Experiences with Cheap Fridge(Cooler) for Fruit & Veg

[LeighC]

Gday,

We're considering a cheap fridge or more-so cooler to use for fruit and veg rather than our current practice of Esky + ice.   

We have a 40L Engel that we use for meat, dairy and most importantly drinks.  We often find we freeze the F&V while trying to keep the other products at a safe and low temperature.

We're looking at something along the lines of a Wild Country Cooler as in the pic below, Rays has them for $110.

Has anyone else used these ??  if so, ran them for a long time ?  Any other suggestions along these lines ?

cheers,
Leigh

[Malcolm Tugless]

We do just that, use a Coleman Party Stacker (20 can).
Fruit and veg in the box, no ice needed. Keep it in a cool shady place ... works a treat.

[GGV8Cruza]

We do just that, use a Coleman Party Stacker (20 can).
Fruit and veg in the box, no ice needed. Keep it in a cool shady place ... works a treat.

Any idea who stocks these, I am sure the big green shed did and I went to get one and they had none

GG

[LeighC]

Coleman Party Stacker (20 can).

  Is it 12v or you need to get it cold with an ice brick / ice ?

[jr]

thermo electric coolers use heaps of power and dont cool much unless conditions are mild, look at degrees they can cool below ambient and consider them in a 30-40 deg car
Also use max amps 100% of the time

[Barry G]

thermo electric coolers use heaps of power and dont cool much unless conditions are mild, look at degrees they can cool below ambient and consider them in a 30-40 deg car
Also use max amps 100% of the time

x2
Had one for drinks when I took the kids to SW Qld and Cameron Corner a few years back.
Kept the fruit & veg in the 40 litre Waeco esky.
Useful for daytime drinks while driving, but would be better putting the $100 towards a second smaller fridge for the car, IMO.

[Vitara_JaycoSwift_Outback]

Gday,

We're considering a cheap fridge or more-so cooler to use for fruit and veg rather than our current practice of Esky + ice.   

We have a 40L Engel that we use for meat, dairy and most importantly drinks.  We often find we freeze the F&V while trying to keep the other products at a safe and low temperature.

We're looking at something along the lines of a Wild Country Cooler as in the pic below, Rays has them for $110.

Has anyone else used these ??  if so, ran them for a long time ?  Any other suggestions along these lines ?

cheers,
Leigh

I have a larger 12v/240v cooler that we use and it works very well with some ice inside for a drinks fridge when running constantly. But it certainly chews through the battery juice. I wouldn't recommend them very much at all if you don't have access to 240 all the time.

[SteveandViv]

I know it's a lot of money but I find the dual Zone Waeco really good for that as there is no Evaporator in the fridge area. I wounder if it is worth trying to sell what you have  and get a dual zone of your choice of brand.

Anyway, just another option.

[paceman]

Any idea who stocks these, I am sure the big green shed did and I went to get one and they had none

GG

bcf has these.  i got the flatter one for tinnies.  good size and stackable...

[Young Camping Family]

Friends of ours have an add on basket on top of their Engel that they use for fresh stuff. It isn't as cold as the bottom part (original engel) and I haven't heard her complain about frozen veggies.
We use a 3-way and find it often freezes overnight so I might try taking any of the precious veg (lettuce,etc) out overnight this year. It also helps if you have them inside a container rather than just loose - more air to protect them from freezing.

[krisandkev]

We have tried a small Waeco  thermoelectric cooler and then an esky for our vegies/fruit.  In the hotter parts of the country, i.e. the Kimberley, they were both unsuitable.  The thermoelectric cooler used heaps of power and the need for ice in the esky was a pain.  We now have our Waeco 50l in our cruiser and a 60l Evakool in our camper and we use the Waeco for mainly fruit and vegies.  The Evakool as a fridge/freezer.  We have found this system was perfect for us when we spent 6 months travelling WA last year. We were lucky that the Evakool came with the camper when we bought it.  Both our fridges have dual compartments so we have not had an issue when using them as fridge/freezers. So I suppose your system will depend on what travels you intend on doing.  Kevin

[Alan Loy]

I know this doesn't answer your question but having just started using a Bushman with 3 levels of baskets I found that I could keep the bottom frozen the middle cold and the top cool for lettuce & dairy.

Could the same idea work with the engel?  The stackable baskets make this easy in the bushman so you would need something similar to make it workable

[GGV8Cruza]

bcf has these.  i got the flatter one for tinnies.  good size and stackable...

Cheers, may have to pay them a visit on the weekend

GG

[LeighC]

Thanks everyone for your responses.  The power consumption is a concern for little return so I don't think we'll go down that track with a cheap cooler.

The two-zone is a great concept but won't work with our setup.  I do like the idea of them thought.  Basically means I'd need to have the fridge in the car and purchase a number of other items (slide, drop mechanism, new flooring for the car,  that may get close to the price of a new proper fridge.

I'll keep on it but always have the ice/esky option.

cheers

[feisty]

Thanks everyone for your responses.  The power consumption is a concern for little return so I don't think we'll go down that track with a cheap cooler.

The two-zone is a great concept but won't work with our setup.  I do like the idea of them thought.  Basically means I'd need to have the fridge in the car and purchase a number of other items (slide, drop mechanism, new flooring for the car,  that may get close to the price of a new proper fridge.

I'll keep on it but always have the ice/esky option.

cheers

Hi Leigh.  so what did you end up doing?  ps good luck with the trip!!
Cheers feisty

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[LeighC]

Feisty, ended up getting the one I posted up for $110. Took it on a shake down trip and it worked as desired. When the car was in the shade I ended up plugging in and unplugging every beer or so. This was to keep good battery life in the car.  Bottom line is salads lasted longer than in engel (that needs to be super cold for beer and meat). If the salad goes off and doesn't take up room in engel, I'm not loosing out. 

Whether it's got the guts to last 5 months on the road is to be seen.

Cheers,
Leigh

[feisty]

Thanks Leigh.  Not a lot to lose and a lot to gain (space for beer) by doing it the way you have.  Once again,  good luck!

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[noel_w]

I know it ain't good for travelling but when I am camped for a while I have the Engel for things that must be "cold" (beer and meat) and I have an Aldi 3 way I run on gas for all the other items that need to be "cool". It works but not good enough for beer, I like mine "cold"

[chisel]

Some of the fridges (eg. Primus Mammoth range) have dual temp controls so you can run one side as fridge (4C) and the other as "vegie cooler" (eg. 10C).

Only issue will come if you need more space in one side or the other, or a third zone (eg. freezer, fridge, cooler).  I've kept my old Waeco in case I have need for the 3 zones at some stage but suspect it won't get used much.