Produce Refrigerator?

drew gandy

Junior
Jul 17, 2011
419
0
16
Chicago
I'm curious (among the valiant souls here); does anybody have a separate fridge just for produce? It's occurring to me that many fruits, vegetables and herbs like 50-55 deg F for storage which is warmer than most fridges but quite a bit cooler than my countertop.
 
Re: Produce Refrigerator?

Short answer, Produce No, Beer Yes! Long answer, it is not uncommon in commercial kitchens. A local country club has 5 walk-ins. Two freezers, one for meats and seafood, and one for every thing else frozen. Two coolers, one for produce and a colder one for dairy and items being held for reuse. The 5th cooler is set at 30 degrees for holding meats and seafood, and for slow thawing frozen items.
 
Re: Produce Refrigerator?

I'm curious (among the valiant souls here); does anybody have a separate fridge just for produce? It's occurring to me that many fruits, vegetables and herbs like 50-55 deg F for storage which is warmer than most fridges but quite a bit cooler than my countertop.
Why yes I do! Just the other day I stopped by my local Lowes and bought the Frigidaire "Beverage Cooler" to stack all the beer, soda, and water that we have been keeping in the regular fridge. My gal has been frustrated for a while about the tendency for fruits and veggies stored in the fridge to freeze so that we can keep the beer, soda, and water cold enough. So, we moved all the drinks to the new cooler and are now attempting to raise the temperature in the fridge to a point where that stuff doesn't freeze, but definitely not above 50 degrees F. I think our target temperature is more in the neighborhood of 40-45 degrees F.

In all, it has been great! All the sodas and beers are ice cold! I highly recommend this practice to anyone who is having this kind of trouble.

Also, I know some new fridges come with "easy access" compartments or drawers on the front that mean you do not have to open the fridge to get something out. These compartments can have a separately prescribed temperature so you can set it low for drinks or set it high for produce. Regardless, it is separated from the rest of the fridge. This seems like a pretty handy feature on these new ice-boxes.
 
Re: Produce Refrigerator?

A friend of mine lived in a house for a few years that had all the gadgets and gizmos. Such as a special case for white wine, and the one you mention, a produce drawer. (This unis was just one drawer, but separate from the fridge.) She said that most of the gadgets were just space and energy wasters, but that the produce drawer was the exception. She loved it.
 
Re: Produce Refrigerator?

Short answer, Produce No, Beer Yes! Long answer, it is not uncommon in commercial kitchens. A local country club has 5 walk-ins. Two freezers, one for meats and seafood, and one for every thing else frozen. Two coolers, one for produce and a colder one for dairy and items being held for reuse. The 5th cooler is set at 30 degrees for holding meats and seafood, and for slow thawing frozen items.

The last restaurant I cooked in (so long ago I think we used whale oil for heat), we had a similar setup: 2 deep freeze (-10°F) walk ins, a "thaw box" walk in (34°F) that served as a vestibule for the deep freezes, and 2 refrigerator walk ins, one for chefs/cooks and the other for veggies and bakery. I came to appreciate the layout not long before I decided that working for mindless fucktwits in food service was not for me. I now work for a much higher class of mindless fucktwits (jk, jk) and am compensated much better for it.