Can't fit fridge in rental room

faringdon

Hi,
My flat/room is so small i cant fit a fridge in. What are these small "beer fridges" like for storing milk and margarine and the odd microwave meal?

Margarine is the biggest need. A slice of toast with marg  on it is the cheapest snack so is wanted the most. I'm diabetic so biscuits/cakes/sweets are out of the question.

Its impossible to get good specs on them, the general knowledge seems to be that they can get the temperature down to 15 degrees centigrade below room ambient...or down to 5 to 8 degrees.

What are they like for milk? I hear milk needs 2 degs Celsius, but surely it will last a couple of days at 8degC?

What about eg a cornish pasty?....im sick of having to throw them away because they've gone off whilst i store them in my bottom draw.

A  little tub of Houmous doesnt last too long at room temperature either. How would a beer fridge do for it?

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Crystals-Fridge-Cooler-Warmer-Bedrooms/dp/B0CMQW4NRR/ref=vse_cards_0?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_w=3E4jn&content-id=amzn1.sym.82418b28-9c35-483a-8b34-1b320f67d923&pf_rd_p=82418b28-9c35-483a-8b34-1b320f67d923&pf_rd_r=AXC7PXDPVGDZVAJ2AY21&pd_rd_wg=9OLyu&pd_rd_r=b4c15e30-1e1f-488b-b528-ed6bcd971bba&th=1

Emmia

We have a Husky beer fridge which we used as our fridge when we moved into our current spot, whilst waiting for our fridge/ freezer to be delivered. 

It's Ok for food like milk, butter etc, but it won't last as long as a proper fridge - but if you have pasty's microwave meals etc. they should last a few days (3-5) reliably similarly milk will last 3-5 days.

Stuff will definitely last longer than leaving it in a cool drawer in a cupboard.

It's also possible to inadvertently freeze stuff if it is too far back in the fridge.

Slinky

Try and find a hotel minibar fridge, like the ones they have in hotel bedrooms. I had one in a bedsit many moons ago and it was fine for keeping the sorts of items you refer to. Milk, cooked meats, stuff like that It was right next to my bed, and I'm a light sleeper, and I never heard it running. There's a tiny click on and off.

mabbit

what about something like this

hhttps://amzn.eu/d/bEMbty3

unforeseen

Look for table top fridges. That's what my daughter had at uni.
It also had a small freezer compartment

FrugaiMacDugal

Agree with a table top, if looking, try to get one with door space, handy for milk carton, bottle.

itsthelittlethings

Do you not have a shared fridge in the communal space? Personally I wouldn’t buy a room fridge but that’s just me.

bobster2

Are you seriously saying you have the floor/table space for a fridge like the one you linked to (4L capacity 24cm x 18cm footprint) but you don't have space of a proper mini fridge (about 50L capacity 45cm x 45cm footprint)?

vacheron

Avoid any fridge which uses a peltier (thermo electric cooling)

They are cheap, and will keep things cool for longer than if they were sitting out on the counter (such as a stack of beers that were previously cooled in a proper fridge, but if you want them to actually cool anything down, they are next to useless. They are also inefficient, make lots of noise and you can't control the temperature.

Find some room and install a proper mini-fridge.

If you fancy proper nerdy, research, here is a good video from Technology Connections. He really knows his stuff!  

QrizB

vacheron said:

Avoid any fridge which uses a peltier (thermo electric cooling)

Agreed with this, particularly if you're paying the electricity bill (as well as being pretty poor fridges they're power hungry). Peltier cooling is the least effective, but cheapest and lightest, of the three common refrigeration technologies.

Slinky said:

Try and find a hotel minibar fridge, like the ones they have in hotel bedrooms. ... I'm a light sleeper, and I never heard it running. There's a tiny click on and off.

Hotel mini bar fridges use the second type of refrigeration technology, ammonia evaporation (also called the Einstein Szilard cycle). These have no moving parts and are silent, so good for hotel rooms and other sleeping spaces. Three-way caravan fridges use the same tech.

They tend to be the most expensive option to buy, and second hand ones are scarce.

unforeseen said:

Look for table top fridges. That's what my daughter had at uni.
It also had a small freezer compartment

Most common are conventional fridges (vapour compression). These use a compressor to move refrigerant around the cooling system, and have the characteristic "hum" you associate with an operating fridge. This noise might bother you, or it might not.

Edit to add:

OP has a degree in engineering, (s)he should know all this already!

Rodders53

Butter will keep at ambient temperatures for ages.
Ours is in a covered container on the kitchen side as I speak.
Far nicer tasting than those processed food spreads, if a little more expensive.

Many hotel style fridges can't cope if the ambient is above the low twenties either, just like Peltier coolers.

Milk, in glass bottles, used to be kept in a bowl / bucket of water in "the larder" to keep cool via evaporation in my youth.  Mind we all had daily deliveries back then and no home refrigeration at all.