Fridge contents

[weber.roger]

Recently saw a posting regarding the glass roundtable in the ovens and how it should be packed for traveling. Got me thinking about the fridge contents when traveling. Have not traveled yet but I understand these trailers are undergoing mini earthquakes when on the road. Any suggestions about how you experienced guys handle the fridge contents? or anything else for that matter

[Nuvite-F]

That's a good question. The trailer can get shaken up pretty well on a bumpy road. In 13 years of trailering, now, we have never paid a whole lot of attention to refrigerator packing, to tell you the truth, and we've never had any disasters.

My wife is a fantastic trailer cook (a fantastic cook anywhere, actually!) and this ability extends to stuffing an amazing amount of good stuff in the refrigerator. We seldom have to worry about refrigerator contents shifting because it's usually pretty full.

We do transfer eggs from the store cartons to plastic camping-style egg containers on the theory that they are a little stronger. Our refrigerator has a limited space to store tall objects like milk cartons and wine bottles so they can't fall over in transit.

We did have our refrigerator door pop open once--fortunately nothing came out--and ever since we have backed up the door latch with a bungee cord across door as a backup.

[AWCHIEF]

I use several small Rubbermaid type containers to isolate the contents and keep them from moving around. It also makes it easier to find what I need. Ex; sandwich making, cheese, etc are in one, condiments in another and fruit, veggies in the third. Milk, soda and water go in the door shelves. Ice trays in the freezer. That is how my fridge is currently packed in anticipation of hitting the road tomorrow morning for the Keys.

[McDave]

Whenever we return from a trip, we clean out the refrigerator. I always notice little drips and spills that need to be wiped up, or scrubbed, depending on how long they've been there. Nothing significant. Kind of makes me wonder if there are drips and spills that never get wiped up in our home refrigerator because it never gets emptied out.

When not in use, I always leave the refrigerator door cracked open, and something like a sponge wedged in the freezer door to keep the inside dry and mold free.


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[richinny]

put anything messy to clean into a sealed container.
try to keep the weight to a minimum on the refrigerator door. most of the plastic used in the fridge is easily broken.

[Len n Jeanne]

We've had two types of problems. On our first AS the fridge door would sometimes swing open while in transit, spewing contents on the floor. A better latch solved that problem. On this AS a spell on a really washboarded road resulted in a fridge door shelf falling off, plus some leakage. The fridge door stayed shut, but the contents got shaken up quite a bit.

We don't travel with whole eggs unless they're hard boiled. You might break them into a plastic container with a tight lid, though, and settle for scrambled.

[badkat]

Our frig stays pretty full. We do open the door slowly..typically it is the beer that starts to want to leap. After 3 yrs we have had no issues with eggs. Also on leveling we do what we call the refrigerator test. If the door keeps traveling to go wide open we feel we are not level enough..hehe!

[Rich W]

We got some curtain rods with tensioners from Wal-Mart. The various campground stores have them but at a much higher price. These can be adjusted by just rotating the ends and putting them between the fridge sides to prevent anything from falling out when you open the door, like 2 eggs onto the carpet, on returning from your very first trip. Ask me how I know. (two eggs really go a long way on the floor and carpet)

One other thing, the shelves have a lip on them, if they are installed right, they help keep things from falling. Ours had one with the lip facing up but the second one had the lip on the bottom so things could slide off. I reversed that one and now things (more or less) stay put.

You have to open any cabinet slowly after you arrive. We've lost fridge food and a glass among other things. The curtain rods help but you have to open everything slowly the first time.

[OregonVista]

We use empty egg cartons to fill space between items in the fridge. They are light, and cut in half will fill just about any space in the fridge. Never had a problem with stuff moving around. Now the microwave is a different story. On a particularly rough road the microwave door popped open and the rotating glass plate flew out and broke. We now take it out and store it between cushions when we travel.


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[richinny]

a pillow in the microwave should help. remove pillow before cooking.

[OregonVista]

Originally Posted by richinny

a pillow in the microwave should help. remove pillow before cooking.

…that means you have to clean the microwave before inserting pillow?

[Big Air]

I've sat breakable jars or bottles in large zip lock bags in case they break. I've put the paper towel roll and the package of napkins in the micro so the glass turntable is secure. Never had a problem with eggs in the carton, but now that you've brought it up, I may sit them in the Tupperware bin I have in the fridge to keep beer bottles and water bottles from rolling around.
Nancie