Fridge -how many for big trip

[jetcrew]

For my 4 mth trip i am arguing..sorry discussing with my lovley wife the amount of refrideration needed for our 4 mth trip.

I want

60 ltr in camper (Food)
40ltr frezzer in car (food & ice)
32ltr drinks fridge in crusier   (beer soft drink)


she thinks this is overkill and wants

engle 75ltr combi 42ltr fridge 33ltr frezzer all in one  in camper
40 ltr engle in car



My issue is that I like my beers COLD and everytime we sahre a fridge i frezze all the food stuff and she complains.. its funny on a weekend but on a longer trip its just a bit silly, so a dedeicated food fridge at 60ltrs a dedicated frezzer at 40ltrs (which should give us a good amount of frozen meats and 32ltr of icy cold drinks id perfect ..plus I have plenty of redundancy with having 3 fridges on board .

i alrady own the 40 and 32 and the purchase of a fridge for the camper is on the cards anyways ..its just what to get at this stage.

Power wise the 32+40 draw around the same as a 60ltr in any case so it does not any extra load in terms of power consumption . and I might have a panel or 2 with me 

how does everyone else do it, or more to the point how many liters of fridge or freezer did/do you have and was it enough /too much

jet      

[time]

I run a 50l Waeco for the food, and 40l Engel for the drinks, works fine on short or long trips.  As the food fridge gets lower I turn off the drinks fridge and drop a 6 pack into the food fridge each morning.  Restock and go back to the two fridge set up.

This works for the two of us.  Having said this, when I pick up my Vista RV in the New Year I'll have another 80l fridge to play with, I'm thinking this one will be for the food that doesn't need to be too cold, salad stuff and bread etc, and the Mrs wine box

[Desert lover]

Wow.... how many fridges do you need?  We travel with one 50ltr Waeco and that keeps all the food and drinks cold..... we cryovac meat or pre prepared meals (some frozen which helps the chill factor) and we ask the butcher when we restock to cryovac for us (most can).  We keep sufficient tonic for the G&T's cold and also have a bottle of wine in the fridge and find that we manage quite well....  Carefully packed is the key.
We have done Gibb River Road, Tanami Track and been across Aus from East to West ....however we used two fridges on that trip - one as a freezer but it still wasn't carried in our vehicle.  It went in the accompanying vehicle (they didn't take a fridge of their own) and we just purchased supplies every five days as necessary - one restock for four people between Byron Bay and Alice. One restock at Newman in WA. 
Personally I think 3 is way over the top.... but each to their own.
Cheers
       

[trevc]

We ran a 70 litre Evakool used as a fridge only in the CT and a 47 litre ARB in the Prado and was plenty for 4 of us for 12 months.

The car fridge was run at 2c and we used it for meat, booze and daily lunch items. Beer was always cold and wenew the meat was being kept at a stable temp.
The 70L held e everything else. Milk, salads, condiments etc, essentially the kitchen fridge.
We never had the need for a freezer but we're not fishos. The longest stretch we did between restocks was 18 days (Kunna to Broome).
Trev

[Jakster1]

I run an ARB 60 for general day to day stuff in the camper and a 40 engel in the patrol permanently as Either a fridge or freezer to suit the needs of the trip.
This works great for a family of 3.
Just makes it so much more versatile than having just one fridge for everything. Which is how we started and decided 2 was better.
3 fridges?? Well if you have the space and power capacity then why not! Especially if a dedicated beer fridge is in the mix 

[BrettMG]

Family of 4 on a 10 month trip. Fridge/freezer in the camper (80lt) and fridge in the ute(60lt) enough space for about 3 weeks away from civilization if we can get cryovac end meat.

[swanny]

2 months away last year, for the 4 of us, 60ltr engel combo in the CT, for the food and frozen stuff, some drinks in the fridge side, and a 40ltr engel in the car as a dedicated drinks fridge....worked absolutely perfect always had cold beers.....

[Rumpig]

3 fridges?? Well if you have the space and power capacity then why not!

X2 on above...you atleast have a decent amount of knowledge on the power required to run them and keep your battery bank charged sufficiently. Many might say it's overkill, but if you can manage it and have the space, then the more fridge space you have the better IMHO. Could you do the trip with less, of course you can, but the way you are thinking makes sense if that's what you want to do also.

[MarkVS]

Theo,
for a 6 week Savannah Way trip (meaning we took a lot of pre-frozen food) for in essence 3 adults, we had a 60ltr Evakool as a fridge, 40 Ltr Engel in the car for frozen food. I would put drinks in the fridge on a day by day basis.

We found we had plenty of room and as the frozen food dropped to the point of very little, we just re-organised what was left to the freezer end of the Evakool, and turned the 40ltr into a fridge.

Mark.

