What people keep in their refrigerators in 20 countries around the world

[Hamartia Antidote]

https://www.insider.com/refrigerators-food-around-the-world-2018-11

• Admiral Home Insurance asked 20 people from 20 countries to photograph their fridges and reveal more about what's inside.
• Some fridges are organized, while others describe theirs as "controlled chaos."
• People's favorite treats include fruit, jalapeno peppers, and almond butter.

The kitchen is often called "the heart of the home" because it's where people gather to cook and eat meals together. Refrigerators are a central part of kitchens around the world, and what people keep inside them can tell you a lot about their culture and household.

Admiral Home Insurance asked 20 people from around the world to open their fridge, take a photo, and describe what's inside.

Here's what people from 20 different countries like to eat, and how they keep it cold.

Argentina

Mendoza, Argentina.
Courtesy of Admiral Home Insurance
"There are four of us in our household: Esther (62), Rubén (61), Agustina (26) and me (33)." — Miguel from Mendoza, Argentina

"We try not to be wasteful with food. If any food remains, we reheat it the next day and any leftovers go to the dog."

Miguel's fridge.
Courtesy of Admiral Home Insurance
"My mum and dad take turns doing a big shopping trip once a month for non-perishable food. Then mum does a weekly trip for meats, vegetables, fruits, and bread. We take a car two kilometers [1.24 miles] to the supermarket, and from grocery stores we walk with items in bags or a trolley. As a special treat we have dulce de leche (caramel jam) and sometimes dulce de batata (sweet potato jam)."

Bangladesh

Bagerhat, Bangladesh.
Courtesy of Admiral Home Insurance
"Our fridge can be set to different temperatures. We have it set between 1°C and 4°C. All our cooked foods are kept in the coldest part of the fridge, along with raw meats and fish. Milk, cheese, yogurts and butter are all placed in a slightly less cool part of the fridge. There are three market places near our house. Most of the time we visit the Mistripara Market for our food shopping." — Bashanti from Bagerhat, Bangladesh

"My husband goes food shopping and pays for it. He goes two or three times a week."

Bashanti's fridge.
Courtesy of Admiral Home Insurance
"Most of the time we use rickshaw or an easy bike, which is an electric rickshaw, for our shopping."

Bulgaria

Haskovo, Bulgaria.
Courtesy of Admiral Home Insurance
"For me the most delicious food in our fridge is Skyr, which is a fat-free, thick yogurt. It's a great base for various desserts and goes well with cereal in the morning. My mother and I share the cost of the shopping. Probably around 5% of our food is wasted." — Christina from Haskovo, Bulgaria.

"Our fridge isn't very organized and we tend to go by the motto 'put it wherever you find space.' This often means stacking items on top of each other."

Christina's fridge.
Courtesy of Admiral Home Insurance
"We usually walk the 1.5 km (0.93 miles) back home carrying shopping bags. If we need to buy something very heavy, such as canned foods or dog food, we get a taxi back. We don't grow food except herbs on the balcony."

Colombia

Bogota, Colombia.
Courtesy of Admiral Home Insurance
"Sometimes my parents visit for a few weeks. My family consists of four of us, but usually I live alone. I shop weekly on a Saturday or Sunday. I go to a few supermarkets and I visit a fruit and veggie market (surtifruver) separately too." — Janice from Bogota, Colombia

"For me, green apples are a must, as are plain yogurt and chicken breast."

Janice's fridge.
Courtesy of Admiral Home Insurance
"I also always keep a piece of dark chocolate in the fridge, just for those special moments."

Ecuador

Guayaquil, Ecuador.
Courtesy of Admiral Home Insurance
"I live with my mom and my two sisters, they are travelling at the moment. My mom is 55 and my sisters are 31 and 29. I am 25. My mom and I get the shop every two weeks. We go by car, to help us transport the shopping, but the Supermaxi is only 500 meters from our home." — María from Guayaquil, Ecuador

"We always have tomatoes, onions, shrimp and soy meat in the fridge. A treat for us is low sugar chocolate."

María's fridge.
Courtesy of Admiral Home Insurance
"I think we waste quite a lot of food, maybe 30%."

England

Tunbridge Wells, England.
Courtesy of Admiral Home Insurance
"Once opened, everything is decanted into Tupperware so no smells linger in the fridge. My husband and I enjoy blackberry crumble made from the berries I gather from the local hedgerows. I shop at Marks and Spencer's, a high-end chain store, once a week." — Nicola from Tunbridge Wells, England

"I've decided to stop growing vegetables because of the very warm summers we are experiencing in England."

Nicola's fridge.
Courtesy of Admiral Home Insurance
"I used to have a vegetable garden until recently but it got too hot to grow vegetables and hose pipe bans made it difficult to provide the garden with enough water. I have a composting bin for waste and I give apple cores to our dog Bracken."

Finland

Helsinki, Finland.
Courtesy of Admiral Home Insurance
"I live with my boyfriend. He is 57 and I am 37. Our income is very irregular as we are both freelancers. We shop for food every one or two days. We replant fresh herbs so to keep them longer. And we have a rule that we're not allowed to waste any food." — Laurene from Helsinki, Finland.

