VAN FEATURES - Food Storage
Fridge
This was one the first “big ticket” items we purchased for our van build and as such we spent our time shopping around. We wanted something that was efficient, low-maintenance, and quiet to run in a small space. After a bit of research, we chose a Waeco CFX50 chest fridge, which rolls out on sliders from under our bed.
It has ample storage room for the two of us and uses next-to-no power. Even in 35+ degree weather, it stays icy cold, so you definitely get what you pay for. (Don’t skimp on the important stuff folks!)
The fridge drawer is locked with a sliding bolt lock (located inside the next door cupboard) so it doesn’t go flying open when we drive. That being said, we have forgotten to lock it on more than one occasion and well, things didn’t go too well. Let’s just say those sliders have been replaced more than once.
NOTEWORTHY: The only drawback we have with this model is that it isn’t a dual-zone fridge/freezer; that is, it can be set as a fridge OR a freezer, but unfortunately not both at the same time. Personally we haven't found this much of a problem as we don’t tend to buy that much frozen food, but if we ever decided to get a blender it would be nice to be able to freeze fruit for smoothies.
Just a thought.
2020 UPDATE: We have a Freezer!
So after 2 years of van living, we have an exciting new acquisition: a second fridge/freezer. Whoo yeah!
We use this one solely as a freezer and it lives at the very back of our van, is accessed from the rear doors, and slides out when we need to get into it. This time round we chose the MyCoolman CCP30 30lt fridge/freezer with an insulated cover. It’s the perfect size for storing frozen veggies, fruit and leftovers for the two of us. Like our fridge up front, it’s super-efficient, quiet and it automatically swaps over to 240v if we plug our van in at a powered site.
But this little gem has an extra benefit; MyCoolman has developed a battery pack that magnetically attaches to the side of their fridge/freezers, which can power the product for up to 18 hours. So we’re free to take the fridge/freezer with us when we’re away from the van for long periods to keep our goodies cool, making it perfect for one of my extended (often-less-than-successful) fishing outings.
Pantry/Dry Goods Storage
In the van kitchen we have two cupboard shelves and a slide-out basket dedicated to dry food storage (things such as tea, snacks, nuts, cereal, rice, canned goods, onions, lollies etc)
Most of our goodies are split between a couple of clear plastic storage containers on non-slip mats that we just pull forward to access. One day we might get around to putting the containers on sliders, but until then, they do the job well enough.
We ALSO keep an additional 38L container in our rear storage, which we use for keeping longer shelf life items like more canned food, longtime soy milk and extra pasta packets. Overall, we can go at least a fortnight without needing to visit a supermarket if we need to.
Fruit Hammock
We couldn’t NOT mention our beloved fruit hammock. In truth it tends to carry things like sunglasses, headphones and other random items more than actual fruit, but it’s too darn cute and still one of Becs favourite features. We bought in online from US Amazon, as we couldn’t find it from any stockists here in Aus.