Since yesterday I have been doing some digging both in my brain and online to learn which foods can safely be purchased and not refrigerated. I have learned a great deal and am currently questioning why refrigerators have become a necessary appliance in our homes. I want to thank everyone for the wonderful ideas for what to do with my non-working fridge, you are all brilliant.
There are some foods I have always known didn’t need refrigeration. Some I eat, some I choose not to. I have also found that people who live on board a boat have experimented the most with living without refrigeration and have gathered quite a list. Time to share what I have learned.
First from my own memories
- Butter: I don’t know about margarine, it wasn’t something we ate, but butter was never refrigerated in our home so it’s one of those things I have refrigerated only on those really hot days.
- Mustard: I always questioned this, but we never got sick so I can tell you this doesn’t need to be refrigerated either. As an adult I have never gotten used to the feel of such a cold condiment on a sandwich. Yes, I know it says to refrigerate on the package, but you can ignore that.
- Maple Syrup: Another item we never refrigerated, but I’m talking about real maple syrup. I can’t promise you that Aunt Jemima brand will last it’s something you would have to experiment with, but who wants to buy that after having the real thing anyway?
- Ketchup: Nope we never kept this in the fridge either.
- Honey: Ditto. In time your honey may crystallize but that’s not a problem just set the container in a bowl or cup of hot water and it will soften for use.
- Relish and Pickles: My sister had a thing for pickles. She used to sneak in our pantry and open a jar, eat a few, then hide that jar on the back of a shelf. We learned about her pantry raids when needing a new jar of pickles we found all the jars filled with nothing but the liquid. Pickles were never refrigerated at home, with the exception of one type of pickle that were home canned. I never asked why, but will tell you I have learned today that it’s not uncommon to keep pickles in the pantry after opening.
- Molasses: Past generations loved baking with molasses, it sat in the pantry year round and never went bad.
- Other things we never refrigerated: Potatoes, onions, garlic, tomatoes, yams, squashes, cucumbers, zucchini, eggplant, and most fruits. The only fruits we stored in the fridge were berries if we weren’t able to eat them within 24-48 hours.
- Pepperoni: While I have never enjoyed the taste of this, it’s one you can buy and keep safely almost indefinitely.
A few surprises I learned today
This list comes from Wind Traveler, from living on a boat for extended periods of time.
- Eggs: Yes, even if bought commercially you can safely store eggs up to 10 days if you turn them daily so the yolk doesn’t settle and stick to the shell. Who knew?
- Oil-based salad dressings: Dressings such as Thousand Island (my favorite guilty pleasure) don’t required refrigeration. Just check that your dressing is oil based, that’s the key.
- Jam: There must be a big difference between jam and jelly. Reading this I remembered jam was never kept in the fridge but jelly was. You might want to do more research if you eat jelly, I prefer jams so this won’t be an issue for me.
- Juice: Once opened you will need to consume it within 2 days. I don’t buy juice often but this is good to know.
- Mayonnaise: Is it because it’s oil based? You can keep your mayo out as long as you use clean utensils and don’t contaminate it with other foods.
- Kraft Cheese slices: Like most foods this is labeled as needing to be refrigerated, but experimenting they learned this is one that doesn’t.
The following list of foods comes from a free PDF you can download from here. The main point to keep in mind on the produce is that it should never have been refrigerated prior to your purchasing it. That would eliminate most of the commercial produce I could buy right now, but something to keep in mind once the farmers markets re-open.
- Carrots
- Green Peppers
- Ice berg lettuce
- Romaine Hearts
- Cabbage
- Cauliflower and Broccoli
- Other vegetables use up in less than a week if not refrigerated
- Most fruits: The one exception being berries which spoil after a day or two left out.
- Cheese if kept wrapped in wax
- Yogurt: if purchased commercially yogurt will last up to 3 weeks without refrigeration.
Here’s what I learned today to summarize for those of you who skimmed these lists:
The only food that requires refrigeration are milk and meat
- Wait!! There is an exception: If you want to store meat without refrigeration you can ask your butcher to vacuum pack it and deep freeze it. It will last now up to a week if kept in an insulated bag with a block of ice with it.
So what do you eat that needs a refrigerator? For me that would be left-overs. Once I purchase a freezer I will simply store my leftovers in the freezer in portion sizes to remove later.
