living without a fridge/freezer

[Tartar Horde]

I remember my Granny using her pantry to keep Hams and Dairy products fresh by evaporation. She stood the Milk in a pot dish and put water halfway up the side of the Milk bottle, she then draped a muslin cloth over the milk with the bottom portion of the cloth in the water. The water would soak up the cloth by capillary action and because there was a constant flow of air through the pantry it would evaporate drawing heat from the milk thus cooling it very effectively even in Summer. She also used to "wet down" the floor. You don't really need a fridge or freezer, we have just been conditioned to believe we need them to live in a modern world.