While doing research for trivia I needed to find out if it cost less in electricity if your refrigerator is full. There are two main ways to save money with your refrigerator. The first is to open the door as little as possible. Every time you open the door to take a look you are spilling nickels on the floor. This makes me wonder why they don't have a clear door like at the supermarket. Then you could look in before you open it up. Now I get everything out of the refrigerator all at once and then put it all back at once so that I am reducing the amount of time the door is open.
Turns out it is also cheaper to maintain the temperature in the refrigerator if there is less empty space. The article refereed to the food items acting as thermal ballast. Once the item is brought down to the temperature of the refrigerator then it helps maintain that temperature. They stated that each time you add an item there would be a cost to cool it but then it will help prevent future fluctuation.
I live alone so I am the only one using an entire family sized refrigerator. Look at all this empty space. I probably spent a fifty cent piece to take this photo.
I could just pack it up with a months worth of food but I like to go shopping every couple of days so my food is fresher. To prevent the expense of food waste I like to buy only what I think I can eat in a few days and then eat all of it. The more you try to buy ahead the more likely things will go bad or you just don't feel like eating it before it does. I could also freeze more things. The covid-19 has made me modify this practice a little bit. I now have a supply of canned and dry food in my pantry but the level of ready food in my refrigerator has remained about constant.
I decided the solution is to fill the empty space up with containers of water. I don't want to go out and buy money saving water containers because that would defeat the purpose of saving money. There were a few bags I had laying around the house that could be filled with water and used for making ice in the freezer.
That bag of water will soon transform into a money saving block of ice. I will continue to fill up the freezer with such bags but leave enough room for my frozen food. In the refrigerator I am going to collect some jugs and fill those up with water too. Probably not a bad idea to have some extra water handy.
For the first time in years I cannot wait to open up my utility bill next month and see how much of a difference this will make.