I’m left wondering why no one ever questions the necessity of a refrigerator with this size list of foods that can be stored safely without one. Do you have foods you can add to this list for me?
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Wow, I learned a lot today, My shelves are filled with condiments, and now I find I can keep most of them on a shelf. Great job with your research !
You’re welcome. I don’t keep many condiments, I just don’t eat them often enough to justify buying them. Mustard and ketchup are two that are usually here though. We had one shelf next to the stove where we stored our frequently stored condiments when I was growing up so we didn’t have to walk to the pantry as often.
Interesting how this “wondering why no one ever questions the necessity of a refrigerator” matches so well with with your post a few days ago about doing things simply by habit (renters insurance). Thanks for opening my eyes. After reading your list of foods, I’m happy to be a healthy vegan.
You know Tessa, I didn’t put together the link between my post about doing things out of habit and the fridge, I guess I just jumped head first into research and didn’t stop to give it much thought. Thanks for pointing that out to me. I have been vegan many times, and would like to again. Every blue moon I will eat a little cheese and I still eat eggs and honey is a standard during flu season but I’m happy where I am as well.
We use our fridge mostly for storage. So some things go in there that I’d rather keep out, but with only 18 inches of counter space, that fridge has to Be put to use! We do like our milk cold, but it’s fresh, so it doesn’t ever go bad even if left out, it just gets cultured. We do a lot of fermented foods, which appreciate room temp. If you read old cookbooks, even Julia Child, meats are left at room temp to age. Of course, you need to have clean meat to start with. Anything preserved, smoked/pickled/fermented, etc, can stay out. That’s why its preserved in the first place. I think we as a culture started putting those things in the fridge because we got lazy about cross-contamination in the home, and bad hygiene in the food chain. People around here live on boats, and you’d be amazed how little a fridge you can get by on! And a good cooler for those special family dinners ( used for storage in the meantime)
I feel like I’ve come full circle to a year and a half ago when I first moved in here and tried to live without a stove or fridge for the first time in my life, only this time I feel more prepared for the adventure. The stove has been no problem a couple things made life easy (rice cooker and slow cooker). Now that I know that the majority of what I eat doesn’t need refrigeration I am thrilled to stop and think about using the space under the counter in a better way. I plan to build/or find shelves that will fit under there and store my food on it instead of the counter top. It will be neater and handy at the same time.
One plus is that I can say right at this moment (at least until I have the freezer) I am using less electricity than I ever thought was possible. It feels good and makes me realize we could all live a little more sustainably in terms of the planet and it’s resources.
While I grew up along the Lake Erie, I never thought to talk to people who live on boats to see how they deal with refrigeration. I believe now fridges simply became a convenience to store foods longer not an actual necessity for life.
Where did you live on Lake Erie? I’m in Cleveland!
You’re in Cleveland! I’m still there, only 100 miles from you! Just south of Erie. Maybe one of these days we’ll get a chance to meet!
I didn’t know you were so close!
Same here, small world isn’t it?
I seem to recall somewhere in the dark recesses of my brain something about keeping eggs in cool water so they’d last longer than just on the counter… but I also recall something that if you wash eggs it removes some sort of natural coating which keeps them from going bad. This would seem to imply that the water thing is a bad idea.
OK, that was less than helpful! But “Beyond Back Creek” is right – so many of the foods we eat are already “preserved.” That was the whole point of making them in the first place! Vinegar, sugar, salt, pickling, fermenting and culturing all somehow retard the growth of bacteria or something like that. I think with many foods it’s a matter of how long they will keep without refrigeration… like they don’t instantly go bad if not kept refrigerated.
The only suggestion I have for you is with berries. When I lived in Norway we’d often go out picking berries. We’d come home with a HUGE basket full of them. The standard thing to do was to wash them thoroughly and then sprinkle sugar on top. You’d keep adding sugar, let it sit, then stir and repeat until you had a nice jelly/jam like concoction. It would just sit covered on the countertop for several days – I don’t recall any refrigeration being involved. Of course, I also don’t recall them lasting very long in a house with three teenagers either!
Anyhow, I’ll be interested to see how this little experiment progresses. I’ve got a healthy (or perhaps unhealthy) fear of food poisoning, so I don’t think this is one I’ll be undertaking any time soon!
