You’ve got your bags packed full of clothes, your roof rack is sorted and your safety equipment is in tow. Now all that’s left to do is sort out your fridge! They say you leave the worst jobs to last and for many of us, that’s dealing with the food for the trip. But it doesn’t always have to be a painful chore! Bookmark this page as we’ve gone through 5 things you absolutely must do for your off-road fridge. From the gear you need before you head off, to tips you should follow while on the road.
1. Get yourself a fridge cage
First things first, before you hit the road you need to ensure you’ve got the right gear. The Clearview® Fridge Cage is one we’d highly recommend. It allows you to store your gear safely around your fridge without restricting its critical airflow. Why does a fridge need airflow? Well because your fridge compressor produces heat whilst working, therefore sufficient space around the fridge is required in order to allow this heat to escape.
It’s also great because it will work to protect your fridge from scratches and dents. Assuming you haven’t tied all your gear down, once you hit a bump on the off-road track and your loose gear flies around, your fridge will remain undamaged. No dents or scratches! You’ll also be able to maximise the available storage space you have in your vehicle by stacking your gear around your fridge. This means things won’t be falling behind your fridge whenever you pull it out, which is always a huge pain to deal with.
2. Install a fridge slide
While you’re at it, you may want to check out the Clearview® Power Slide. Designed to make fridge access a breeze, the Power Slide drops your fridge down to a comfortable level and it’s so simple to use. Shorties rejoice! Its unique scissor lift design is supported on each side by synchronised, self-aligning actuators, ensuring that the fridge always remains perfectly level.
Weighing between 29kg through to 38kg, the Clearview® Power Slide is constructed of aluminium allowing it to be unbelievably lightweight.
3. Avoid direct sunlight on your fridge
The hotter your fridge gets the harder it then has to work to keep itself and your food cool. What this means is it will be drawing more power from your battery, which is certainly not ideal for your battery life. Do your very best to keep your fridge out of the direct sunlight by parking in the shade whenever you can. If there’s zero shade around you and you’ve got no choice, try to create your own shade. This can be quickly and easily done via your vehicle’s windscreen sunshade (just make sure you don’t cover any vents with it).
4. Provision your food accordingly
As much as I enjoy ‘listening to my body’ and eating whatever food I am craving at the time, it’s much more efficient to provision food when you head off on a trip. What I mean by this is try to plan out most of your meals in advance so you end up using all the ingredients you take away and nothing goes to waste. You’ll also lower your chances of overloading your fridge and having to Tetris it all in there each and every time you remove something. Make sure you pack the heaviest ingredients at the bottom as well.
All you need to do is work out some simple meals that share ingredients between them and stick to the plan. It’s less exciting, but it’s far more efficient! Leave the spontaneous meals for when you return home.
5. Limit how many times and for how long you open it
Opening your fridge releases the cold air inside and lets warm air in. Obviously this means your fridge needs to cool again, increasing its power consumption. This is why it’s important to be mindful of how many times you open your fridge and for how long. Although you can’t really plan for how often you open it, or control how others do, there are other ways to be more power efficient. If you’re heading to the fridge ask if anyone would like anything or offer your mates a cold one. Not only will that save a couple more opens that evening, but it’ll make you look really polite and generous at the same time. A win-win situation. When preparing meals, grab all that you need in one go, then put the remaining ingredients back at the same time.
So whether it’s a fridge cage to save your fridge dents and scratches or a fridge slide to allow you to access things more comfortably, there’s plenty of gear available on the market to assist your fridge while off-road. Plus a load more handy tips and tricks to follow. Have you got any other tips for us we didn’t add? Let us know in the comments or shoot us a message on our socials. We’d love to hear from you.
