Fridge - How small is too small?

[katuah]

So I've got a line on a good deal for a very very small (14qt?) 12v fridge - I think it's an Engel - but before I plunk down cash I'd like to hear some opinions from actual 12v fridge users on sizing. How small can you go and still have enough room?

First, let me say that any period of my use for more than 3 days would almost certainly be solo, as the family has zero interest in trips extending beyond a long weekend. I've been using a 28qt cooler with a bag of ice, but of course most of the space is taken up by the ice, not to mention the extra packaging to keep the food out of the meltwater. :-(

I'd been planning to get something in the 43qt range, but all the photos of people's fridges on here make them look HUGE by comparison. Are they really THAT big? Does the compressor setup take up as much physical space as an icebag, just in a different location/shape? Can I get, say, 6 soda cans, a gallon of water, pound of meat, some cheese, fruit, and odds & ends in a 14qt? Or would I truly be wasting my money? Keep in mind I'd like to keep my kit size as small as reasonable, as right now I am planning to occasionally sleep in the back of the vehicle. Without removing anything to the outside.

 

[mires]

The Engel 14 quart claims to hold 21- 12 oz. cans. Not sure if you have that many cans on hand but if so, just stack them all up in a square and that should give you an idea of it's interior size.

 

[tonkaman]

Meaning it's smaller than a 24 pack of beer on the inside... Way too small for anything more than a day unless your only chilling perishable food. In that case you could probably fit a weekend worth of food but no beverages

 

[1911]

I have a 37-quart ARB, and sometimes I wish it were smaller (space is a premium inside my Land Cruiser). For two people or solo it's more than enough for a week.

 

[ExploringNH]

I have a 37-quart ARB, and sometimes I wish it were smaller (space is a premium inside my Land Cruiser). For two people or solo it's more than enough for a week.

I had a 43qt and I felt the same. Lots of times I wanted it to be smaller as I always had a bunch of unused space. A 14qt might be a little small for my needs, but I am sure you can make it work. Something in the 25qt range would probably be perfect.

 

[Martinjmpr]

As someone who started small (with a 19qt Dometic) my advice would be to save your money and get a bigger fridge. The 31qt TruckFridge / Indel - B TB-31 is about the size of a 50 qt Coleman Cooler. My 41qt Indel-B/Truckfridge is the same width and length but about 6" higher. It's a little on the heavy side when fully loaded but honestly, it's no heavier than a cooler full of ice would be.
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A 14qt might be OK to "back up" another fridge, but you won't be able to carry much in it, and given Murphy's Law, you can bet that at any given time that "one thing" you need is going to be at the bottom, requiring you to take everything else out to get t it.

 

[4x4tripping]

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I see no reason for these big devises. Small is better, there is not a lot who needs cooling.
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We did our transafrica with two small Engel 15L Boxes, one as fridge, one as freezer.
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You dont need all cans cooled, you just need that ammount you will drink in the next hours.
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4x4tripping

 

[mhiscox]

I have a 27 liter Engel and it is, in my opinion, fine if you will either be using it for a rather limited portion of what you eat, or you are only buying a couple days of food at a time. Otherwise, it seems small to me.

One major problem is that the food may not always be in appropriately-sized packages. My 27 liter will store enough cans of sardines to keep you alive for longer than you could stand to eat sardines. But it holds as few as three or four plastic storage containers worth of "pre-staged" food we prepare in addvance to take with us. The work around is, of course, to spend time thinking through how to use plastic bags and other conformable packaging, but my point is that the smaller the size of the fridge, the more time you'll spend carefully deciding what to take and how to organize it.

 

[mhiscox]

Also, and I'm sure someone could do the math if they cared enough, my sense is that the ratio of food storage to external dimensions is better for the bigger fridges. It seems to me that the wall thickness and space for the mechanicals doesn't go up in direct proportion to the food compartment size. Thus, using the example above, the space occupied by two 15-liter fridges is greater than required for one 30 liter. Similarly, one 60-liter takes up less space than two 30s. This obviously isn't the make-or-break consideration, but the bigger fridges do seem a bit more space-efficient.

 

[Martinjmpr]

One major problem is that the food may not always be in appropriately-sized packages.

