12 months touring - How much fridge space?

[trevc]

Hi All

As per my intro post we are touring Australia for 12 mths starting Jan '14. We are are family of 4 and currently have a 47L ARB fridge /or Freezer.

I'm seeking opinions from anyone that has toured for an extended period of time in regards to how much fridge space they feel we might need.
I don't think the 47L will be enough and am considering a 60 or 70L fridge+freezer (like an Evakool) in addition.

This will provide around 30L of freezer and 75L of fridge. Is this overkill, not enough, or just right.
I know everyone will have their own opinions and experiences, let's here them...

Thanks in advance

Trev

[MDS69]

What are you expecting to store in the freezer and how long do you think the longest period between re-stock is. Reason I ask is have you considered getting your meat vacuum sealed by the butcher. This will basically double the use by date of your meat (especially red meat).
A good outcome from this is you will use less power if running a fridge v's a freezer. Two fridges are a good thing for extended touring as you are splitting your risk if a fridge fails.

If you want ice cream and frozen veggies then that is another matter.

A lot different to you but we toured for two weeks 2 x adults + 2 x kids under 8 with a ARB 47L without a re-supply but we had approx. 4 dinners in pubs. My kids don't drink soft drink and with the wife and I drinking soft and hard beverages we kept approx. 5 of each in the fridge and as you take a cold one out you put a warm one in. Same with milk in 1L long life cartons, keep two in the fridge and as you empty one put another in.

We recently used the same principle for a 4 week trip but had a 47L + a 60L but took a months worth of meat. and more treats.

[Bird]

how often will you be near town to resupply, or is it all remote travel?
depends what sort of touring your doing

[chester ver2.0]

We used an 80 litre waeco for 2 of us for a 5 month trip
However we would buy enough meat to cyrovac and get us through 2 months at a time. The car fridge was mainly used for a meat and beer safe.

The fridge in the camper held the condiments veggies salad etc

[trevc]

Good points all, thanks for taking the time.

We've done similar trips to MDS (learnt\'t heaps from your trip reports) and have used either our 47L or a 70L in a hired KK.
Having a reasonable thirst I've got the fridge packing down pat, BUT we do have to move things around a bit.

Being our home away from home, and needing to work to a budget, a freezer is appealing for all the reasons MDS stated.

Without having an itinerary yet I'm working on needing to be self sufficient for 10 days water/ 20 days medium size town? So need a freezer in theory.

[2010banditsa]

if youre anything like me, the amount you drink dictates the amount of fridge space you need, along with batteries, solar panels, money... etc... etc... ive got a 60l Evakool for drinks, soon to be CR110 for the Mrs food.

[db]

For 10 weeks last year we had a 60L fridge and a 40L freezer.  Worked very well, we had the meat vacuum packed in the freezer, and just got it out as needed.  Meant we could stock up a couple of times for the whole trip when we had access to decent shopping.  For beer etc. we just chucked in enough for the evening each morning and replaced as we went.  Plenty of room in fridge not having to worry about more than a days meat etc.

[firefox]

So my 250lt internal and 80lt external is way to much....

In saying that I think it depends on how much the you have away from shops. I want to be setup with 2 weeks away from shops as a minimum.

[chisel]

I've survived touring around with a 50L waeco (family of 4 with 2 young girls at the time).  We thought a freezer would be nice so bought a small 11L one but I've found it a bit of a nuisance to be honest - uses power, needs to be stored somewhere etc.  Any sort of freezer and you double the power requirements basically. 
I still wouldn't mind a combo type (eg. 50L fridge+20L freezer in one unit) if I had the power side sorted.
I reckon 60L fridge would be the minimum for long-term touring.  You don't *need* to have refrigerated food when you are away from towns for a week or more (how often will that happen?) - there's always tinned/dry stuff to get you by for a couple of days.   But everyone has their own opinion about how critical their fridge space is...

[GeeTee]

yep as mentioned by most others, how far between shops/restocks?

I've done two weeks/two people from a 40-litre fridge on a couple of treks... and run out in five days by myself on others

Do you have the opportunity for a 'practice' trek of (for instance) one week? This will help transform guesstimations into estimations and also help you with other aspects of your preparation, such as equipment needs and packing/storage regimes

[trevc]

Thanks for your feedback.

As it happened we bought a 'floor stock' Eva-Kool 60L Dual  Zone today for a great price at the BNE show today.
I think that with the 47L will be the best solution for us.

Trev

[2010banditsa]

Thanks for your feedback.

As it happened we bought a 'floor stock' Eva-Kool 60L Dual  Zone today for a great price at the BNE show today.
I think that with the 47L will be the best solution for us.

Trev

Nice work Trev, ive got the 60 and theyre a beaut, flexibility is very handy. Youll have it covered now mate

[SteveandViv]

We used a 60ltr and had a cryovac machine with us. We did 7 days between basic food stops. You'll be surprised what you can get from the remote shops as they cater for the locals as well.

[trevc]

Yeah a cryovac is high on the list of things to research.

We're going to use our touring fridge setup at home for a few weeks to fine tune the way we pack.

Trev