LIVING WITHOUT A REFRIGERATOR

Hugo du Plessis

To some yachtsmen life would seem quite impossible without cold beer and iced drinks, and I am frequently asked how I can possibly live without refrigeration. I admit catering would be simpler with a refrigerator - but not life!

This is because refrigerators require power. Quite a lot. Apart from propulsion it will generally be the largest power requirement on board. The engine will have to be run for an hour or more every day, and if the engine is not working there is hell and high anguish. Refrigerators themselves also go wrong, and by the tradition of that American (whose philosophy is generally blamed on the Irish), if it can go wrong it will.

The explorers and trading ships which opened up the new worlds and laid the foundations of our present comfortable way of life managed without refrigerators. Admittedly few of us today would willingly accept the rough, dangerous and unhealthy life which was normal for a sailor a hundred years ago - the weevil infested biscuits and flour, putrid salt pork and lack of fresh vegetables - but all the same they managed. Ships were at sea for months on end as a matter of course. Even for years. Far longer than our ocean crossings in fast yachts with reliable engines to push through calms.

Old sailing books, and they need not be so very old either, describe how to victual ship without reliance on a refrigerator. Try the classic Yacht Cruising and Yacht Voyaging by Claude Worth, still excellent bibles for any cruising crew. The major problem today is that the traditional victuals, once available from any ship's chandler in any port, are unobtainable in a modern supermarket. Where today can you buy a barrel of salt pork or cask of ships' biscuits, with or without weevils?

The saving grace, of course, is the ready supply of tinned food available worldwide, although often the choice may be corned beef or corned beef. Some overseas cans are made with poor quality steel and rust quickly from inside, especially those containing fruit and fruit juices. It pays to have capacious lockers well stocked when you leave home and a boat strong enough to carry the weight.

I have been cruising for the best part of fifty years without a refrigerator, continuously now for nearly ten years of which the last six have been in the tropics. I am still alive, and my problem is getting fatter rather than thinner. How do I manage?

Well for a start I generally cruising single-handed, cooking for myself, and my cooking is abominable. I cannot be bothered, and look upon cooking as a waste of time that interferes with more important things. Moreover ten years at boarding school, plus five years in the Royal Navy followed by postwar austerity, have endowed me with a pretty tolerant digestion and a general lack of fussiness about what I eat.

By experience and one's nose, one soon gets to know what will or will not keep. Ordinary butter, for instance, soon gets to an unpleasant semi-liquid gee. (`Sail south until the butter melts' used to be the standard sailing directions for the Caribbean.) The usual solution is to stick to margarine, but even this can grow fungus. Some people recommend mayonnaise as a substitute.

Tinned butter will keep indefinitely unopened, but it is seldom realized that will also keep for months, far longer than margarine, after opening. To some extent this depends on the brand and its storage before purchase. Anchor from Australia and Fernleaf from New Zealand both keep well and are widely available in the Caribbean. Others may already be liquid - shake before buying. Tinned Irish Kerrygold is also excellent but liquefies sooner. One of my treats is to buy an ordinary pack of Kerrygold, but being delicious it does not need to keep long.

Danish salami lasts well (thank goodness, as the kind crew of another boat have just given me a huge chunk of it). Small ones are more practical and widely obtainable.

Some bread keeps well, other kinds go mouldy in a day or two - it is matter of trial. Individually toasted slices last much longer. Another technique is to dry it in the sun.

Most people keep a good supply of crispbread as a standby, but treble wrap it in polythene. Ship's biscuits may be a thing of the past but weevils most certainly are not, and they have quickly adapted to drilling through modern packaging. A squirt of insect spray between the outer bags helps to prevent them getting in, but not if they beat you to it. Bay leaves are also said to discourage them. You can get most of them out by the old sailor's trick of tapping the edge of the biscuit, but give them a few months and all you will have left will be a pile of powder.

Very often weevils will already be in a packet when you buy it, especially of flour. Always check for tiny holes in any packet of flour, biscuits, cereals, pasta etc. (About No 8 shot). If you notice small black bugs about 1/8 inch (3mm) long, start searching for their fortress. There is sure to be a packet of something they have colonized and from which they will multiply and spread. As they need little air they will thrive in a sealed container, in which case the best hope may be to keep them in!

Fish must be eaten soon unless it is a kind which can be salted or dried in the sun. One of life's tragedies is to catch that monster fish you've always dreamed about and then have to throw most of it away. Fishing has to be realistic. Little and often.

Meat will last longer, especially as it will probably be frozen when bought. Nowadays fresh meat is seldom available in the tropics and in the Caribbean butchers shops are almost unknown. To make sure it is properly frozen go to the bottom of the pile - if just put in it will not be hard. I have an insulated bag in which I can carry frozen food back from town and in which it will stay cold for at least 24 hours. After that I cook it and it will generally last another few days, especially if cooked again. This practice is often condemned, but all I can say is that it works and is better than eating food which is definitely off.

In olden times spices were used and their value as a preservative was a major basis for trade, which led to colonization. Pepper was an early preservative, and pepper sauces which will leave the average person gasping are a feature of tropical countries. `Pepperpot' is sometimes kept going indefinitely like the French housewife's stockpot. Mace, a part of the nutmeg, is also a preservative.

One of the best stand-bys is a pressure cooker, as useful in harbour as at sea. A big stew, if reheated under pressure every day, will keep a crew going for days and can be topped up with more meat and vegetables almost indefinitely. I think the longest I have made a stew last so far has been about a month. As `pepperpot' it really could be kept going indefinitely, but unfortunately the important ingredient, casuareep, is now difficult to obtain. A further advantage of a pressure cooker is being able to use cheap cuts and local meat which often needs much cooking. If you can afford tender imported steak you are unlikely to be concerned about the complications and expense of running a refrigerator.

What about cold beer? Some may regard this as a necessity, others a luxury. Personally, not being a great beer drinker (I prefer rum) I find beer from the bilges is cool enough - after all we drink warm beer in British pubs. And I continually complain about the sacrilegious Caribbean custom of serving Guinness iced. ("It's beer isn't it ? So it's got to be cold, man".)

An icebox is a bigger inconvenience that a refrigerator. True it does not require power, but ice is expensive, heavy to carry and messy. It has to be bought every couple of days and is only available in more civilized parts, the very places with marinas and hotels which the true cruising person tries to avoid. Not to be able to use the more delightful, quiet anchorages because no ice available is to sacrifice that essential freedom of cruising. Also, you cannot buy ice at sea!

As well as my small insulated bag I have an insulated container. This is useful for those occasions when some ice is nice, such as beer for a party or a celebration that requires champagne. Some are quite elaborate, but mine is a simple polystyrene box which I was given in Venezuela where they are very cheap.

`What is not there cannot go wrong'. Conversely the more equipment and gadgets you have the more you will be held up and inconvenienced because something has gone wrong. On a more practical note, what you do not have you do not miss when it doesn't work. Simplicity on a cruising boat is a virtue, not something to be scorned as seems to be the current fashion. Even these days when the staple foods of bygone years are unheard of, it is still practicable to sail and live aboard without a refrigerator. It just needs the right attitude and the sort of ingenuity which all good sailors must possess.

NB: It must be stressed that by no means all the preceding opinions are shared by the Editorial team, and that Flying Fish takes no responsibility for cases of food poisoning or worse if Hugo's more controversial advice is followed

(1637 words)