[JD-120]

I would take as many as I could get in the car or trailer. We just came back from a 2 week trip. We did it with two, but everything was crammed in there so bloody tight it was a PITA to get anything out.

[isportfish]

As many fridges as you need.

We make do with a 50L and a 40L for a family of 4 and have ample space. Rather than have each dedicated for food or bev we have set temps and mix goods depending on their temp requirement. Also good to utilise colder/warmer spots in each fridge to maintain best temps for goods.

We do it this way as I get in trouble if I freeze the salad!

[noel_w]

We do it this way as I get in trouble if I freeze the salad!

Salad, whats that?
Am also planning my requirements. While it will just be me at this stage I still am not sure what to do. I have a 29 L Engel almost as old as me and am thinking to get a 40 to put in the pod on a drop slide for every day stuff and anchor the 29 down in the pod to use as backup/extra room etc.
Wherever I am I will need "cold" beer. Food? Well you can live on it but I am not going to die of thirst. 

[isportfish]

Salad, whats that?

Yeh I know. She makes me eat that stuff.

[broncos11]

We use 3, as I've found that being an avid fisherman, this gives us both flexibility in haveing food, drinks and frozen food and bait all sorted. Also means it minimises the times kids are going into the freezer parts of a fridge and letting cold out. It also gives us space to freeze instantly and bring fillets home. So we had a 90l in the expanda and a 100l in Annex area and a 40l in the car. This also means it's a simple transfer of stuff into the car for day trips.
MarkGU, please disregard my thread as with the fish you catch, you could keep in a L'l Oscar esky.

[KevL]

I use a single 65L dual zone primus mammoth. It stays in the car as my camper can't accommodate a fridge. For 2 of us, plenty of room for a week or more between restocks if necessary. I prefer to buy meat and veges in small quantities frequently if possible.
The need for another fridge depends on ones alcohol dependance I suppose. If you need to keep a carton cold a second fridge would be handy.


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[marvellous_matt]

While I get by with a small (32?) Engle as a freezer and a 40l for food and drinks, I was thinking this is probably a 2015 kind of problem, I doubt if in 2005 I would have dreamed that anyone would ever have more than one!

[GROB]

We use 2 x 60lt evakool both run as fridge/freezer 1 for food -1 for drinks/ice been doing this for 19 months now

[Stewart]

We drove from the Gold Coast to Broome and did the Gibb this year.  We had a 50 l operating as a freezer and a 40l operating as fridge, just defrosted meat and some vegetables as we went along.  Managed to go just over two weeks without a shop this way.

[MDS69]

We, 2K who don't eat and 2A, did a 4 week trip with a 60L and 47L with no issues. We took all meat for the 4 weeks and did the usual top up of fresh fruit and veg when the oppurtunity arose. Obviously your trip will be a little longer but just to give you some perspective.

[Hews]

Depends how much battery, solar, space and weight.

We did a 12 week trip with just a 60L waeco and worked well. Ran it off the car the hole time, only needed the solar panel once. But we shopped once a week/fortnight, just depends where you go. Freezer would make remote travel easier

These days we have 180L fridge in van for food and 60L in car for drinks and day trips away from the van

[jetcrew]

Thanks for all the replies people 

I think that with the info I have received here that 2 fridges is quite normal. So if I am going for 16 weeks and don't want to shop every 3-4 weeks for meat and such then the 3rd (32ltr) fridge will not be swatted space and gives me an absolutely dedicated deep freezer.

so its either 100 ltrs of fridge 60&40   & 32 ltrs of frezzer

or

92ltrs of fridge 60 & 32 and 40ltrs of frezzer

which ever way I do it it will be 132ltrs of capacity split between 3 units so that built in redundancy in my mind    now to decide where to put the 2 fridges in the car I made a frame for simmo trip hat never happened and it can take the 40 & 32 .

but Lara wants only 1 in back and 1 in rear cargo on slide so that means I make a frame to suit the single seat position and leave the 2 seats in back .

Jet

Or i can start one way and switch over as we eat things and need to adjust around ...I think I will take all 3 with me

[hawks667]

3 Weeks remote, took a 55l Waeco running as a fridge and another 55l Waeco set up as a freezer....seemed to all work well with 200ah of deep cycles and 220w of solar.....

[weeds]

132L......just for two of you?? Far out Brussel sprout.

How beers do you drink each day.....

We have a 40 and 32 Engels for a family of five (three teenagers).

I keep a six pack cold, as a grab one on replace with a hot one.

Freezer, did this once and it was a pain in the arse.

[Fathom]

Anything less than 5 fridges is really roughing it. 



If pigs could fly... Imagine how good their wings would taste.

[mjharps]

I can see utility in two fridges. One as a freezer and one as a normal fridge.  One in the car and one in the camper which gives you options for day trips etc

I think for long term travel having a dedicated freezer would be handy.

I have a 10 year old Engel which I'll repurpose for that task when the time is right.