Sometimes you have to make do without a fridge for the duration of a holiday, but even at home there are reasons why you have to live without refrigerated food for a while. Although we are used to refrigerating almost everything immediately so that it lasts longer, if you have to do without refrigeration, you don't just have to eat tinned food. Here's how to shop when you're living without a fridge:

 

 

Essentially, it makes a big difference how warm or cold the outside temperature is. In winter, many foods naturally keep longer without a fridge than in summer. If you don't have a fridge in summer, you should set up the coolest part of your home as a storage corner and store your food there in cool boxes and under insulating blankets.

 

Fruit and vegetables do not need to be kept in the fridge. Even ripe fruit will keep for a few days without refrigeration as long as it is not exposed to direct sunlight. It is best to buy fruit and vegetables that are still a little unripe and will ripen over the next two or three days. Fresh fruit and vegetables from the market often keep longer than those from the supermarket. 

You can also buy fresh herbs and put them in water that you change occasionally.

Foods preserved in salt and oil keep very well without refrigeration. You can also buy feta and mozzarella and refresh the brine every two days. To make the brine, boil a quarter of a litre of water with a teaspoon of table salt and leave to cool. 

Although hard cheese sweats at room temperature, it will keep for several days if kept in the shade and dry. It is best to wrap the cut cheese in a piece of wax paper. 

 

Lettuce stays fresh longer than loose lettuce leaves. 

 

Dried foods such as tomatoes, salami and dried meat are ideal for storage without refrigeration. Here too, whole salamis are better than sliced ones. It is important to have as small a surface area as possible in the air where bacteria can colonise.

 

Fruit juice is best made yourself from fruit that is already very ripe and needs to be used up quickly, or you can buy it in smaller packs that you can use up on the same day. The same applies to milk. It is best to buy UHT milk and consume it within two days.

 

Peanut butter, ketchup, mustard, mayonnaise and similar sauces keep longer than you might think without refrigeration. This is because they contain vinegar. 

 

If you buy fresh meat and eggs, make sure you prepare them within a few hours. Vacuum-packed vegetarian foods (e.g. falafel or veggie burgers) are safer and will keep for a good week once opened. 

 

As a general rule, you should only eat dodgy food that has been stored for a few days without refrigeration if it has been cooked. The cooking process destroys bacteria.