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Food is most commonly done with chilling, although drying and canning also work for some foods.
Chilling solutions can vary from dead simple and free to complex and expensive.
Upright fridges stand up and have a door that opens off the side.
Chest fridges lay down like a beer cooler.
* Pro - low cost, low empty weight, zero power consumption and widespread availability.
* Con - constant need to add frozen material and the requirement to dispose of any melted ice.
Tips to make cooler use more effective and simple:
A refrigerator (refer or reefer) is used to keep items at a given cool temperature, typically ⇐40F.
Refrigerators give off heat and must be ventilated; ensure any vents exhaust into open area. Cooling performance may be enhanced by adding fans to move more air across the condenser1) and dusting components regularly.2) Cold retention can be enhanced by adding insulation in the form of foam sheets or insulative covers made for the cooler.
Front loading refrigerators are square or tall rectangles shaped like residential refrigerators. Advantages include:
Top loading refrigerators are usually low rectangles shaped like insulated coolers. Advantages include:
Words of Wisdom: “Check amps drawn [by the compressor fridge] over 24 hours, much more important when boondocking than purchase price.” – John62CT4)
12v compressor refrigerators become the standard way to chill food in solar-equipped vans. The main types of compressor fridges common in 'dwelling setups are:
Note that using a compressor fridge for refrigeration vs. freezing can have vastly different power requirements:
“I use a pair of 65 qt Whynter units, one as a fridge, one a freezer. The freezer uses somewhere around 4 to 5 times the power that the fridge uses. Keeping the fridge at 40F is fairly easy, keeping the same unit at 0F is another story.” – Almost There16)
The Engel MT series (MT35, MT45) are reported to have very low current draw due to clever cooling airflow design.17)
Peltier cooling doesn't get used much in solar setups because it uses a lot of power and does so 100% of the time. A typical Peltier cooler might run 4-5A continuously whereas a compressor cooler might run 2A 30% of the time and turn off the rest of the time.
This kind of device cools to ~30-40F below ambient, which may not be a problem if the ambient is 80F or less.
In low humidity areas with a significant day/night temperature differential you may be able to cool or even freeze cooler packs and water bottles. Leave them outside overnight and put them back in the cooler in the morning.