How would you cope if it you weren’t able to plan for the week ahead, paying more to live day-to-day and harming your health in the process? That’s the reality for someone without a fridge or freezer. Unable to preserve fresh food, people are forced to rely on non-perishable and processed foodstuffs or face paying more for fresh food on the day it’s needed.
A fridge allows for the safe storage of food and essential medicines, while a freezer provides greater opportunity for savings from bulk buying or batch cooking, vital for those on lower incomes.
And yet 260,000 people in the UK are living without a fridge, with 64% of those living in social housing, while 940,000 people are living with a freezer, 47% of them living in social housing.
“I have a brain disease that causes strokes and dementia with medication that has to be kept in a fridge. I keep taking my medication but some days I forget what I have taken, carrying them around in a binbag.” – Peter, who is living without a fridge so has to store his medication in a friend’s fridge.
