Refrigeration ... how much is enough?

[Talk Story]

I am in the process of revamping my refrigeration and am wondering how much capacity is enough? I should have enough room to drop in a 100 quart 60/40 fridge/freezer. Is anyone using one that can comment?

[HeywoodJ]

I think a lot of this depends on how long you are away from a store. On our boat we had 100L fridge and 100L freezer, and we used every liter of both. The freezer was chock full on departure, but would last 3 or more months away from stores. A week away is a whole different use case.

Most of the time the fridge could have been smaller, after the first week or two not nearly as much to keep in there.

[Joh.Ghurt]

Also depends on how big your crew is and how much you depend on cooled & frozen food. If you have a diet with lots of meat, a freezer seems to be more important. Also people enjoying frozen pizza etc. are more dependent on freezers.

Another aspect is safety: If you’re doing long trips away from civilisation it really sucks if most of your food depends on refrigeration and then the fridge dies.

I have no trouble without a freezer for a month or two, but I enjoy trying out preservation methods for food my great-grandparents used. If pushed I probably could do without fridge for that time too, but that would need some prepaprtion and planning time.

All this can affect the perfect size fridge for you.

[Bowdrie]

Originally Posted by Talk Story

I am in the process of revamping my refrigeration and am wondering how much capacity is enough? I should have enough room to drop in a 100 quart 60/40 fridge/freezer.

A 40 quart freezer would be about 1-1/2 cubic ft., that should easily hold about 40lbs of meat with a little space left.
A 60 quart fridge would be about 2 cubic ft., you'll have to figure out how many cans or bottles of beer you need to keep cold.

[Jammer]

100 liters (3.5 cf) isn't much. There is no "enough" if you are cooking from scratch and sourcing fresh ingredients that you want to hold aboard.


Much depends on how you pack food for cold storage. I use a vacuum sealer and repack most things.

Originally Posted by Joh.Ghurt

Another aspect is safety: If you’re doing long trips away from civilisation it really sucks if most of your food depends on refrigeration and then the fridge dies.

You have to learn to use compact, shelf-stable foods for most your contingency supplies.


If you're good, dried legumes and grains, macaroni products, things that can well like tomato products, tuna fish, and condiments, and things that keep for weeks at room temperature like potatoes, onions, cabbage, some kinds of sausage and cheese, and some fruits. Supplement that with compact frozen ingredients carefully packed, like meat and vegetables.


Or get a dozen backpacking meals, a box of variety packs of chips, and some ramen noodles for each person aboard.

[Dr. D]

Originally Posted by Jammer

Or get a dozen backpacking meals, a box of variety packs of chips, and some ramen noodles for each person aboard.

Mmmmm….backingpacking meals….mmmmm…..

We wife calls them Space Food. That’s OK, I like them and she doesn’t. More for me!

[Joh.Ghurt]

Originally Posted by Jammer

You have to learn to use compact, shelf-stable foods for most your contingency supplies.

That’s how it started. Then I discovered many recipes to preserve food in the mediterranean cuisine, which moved from “contingency supplies” to food I enjoy regularly. Suddenly, there was more space in the fridge.

Originally Posted by Jammer

Or get a dozen backpacking meals, a box of variety packs of chips, and some ramen noodles for each person aboard.

You need those anyway, but some were bad choices. I have some packs to space food which expired in 2018, but still regularly get skipped over when hunting for today’s dinner

[Talk Story]

We would be mostly a crew of 2 and will be coastal cruising or trying to stock up so we do not have to buy meat in the Bahamas.

I also like the drop ins as you will never have your lettuce frozen like it sometimes is in marina ac.

[Chotu]

Originally Posted by Talk Story

We would be mostly a crew of 2 and will be coastal cruising or trying to stock up so we do not have to buy meat in the Bahamas.

I also like the drop ins as you will never have your lettuce frozen like it sometimes is in marina ac.

If your meals mostly center around meat, which I was going to say that it depends on how you eat to begin with, you can get away with what you are proposing. But keep in mind the freezer is typically much much more important than the refrigerator.

The refrigerator can keep some fresh vegetables, condiments, maybe a day of leftovers that you aren’t freezing.

but think about dedicating the lion share of your space to the freezer because that will get you more autonomy.

Also re-pack all of your meat. Make it fit in there. Don’t have all of the cartons and packaging taking up your whole freezer. Make sure you get that stuff packed in there tightly.

One thing I do for ground meat which saves space and makes it faster to thaw is portion it out onto a piece of plastic wrap the size you typically use when making a meal. Wrap it and squish it with your hand into a very flat piece. takes up no space in the freezer and thaws very quickly because it’s not a big thick brick.

But I would say to dedicate as much as you can to the freezer and just enough for the refrigerator. I think most situations have it completely backwards.

[sailorboy1]

Originally Posted by Talk Story

I am in the process of revamping my refrigeration and am wondering how much capacity is enough? I should have enough room to drop in a 100 quart 60/40 fridge/freezer. Is anyone using one that can comment?

I the living and cruising on a boat the times people say to themselves "I have too much refrigeration capacity!" is pretty much never.

I will say that the more you are going to be away from shore service/stores the more the freezer becomes more useful. I would half the stiff in my frig probably don't need to be.

[Wayne Gilham]

23 years ago, we were shocked at the price of beef and chicken in the Bahamas (Beef was all imported, and the locally grown chicken was tough and not very "filled out"), but frozen lamb was incredibly cheep! Explained to us that the Bahamas was still being treated as part of the British Commonwealth, so lamb from New Zealand had special (non-existent) duties, might even have been subsidized. Check with recent cruisers if this is still the case.... a diet of Lamb-chops isn't at all bad...

[Talk Story]

It looks like my current capacity onboard is about 6-6.5CF of storage, roughly even for each compartment.

The system I am envisioning would add up to about 5.1 CF of storage between two modern drop in units I would use. I am not thrilled with less space, however, I do like the idea of a more uniform and consistent way of keeping things cool. I've had my share of frozen lettuce and other freeze up casualties in the fridge over the years ... not that it happens all the time, but it does happen.

[Bowdrie]

Originally Posted by Talk Story

I've had my share of frozen lettuce and other freeze up casualties in the fridge over the years .

True enough.
I guess that in an ideal set-up we'd have three separate boxes, each with its own condenser/evaporator unit.
A box at ~40>42F for a fridge, one at ~32>34F for the beer, and one ~0 or below for a freezer.
I know which one would have the highest capacity on my boat, others are free to make their own decisions.

[Cpt Mark]

My refer/freezer system died and I went this exact route and hated it. In order to put the new unit in I needed to remove most of the old fridge. Living in a marina it was terrible capacity wise.

Tried it for 2 months, took it out, rebuilt my fridge and freezer (originally 2 separate compartments each with their own holding plate) and opted for the Nova Kool 3 3 thin plate system. My boxes are heavily insulated, no drains and each runs on it's own compressor. I like redundancy. On the lowest setting in the refer things are cold, not frozen. Between the 2 I have about 8 cf plus or minus. That is enough to give me long time away from the dock capabilities. Not what you say you're looking for but if gong to the Bahamas for 2 months for example you are on a 2 month cruise away from cheaper food stores.
BTW, my freezer keeps ice cream frozen.