You never know what you’re gonna get with RV life- like a fridge deciding to completely stop working randomly!

We took our trailer in for one fix and when we got it back, our fridge’s temperature was way too high. I figured that maybe they had had to turn things off to diagnose the other problem, but even after 48 hours, our fridge was sitting at a toasty 60 degrees. We called the fridge company and tried a few different “fixes”, but all with no luck. So we’ve been going without a fridge for almost 2 weeks now, and we’ll hopefully be getting it back in the shop soon!

    *Sidenote- don’t buy a Keystone RV. While I love the layout of our new trailer, it’s been nothing but fix after fix on things that shouldn’t be breaking! Slide-outs, inverters, shower doors, fridges, to name a few. And it’s a 2023, so it’s not like it’s an old model… but I digress.

Anyway. It’s been quite the adventure trying to get by with no fridge and a family of 8 to feed! The closest grocery store is a good 50 minutes away through a very windy canyon, so it’s not super easy to get to the grocery store more than once or twice a week (nor cheap, with gas prices!).

We have one small cooler, and I can get that to last with ice for about 3 days or so. I’ve kept things in there like cheese and meat, which I’ve been buying in very small quantities.

Here’s what we’ve mostly been eating:

• Baked potatoes. I open a can of chili or two, and pull out the shredded cheese for those who don’t like chili.
  
  
• Canned chicken noodle soup. Plain, or served on top of a bowl of mashed potatoes for extra creaminess and thick deliciousness!
  
  
• Pasta-roni and Mac n’ Cheese. Boxed staples around here! Technically, you need butter and milk, but I’ve made mac n’ cheese plenty of times without those items and it’s fine. Plus, butter really is fine staying out of the fridge for a few days, and while I would never keep cow’s milk on the counter, our trailer has stayed fairly cool and I’ve felt fine with almond milk on the counter for a day or two (no one’s thrown up yet, anyway…)
  
  
• Cereal. See above note about milk.
  
  
• Toast and eggs. Again, I know eggs are usually refrigerated, but as long as it’s not too hot (which luckily we’re camped where it’s pretty cool) and you go through the eggs quickly, leaving them on the counter is totally fine. We’ve had avocado toast a couple times as well.
  
  
• Pancakes. Kodiak pancake mix is one of our favorites because it’s full of protein, and I only need to add water.
  
  
• Spaghetti. Canned sauce and noodles- we’ve had way too much pasta the past couple weeks haha.
  
  
• Hawaiian Haystacks. I just mix a can of cream of chicken soup, chicken broth, and some canned chicken for the gravy, serve over rice and you can top it with any fresh vegetables you have on hand, canned pineapple, and chow mein noodles.
  
  

For minimal cooler space, we did tacos one night (shredded cheese and one pound of hamburger) with a can of salsa and tortillas, we had a hot dog roast one night (hot dogs don’t take up much space and the buns stay in the cupboard). I’m planning on doing sloppy joes this weekend- a couple pounds of ground turkey in the cooler, with the buns and canned sauce on the counter.

Luckily, things like apples, bananas, baby carrots, and cucumbers have been fine on the counter (as long as you eat through the vegetables quickly), so we have some nutrition from fruits and vegetables too! Canned green beans and corn are another way I’ve been able to get some nutrition in my kids.

While I definitely don’t want to be without my fridge forever, we’ve made it work, and it’s been a reassuring exercise for me to realize I do have the recipe repertoire and creativity to make something like this work! Though I’m so ready to have my fridge back so we can go back to a little more fresh food in our diet ;) .

I would love some more ideas! What are some of your favorite meals that use ingredients that require no refrigeration? Share your ideas in the comments below!

    Camille Hoffmann
    Weekly Newsletter Contributor since 2014
    Email the author! camille@dvo.com