What size fridge?

[OverlandTribe]

Shopping for my first fridge and am wondering what size.
Looking to support a family of 5 for up to a week.
Thanks in advance for the advice.

 

[1Louder]

I would say around a 60 qt BUT it depends on what you want to put in it. If you only put in a small amount of beverages and add more as you empty you could probably do a 50 but I personally think that would be too small.

 

[Scott]

I run a 50 qt fir a family of 4 and for a long weekend of will hold just about everything but its right. I have the room so my next fridge will likely be a dometic 95 qt. My last trip a few weeks ago was for 10 days. We had an ice chest and the fridge, ice chest fir drinks, fridge for food. Worked fine.

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk

 

[1Louder]

I run a 50 qt fir a family of 4 and for a long weekend of will hold just about everything but its right. I have the room so my next fridge will likely be a dometic 95 qt. My last trip a few weeks ago was for 10 days. We had an ice chest and the fridge, ice chest fir drinks, fridge for food. Worked fine.

I used to run a similar setup with my 50 qt Indel and a Canyon Cooler. It works well but takes up a lot of room. But that is a good trade-off for short trips and longer ones and IF you fridge dies at least you do have a cooler with you.

 

[Desert Runner]

While a 50 qt. seems to be adequate, i keep looking at 65 qt. size fridges, just to have the option for a week plus in the back-country. Make it a 'dual-zone' and i think your covered for 2-4 people for that amount of time. The outer dimension footprint is not that much greater. I like ice coffee in all but the depths of winter. By getting a slightly larger size, you also have more space for beverages, and are not continuously topping off soda/beer, or other liquid tasty drinks.

 

[huudlum_jk]

Probably quite a bit smaller than you think you need. Obviously ice takes up space in the chest, but I was ignorant as to just how much space. We grabbed the duel zone Dometic 75qt based on the size of our goto ice cheat and it is insane how much food and drinks we can pile in that thing.

 

[systemdelete]

I run a 50qt arb as a freezer and carry milk jugs of water so I can rotate the frozen one into the cooler each morning putting the thawed one from the day/night before back in to refreeze. Meats, sauces, ice cream, and soups are typically frozen on the way out, pulled out a few meals ahead of what we’re eating. My cooler doesn’t stay “ice cold beer” cold but it stays cool enough that milk and such don’t spoil and the milk jugs keep the stuff in the cooler from going soggy.

 

[1Louder]

National Luna is coming out with some new fridges that look pretty attractive.

FRIDGES

SHOP NOW

www.equipt1.com

The dual 60 looks attractive to me. They are known for being very energy efficient. For now I am happy with my Dometic but if I wanted a slightly smaller dual zone this would be it. 60L Legacy Fridge/Freezer

 

[grubworm]

we got the dometic 65 and its pretty good for 3 people going a week or more. of course we have a yeti for drinks, drinks take a whole chest, so we just go with ice in that chest and put meat, cheese, etc in the dometic. 65 is pretty roomy...we can get a lot of meat and veggies in there and the freezer section is good for most things, not quite good enough for ice cream when its 100 degrees out

 

[Gregfosterid]

we got the dometic 65 and its pretty good for 3 people going a week or more. of course we have a yeti for drinks, drinks take a whole chest, so we just go with ice in that chest and put meat, cheese, etc in the dometic. 65 is pretty roomy...we can get a lot of meat and veggies in there and the freezer section is good for most things, not quite good enough for ice cream when its 100 degrees out

View attachment 116337

Yes, I agree, only we have about the same for 75 for three people.

 

[Funmobile]

If you plan meals and shop wisely, you will be surprised by what what you can get by with. I run a 42 qt and it comfortably works for two people, for 5 days. It really just depends or how many perishable items you want to take on your trip. Weather also comes into play, with winter trips being much easier to keep items cool. On summer trips, I supplement the fridge, with the use a soft cooler or cool bag with a frozen Nalgene bottle, to keep things "cool". It works great for items that don't necessarily need to be refrigerated. Generally the items in that bag are used first and the nalgene becomes additional drinking or cooking water and the cooler bag is rolled up and stored away.

I was torn between the 54 quart and the 42 quart, and opted for the 42 as it was a better fit for the small confines of my vehicle.

 

[Cpol]

Arb element, no complaints