A year without a refrigerator
An updated version of this post was published here.
I lay wide awake at 3am, exhausted by the whirring of my refrigerator. It seemed louder than usual. I couldn’t sleep. I tried using better bedtime routines, phone hygiene, and meditation. I tried a white noise machine and nearly all of Spotify’s sleep playlists. Nothing worked. Sleepless nights focused on the tune of a humming fridge started piling up. So I turned the fridge off.
I live in a tiny studio. It’s 196 square feet. If you’re one of the six people that have ever visited this apartment, you’ll know it’s plenty for solo living.
The one downside, as I’ve discovered over time, is that your kitchen is also your bedroom. My refrigerator hums a low noise at night. It didn’t bother me for almost 2 years until it got under my skin last August. Then, I started turning off my fridge during middle-of-night fits of rage. I would turn it off before bed, particularly on nights before an important day at work. Next thing you know, I started wondering what life would be like without a fridge. Turns out, it’s a strong niche (surprise, internet): this family did it with young children in the woods.
I don’t live in the woods, but I live in the sleepy Sunset district of San Francisco. Same thing.
So I left the fridge off and it’s been off for over a year. Friends’ jaws drop when I tell them about this, so I thought I’d share behavioral and lifestyle changes I’ve noticed. This is what I found:
- I did more trips to the grocery store, usually walking. Which means laboring a bag of groceries up a hill and sweating into my shirt.
- I only buy fresh produce for a few days since, well, I don’t have a fridge. As a result, I don’t throw away food anymore. There’s just not much to waste at home. Unless I screw up the cooking process.
- Surprisingly, I haven’t eaten out more. This one takes some discipline, but ordering groceries regularly has been my favorite forcing function. I use Imperfect Produce and they send me a box every week. I order on Friday and I forget what I ordered by the time it arrives on Monday. If you want to sign up with Imperfect Produce, here’s a $10 referral code (I will also get $10 to buy popcorn).
- I’m more French. The best thing in Paris is people walking a fresh baguette in the morning. I regularly pop down to my local bakery for bread that lasts me a few days.
- I’m more European. I leave my butter on the countertop and not in the fridge, like it should be.
- I spend more time with my girlfriend. She has a fridge at her place.
- I still cook meat. I’m not a big meat eater since I come from a vegetarian family, but I have a nice rib-eye most Mondays. I cook it that same night. Sometimes the next. It’s fine. Most delivery groceries come with a foil and icepack. That tends to act as my interim fridge for a few days before the ice melts. It usually keeps eggs, meat, yogurt, and vegetables fresh. For the concerned: the ice pack casing is entirely recyclable and the ice is drain safe!
- I batch cook everything. Most leftovers are good on your countertop for up to two days without direct light, low humidity, and sealed well. I’ve tried three days; it’s not a good result for the stomach or the toilet.
- Instead of the freezer for long term storage, I bought more canned and dried foods. Thank goodness for dried shiitake & morel mushrooms. They’ve improved canned and dried foods: clean ingredients without a lot of preservatives.
- Regarding snacks, more chips and packaged goods. This is a dangerous and unhealthy rabbit hole, exemplified by my long popcorn phase. After some adjustments, my dry pantry is mostly nuts, nut butters, and parmesan chips. Chips, the cleaner kind, sometimes.
- Some unhealthy snack habits are removed against your will. You can’t have beer at home. Do you like warm beer? What about melted ice cream?
Let’s be clear: this wasn’t some insane energy saving challenge–I just wanted some damn sleep. But since we’re on the topic, refrigeration tops the list of climate related challenges. Refrigeration is not problematic due to energy consumption, but instead from the emission of refrigerants, which keep your food cold. So don’t worry, they don’t suggest turning off our refrigerators. I’m the only idiot that willingly lives in a large city without one.
According to Paul Hawken’s Drawdown Project, described as “the most comprehensive plan ever proposed to reverse global warming”, refrigeration presents the largest opportunity to reduce emissions. I was just as shocked.
All refrigerators, including those in supermarkets and air conditioners, contain refrigerants: chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) and hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs). It turns out they destroy the ozone layer. Remember that giant hole in the ozone layer? Once we discovered the hole was caused by these chemicals, we phased them out and instead used hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs). HFCs don’t destroy the ozone (yay!), but instead heat up the atmosphere many times faster than carbon dioxide (boo!). The current solution is to phase out HFCs for alternatives (propane and ammonia), thereby reducing their impact.
I don’t know about you, but I have no idea what refrigerants my refrigerator uses. Until someone builds the Tesla of refrigerators, I don’t expect anybody to think twice. Instead, this year-long experiment forced me to think hard during grocery runs, online or offline. An extra filter tested every object thrown in my cart. Will I use this in the next few days? Do I need this? Because if I don’t, I can’t tuck it into the back of the fridge. It forced me to strip it down to the essentials. The end result? Something we all strive to do: eating fresher food and not throwing it out.
Coming to this conclusion after a year without a fridge seems awfully roundabout. I just wanted some sleep, but here I am a year later, telling you life without a fridge is easier than you think. Regardless, I’m ready for the fridge-less apocalypse.
