Sunday 7 September 2008

Life without a 'Fridge

Life without a refrigerator / freezer is a little different. For instance - remembering how my parents treated bottled milk, we kept the milk in a panshon - the local term for a big pot of cold water which was used to put the milk in and keep it cool before we had refrigerators. The humidity in the larder was high so we resorted to having powdered milk and making up what we needed at the time, not ideal, but OK.
I was unable to make bread in batches and freeze it, so every day, the bread for the next day had to be baked. Yesterday I baked two flat rolls and a wholemeal loaf.
Yoghurt, purchased at lunchtime for same day use. Cheese, in our neighbours 'fridge - so a trip next door to get some. Margarine in the larder, warm and soft, but full of preservatives - so quite safe.
At lunchtime our new refrigerator arrived. The delivery crew were in a hurry, but they did remove most of the packaging and took the old 'fridge for re-cycling. The new machine is clean and tidy - with a smooth cased back and no exposed cooling pipes. The back is on castors, so it is easy to move. There are no exposed controls and the internal lamp is in an almost flush fitting on the top if the liner. The shelves are safety glass with edging and the compartment is smooth and easy to wipe clean with simple slot in shelves. Technology has improved since our last purchase.
The freezer compartment has cooling pipes between every drawer, so the whole thing is fast freeze. Egg boxes and ice cube racks are optional slot in features which you do not need to install, and it comes with a de-icing kit and anti-block insert for the drainage plug. With grade-A energy efficiency, what more could we want. Ah - a nice cup of tea with real milk.
Tomorrow we recover our salvaged frozen goods and stock the fridge. Hurray!!!

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