living without a fridge/freezer

[Sthsailor]

(21 August 2013, 11:17)Tartar Horde Wrote: 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.

I remember using that system when younger.
We lived on our yacht (sailboat) for years without refrigeration.
We put food in a Sealine 15 litre dry bag.
This was put inside a hemp/Hessian sack.
Water (salt) was tipped over it to saturate sack.
Evaporation then chilled down contents extremely efficiently.
One could place container of water below with a wick leading up to sack for continually self wetting if passive system required.