Posted by Fiona on October 09, 2007 at 16:43:49 from 78.146.211.228 user Fiona.
In Reply to: keeping food cool - back to basics posted by Jock on October 09, 2007 at 15:52:58:
When I was small in the 50s, and fridges were what my mother dreamed about, I remember she had something that did the job - well, sort of! It was a metal box with a lid. Really it was a box within a box, and in the gap between the two boxes, small stone slabs were placed and water poured in until the stones were just covered. I assume that this was the next step on the 'standing a bottle of milk in a dish of water' route. I've no idea what this contraption was called but the stones made it impossible to move and it stood in the larder - in our house a walk-in cupboard under the stairs. I seem to remember putting things in water features in various places in the books - possibly PM?