Living off the grid has its challenges and with summer heat fast approaching that means preparing for potentially dangerous high temps NOW! If you are living in a traditional grid tied house then chances are the changing seasons may not affect you that much. In my case the off grid camper does not have a lot of relief from the relentless summer heat so I am doing what I can not by creating shade everywhere I can. I have also found myself buying a lot of ice lately.

Buying ice on a regular basis to substitute a refrigerator is adding up quickly. Most people probably take for granted that they simply open this big box in the kitchen and everything stays relatively cold. When you are living off grid food preservation by way of cooling (refrigerator or cooler) can be challenging unless you have a steady supply of power from solar panels for example. I have been researching some pretty heavy duty coolers. These incredibly well built ones like Pelican, Yeti, and Grisly ice coolers seem to be some of the best on the market. I watched this one video where they did a head to head comparison called the 5 Day Ice Challenge. In the video they filled all of the coolers with ice to see which ones would still have ice in them. Surprisingly most of them did! Another video along the lines of DIY showed how you could essentially build a cooler with the same insulating capabilities for about $70. If you think that is a lot of money then look at the alternative. The Yeti, Pelican, and Grisly coolers seem to have a price range of around $200-$500 range. This is something to explore in the future and for now I am still buying many bags of ice! lol

 

Show notes from today’s Off The Grid Podcast

* Today’s lesson: When you know summer heat is coming prepare now! There is no time like the present.

* Be social! Connect with me and the podcast on Facebook, like the page, and tell a friend!