Thanks Cat, so wash or not to wash, that’s the question? Of everything I found, nothing talked about washing the eggs so I’m going to go with not washing the eggs. For right now the eggs are in the trunk of a car, and the temps are close to freezing so we’ll see how they fair. I’ve never frozen eggs before so this could be interesting if they freeze.
We used to pick berries then cover them with sugar and set a plate over the top of the bowl and let it sit till dinner. We ate them over angel food cake, it was delicious. We never had any left so not sure if they would have been refrigerated or not. Today I’m trying to limit how much sugar I eat, so I tend to avoid making this, bummer getting older and having a conscience about my health.
You know I have more fears of food poisoning from food eaten out than food from my own home, it’s one of the reasons I don’t care to eat out.
Oh, and I wasn’t advocating anyone else join me in this, you are free to keep using a fridge:-)
I’m with you on the sugar thing… and to tell the truth there’s not much problem with storing berries here since I tend to inhale them. Seriously, I planted raspberries a few years back and I’m not sure any have ever made it into the house. They just go straight from bush to mouth!
But… in terms of the eggs, here’s one thing I DO know for sure about eggs and water. You can tell if an egg is still good by dropping it gently into a bowl of water. The freshest eggs will sink straight to the bottom, but as the egg ages it gets a layer of air between the egg and the shell. If it goes half way down and stops it needs to be used pronto! If it floats, it’s bad and you should throw it out. I think this is also why older eggs make better hard boiled eggs – the layer of air makes them easier to peel.
Great tip on the eggs, I will keep that in mind and try it when I’m not sure about it. Eggs are one thing I can live without, but no and then I enjoy and egg, my favorite way is to fry them with potatoes and sometimes add onions or other veggies to it as well, while I eat very differently from how I was raised, that’s one meal that I hate to give up.
I know what you mean about raspberries, we have done the same with those and strawberries. I am planning on putting in 100 more strawberry plants this year to see if I can actually save some, but there is nothing like a freshly plucked sun warmed piece of fruit to make my day.
In Australia eggs are on the supermarket shelves rather than in the refrigerated section. My sister in law who lives in Connecticut is always horrified to see this. When I get home I do put the eggs in the fridge if I’m not using them that day but I’m sure they’d be fine for quite a while out of the fridge. I’ve never experienced an off one!
Now that’s interesting. I wonder after reading the lists of foods safe to be left unrefrigerated how much money stores could be saving if they reduced the amount of refrigeration. Our local store is so cold to shop in from all the refrigeration. I mean even the produce section is freezing which means I try to hurry though it. Of course being winter it’s not as bad as I am already wearing the proper clothing.
Our eggs in Victoria moved off the shelves about two years ago. Are you in a different state?
Whoops! Put my comment in the wrong spot!
No problem Linda
I live in Pennsylvania in the US
Well this was pretty enlightening. I knew about a few items (like butter and honey and such), but some were new to me. I am still not willing to go without a fridge. Too many insecurities about food spoilage and since I own my townhome, if I were ever going to sell this place, it would need to have a fridge. But it is a very interesting idea and experiment.
Some were new to me too. I did know you could store some produce such as greens on the counter if left in water, but many I thought had to be refrigerated. Like I told Cat, I’m not asking anyone else to do this, but am sharing the information for anyone who wants to know, I understand peoples fears about food safety and in your case resell value of a home as well.
Good luck. Menu planning should be easier with a limited list of things to choose from if you only use things that don’t need refrigeration.
Now that’s true! It will also keep me mindful of eating healthier.
Thank you so much for stopping by Dreamwalker’s and when I was a child, we never had a fridge, we used to keep foods in a pantry and the meat went in the meat-safe a small green tin safe with door and tiny air holes in it… We had a marble slab only a small one, this also helped keep things cooler in the summer….
When I first got married also.. I didnt have a fridge for 3 yrs as funds were short.. and you used your nose and eyes to see when things needed throwing away.. Unlike today with the sale-by and use-by dates as thousands of tons of good food and thrown away from supermarkets alone, let alone what we throw away in the bin just because it says a date…
I think your list is fantastic and can’t think of any to add off the top of my head…
Thank you for sharing such useful information.. Without electricity we would all be without a fridge… and although I do Freeze lots of my home grown veggies we could with practice survive without many of the modern day devices we have become so used to having in our homes..