This is a major headache for us as well. We are constantly opening and re-packing food items.
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One thing to point out regarding plastic bags is that if there is any significant amount of liquid in them, they WILL leak, in my experience. Even if you double bag it, leaks are very likely. For that reason, we are trying out small plastic Tupperware-type containers. They are not quite as easy to pack as plastic bags but they are less likely to leak.
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We have found one useful trick though: For eggs, there's no reason to use one of those space-consuming plastic "egg crates" that they sell in the camping section of many outdoors stores. Instead, just take a knife and cut a cardboard egg carton in two, leaving you with two perfectly adequate containers of 6 eggs each. Easy to pack and just as resistant to breakage as any plastic egg carrier and as a bonus, when the eggs are gone the cartons make decent firestarters.

 

[K2ZJ]

As someone who started small (with a 19qt Dometic) my advice would be to save your money and get a bigger fridge.

As the person who bought that fridge, it worked great for me in Moab. We had 3 adults and two children, it was enough room for our drinks and sandwiches everyday. We were staying in a hotel. I own a 35qt now because it isn't much bigger and I can take more stuff on different trips.

Also, and I'm sure someone could do the math if they cared enough, my sense is that the ratio of food storage to external dimensions is better for the bigger fridges. It seems to me that the wall thickness and space for the mechanicals doesn't go up in direct proportion to the food compartment size. Thus, using the example above, the space occupied by two 15-liter fridges is greater than required for one 30 liter. Similarly, one 60-liter takes up less space than two 30s. This obviously isn't the make-or-break consideration, but the bigger fridges do seem a bit more space-efficient.

In another thread I ran the numbers for a 50qt ARB and 50qt Yeti, it was basically a tie.

 

[4x4tripping]

My 27 liter will store enough cans of sardines to keep you alive for longer than you could stand to eat sardines. But it holds as few as three or four plastic storage containers worth of "pre-staged" food we prepare in addvance to take with us.

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The Sardine-Cans are a good example, they dont need to stay cool. You also not need 15 cans of beer to stay cool, when you dont have to deliver to 7-8 Travellers at the same time.
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There are many stuff arround, who dont need cooling - but we store them at home usually at the refrigerator...
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Jam, Honey, Nutella - will survive a month without cooling
Salami you can store outside of the fridge
mustard will survive a month without cooling
Grill and Barbeque sauce will survive a month without cooling.
You can buy milk who dont need cooling (use them in 3 days when you did open it). Buy these with screw cap.
Fruits dont need to be cooled
vegetables dont need to be cooled
You can buy tons of Pesto and Sauces who dont need cooling, too with minced meat.
you even can buy liver sausage who dont need cooling
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And so on..
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Only a few kind of stuff that has to stay cooled:
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butter
cheese
meat (steaks, fresh minced meat)
ham
salad (because of this we just eat salad on short trips, or when we was able to buy them during the day (packed and washed).
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If you buy some packages of steaks, you can unpack them and store them in frozen bags. This way they dont need much space in the fridge or the cooler. Additional you can put marinade on them, they will get better when they are in the marinade some days more.
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We live 2 month abroad during our transafrica with this setup (a 15l Fridge, an 15l Freezer) and had an cool beer when ever we need it. And had a fresh steak each day, too when we was not able to buy meat for 2 weeks. With 15l Fridge & Freezer you can live till 2.5 Weeks without the need to restock at a store - with two persons.
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We recently wrote an article about our outdoor cooking: 4x4tripping - Outdoor-Cooking: How we cook while camping / Overlanding
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Like you can read we love to eat nice meals... The Picture was done at one of our wildcamp spots in Island.
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4x4tripping
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[katuah]

Will take all of this under advisement. I did not buy the small Engel.

 

[lysol]

We purchased the ARB 50. It has served us very well. I can honestly say that while we have not "needed" the 50 qts during our 1-2 night camping trips, we have packed it full when moving groceries from my in-laws to our home (cheaper up in PA)... I like being able to throw in steaks/sausage in the bottom, a half gallon of OJ, carton of eggs, couple bottles of water, beer, condiments, and some various weird shaped packages etc...

If we had to play tetris and strategically place everything in there packed, I'm sure we could support 4 people for a week or more. But for the wife and I, the 50 qt is perfect without stressing on packing it and yet not too big. One of the larger reasons for the 50 qt was that it was not that much more expensive than the 35.

 

[highdesertranger]

you also don't need to refrigerate eggs. highdesertranger