruiser blanked out with good insulation on the windows. When stopped, I leave the front windows down about an inch to stop hot air build up in the car. Also park in the shade where possible. I have never taken my fridges out of the vehicle when travelling.
Cheers
Anthony
FollowupID:
842592
Reply By: noggins - Saturday, Jun 27, 2015 at 20:37
Saturday, Jun 27, 2015 at 20:37
We have a basket with a
well fitted pad of foam insulation that sits just below it with the zip ties. The frozen goes on the bottom and is usually set at about -5or less.
The chilled go in the basket and as the styrene pad insulates the below from the top the top 1/3 of the chilling surround plates just manage to keep everything OK.
I've kept food this way for over 2 weeks.
For defrosting on the road , as
well as chilling the throat oil, I have one of those 2 way Console Koolers , put the cans of the oil in and put the wanted defrosting stuff on top.
When we pull up she has
well defrosted stuff and I have a can or 2 ( or more) of throat oil to assist in advising on how to
cook it.
I'm usually told to "Pissorf"
so all's good .
P.s Made a mistake once and plugged it into "Heat"
Nearly burnt my hand and almost cried when the stubby had to be chucked. ( hot beer is NOT a fav of
mine)
Ron
AnswerID:
556420
Follow Up By: oz doc - Sunday, Jun 28, 2015 at 16:10
Sunday, Jun 28, 2015 at 16:10
Hi Noggins, I do have one of those console coolers around somewhere. I haven't really embraced it as I thought it wouldn't do much of a cooling job and had the impression that they really suck the power. Might need to have a play around with it. doc.
FollowupID:
842629
Reply By: Slow one - Sunday, Jun 28, 2015 at 05:45
Sunday, Jun 28, 2015 at 05:45
We have been using our 40l Trailblaza as a fridge freezer for many years by placing a barrier board above the frozen items on the bottom.
I use tupperware type containers, which are about 60mm high and fit perfectly side by side in the available space. I can go single layer or 2 layers high and just adjust the temp slightly. When the content of the containers have been used the container is cleaned and goes back into the fridge where it came from.
Between the frozen and non frozen products above, I place a barrier board which sits on top of the containers. It is just a piece of varnished mdf with a couple of finger holes.
Lettuce/cucumber/tomato's and the like go into a plastic container and sit just under the lid of the fridge. This can be achieved by using packers under the salad container, an example is other non frozen food (cheese, ham or the like that don't mind it being a bit colder). Again they are in a plastic container.
All the containers are chosen to fit into the available area so they don't waste space.
Bottom stays
rock hard, next layer just above freezing and the top layer I guess around 5C as it keeps very
well.
You just have to adjust the fridge temp for the ambient temp outside, I have no problem doing this and might adjust my fridges thermostat between 3.5 and 4.5 on the dial. You would have to experiment with yours.
AnswerID:
556430