Have a wonderful Weekend and I will be back..
Sue~ Dreamwalker
Thanks Sue, I’m not sure I would experiment with raw meat even if I ate it, the fear of illness is too great. I think too many of the meats available from stores are already tainted either from the way in which the animal was raised or how it was butchered. The raising of meat for consumption is no longer done in a humane way, unless you can raise it yourself or buy from someone local who raises it for you.
I so agree with you on the sell-by and use-by dates. Plenty of food is still good after those dates. I read some where that canned food is safe for a few years after the use-by dates on it. I may have to look that up now that I mentioned it.
I have never been comfortable canning many things, and tried food dehydrating for storing my food but it would take way too long to do large amounts of food, so I will be freezing my garden bounty this summer, but you are right we could do without so many of what we think we need.
Thanks for stopping by.
Mayo was very surprising. Everyone freaks out about keeping mayo-based foods cold, so I never imagined it would be safe to leave out!
My partner thinks I’m nuts for preferring “room temperature ketchup” instead of the cold stuff, but I am glad to see it’s okay to eat without refrigeration. I don’t understand why we put cold sauces on hot things, or even room temperature things.
Also, being mostly vegan I am super excited that I could get away without a fridge if I really needed to.
What about leftovers though? Is it safe to keep those out in the room temperature environment?
I know, mayo was a huge surprise to me as well. Although the main point was not to contaminate it with other foods so maybe that’s where the issue comes in.
Doesn’t food taste better when you add room temp condiments to it? I thought it was just that I had gotten used to eating it that way as a child that I preferred it, but maybe not if you prefer it too.
As for leftovers, I have no idea, that’s something I still need to look into. I do know from men around here who want to be macho that they will eat left over pizza days after making/purchasing it that has never been refrigerated. As long as it doesn’t smell bad or have mold on it they eat it and I’ve never seen one of them get sick from doing so.
Isn’t it nice to know we have a choice in using refrigeration or not?
It is!!
I will dig up a post I did on a green kitchen once and share it with you. It’s really cool.
Look forward to it.
We have friends who lived aboard for 5 years, and they kept their meat in a pressure cooker. They said it was fine, if they brought it up to pressure, to reheat, before eating it. We haven’t tried this yet, but it could come in handy next summer.
That would scare me, I’m thankful I don’t care to eat meat. I’d love to hear how it works for you. How long do they keep it in the pressure cooker?
I think they heat it up the next day. They insist it kills all the bacteria. I guess I have drank out of Lake Michigan (no boiling–we were out of fuel!), so our stomachs could probably handle it! LOL
Well, I’ll leave that to them I don’t think I would want to try that, although neither to I want to drink straight out of any of the Great Lakes without treating it.
Reblogged this on Līgo Editions .
Fascinating post -really very interesting. Not having a refrigerator really frees up space too.
It does. I’m not missing it, at least not yet.
Thanks Lois, I LOVED this post coz Hubby and I were talking last night about reducing appliances. I would add to the comments that if you don’t want to make bread every day, and the weather is hot, sourdough starter should be refrigerated. I also struggle more than most people with certain foods. We nearly lost a child due to bacteria so needless to say this is a difficult area for me. However I would love to learn how to live safely without refrigeration!
Linda, I am so sorry, what a scary thing to almost lose a child. I can definitely understand your fears, I’m not sure how I would handle it if my boys were little. I do know that I’m not ready to try leaving commercial yogurt out for up to 3 weeks and feeding it to my grand children. I have though that I will freeze the yogurt and just thaw it when they want it, or let them eat it like ice cream. Which appliances are you considering getting rid of?
I think anything that has been refrigerated already in the supermarket or shop, should be refrigerated once unpacked at home. I’m looking forward to the first batches of produce from my new allotment, which will require no refrigeration. In the UK, it’s still possible to buy unrefrigerated eggs in shops.
Thanks Sarah, I had thought about that, most of the information on produce specified that it shouldn’t be refrigerated before you leave it out. I have had decent luck with fruit so far, but then I have always preferred my fruit at room temp so would leave some out all the time, vegetables are pretty touchy. I agree, I am looking forward to the warmer weather and getting my garden producing. I miss the feel and taste of sun warmed food right out of the garden.