"We love condiments and pickled items like mustard, soy, chili sauce, fish sauce, ketchup, Worcestershire sauce, Tabasco, lemon juice, capers, ginger, cucumbers, and eggs."

Laurene's fridge.
Courtesy of Admiral Home Insurance
"We keep drinks the right way up in the vegetable compartment and leftovers are put together, but not that organized. We mostly walk to the shop and occasionally we catch a tram to a special shop."

Ireland

Wexford, Ireland.
Courtesy of Admiral Home Insurance
"Our kids are both intolerant to dairy so we often have some homemade sweet treats in the fridge. At the moment we have dairy-free millionaires' shortbread. My daughter's favourite meal is eggs and avocado so we always have eggs in." — Duncan from Wexford, Ireland

"To try and reduce wastage each time we do a new shop, we move any old veg into one drawer and have the new veg in the other."

Duncan's fridge.
Courtesy of Admiral Home Insurance
"We have a veg patch where we grow some of our own food. This year we had a lot of courgettes, runner beans, strawberries and tomatoes. A good portion of our wasted food comes from the kids not finishing meals. This ends up in the dog, so it isn't really wasted."

Kenya

Nairobi, Kenya.
Courtesy of Admiral Home Insurance
"My wife and I are 35 and 36. My wife travels five kilometers [3.1 miles] to buy the food on a weekly basis. We do grow some of our own food, on a small scale." — Nicholas from Nairobi, Kenya

"To get our food we use public service vehicles (locally known as matatus) that pick and drop passengers from one point to the next."

Nicholas' fridge.
Courtesy of Admiral Home Insurance
"In the fridge we have seasonal fruit and vegetables like oranges, mangoes, pineapples, grapes, cabbages, dhania, french beans, carrots, kales, sukuma, green beans and green maize. We also have cow pieces, soda, fruit juice, yogurt and milk."

Mexico

Guadalajara, Mexico.
Courtesy of Admiral Home Insurance
"I'm single and live by myself. I don't grow my own food, but I really wish I could." — Vanessa from Guadalajara, Mexico

"I always have non-dairy milk, bread, veggies, and some kind of spicy sauce or salsa. I don’t usually buy a lot of treats for myself, I usually just have almond butter."

Vanessa's fridge.
Courtesy of Admiral Home Insurance

"I usually shop for food once or twice per week. I buy veggies from stands on the street or little corner shops and the rest comes from the supermarket. The closest supermarket is about a ten minute car ride from my apartment. I try to eat all of the food and not waste it, but sometimes veggies go bad."

 

[Hamartia Antidote]

Pakistan

Lahore, Pakistan.
Courtesy of Admiral Home Insurance
"There are five of us in the family, me and my wife who are 30 and 26, and three children aged seven, five, and two. We do a shop twice a month. I pay for and buy the food shopping at either Walmart or Hyperstar, both of which are around 10 kilometers [6.2 miles] from our house. We probably waste around 5% of our food." — Asif from Lahore, Pakistan

"For us a treat would be a banana or an apple, or sometimes cake."

Asif's fridge.
Courtesy of Admiral Home Insurance
"We transport our food by bicycle and just get an Uber if it is too heavy to cycle with."

Palestinian Territories

Khan Yunis, Palestinian Territories.
Courtesy of Admiral Home Insurance
"My wife and I are both 24 and we like to eat lots of vegetables, like tomatoes, cucumber, and peppers. My favorite dessert is cheesecake." — Ghada from Khan Yunis, Palestinian Territories

"I love sweetcorn and I use it in my salads. I also love foods like Tiland chicken, which I use on pizza and in Turkish pie."

Ghada's fridge.
Courtesy of Admiral Home Insurance
"I buy the food shopping for us once a week from the market which is five kilometers [3.1 miles] away, usually on Fridays. We waste about 20% of our food, which I don't think is a lot."

Poland

Silesia, Poland.
Courtesy of Admiral Home Insurance
"I live with my partner and six-month-old baby. Our essentials are milk, eggs, cheese and ham, with fresh juice as a special treat." — Mateusz from Silesia, Poland

"Honestly, it’s more of a controlled chaos than any kind of a system."

Mateusz's fridge.
Courtesy of Admiral Home Insurance
"Twice a week I shop at the nearest supermarket, unless there's something to do near a shopping mall. Not much food is wasted, although I do tend to overbuy buttermilk and some vegetables."

Romania

Cluj-Napoca, Romania.
Courtesy of Admiral Home Insurance
"We are a family of three. I am 33, my wife is 34, and our daughter is 4 months old." — Daniel from Cluj-Napoca, Romania

"Special treats in our fridge are peanut butter, chocolate, and honey."

Daniel's fridge.
Courtesy of Admiral Home Insurance
"My parents grow food that we eat, but mostly we shop at the supermarket.

We are very careful not to waste food, so we usually don't buy more than we need for a few days. Very little of our food is wasted; maybe around 5%. Mostly we shop from a place that's under 1km away, and sometimes to a couple other supermarkets that are under four kilometers [2.49 miles] from us."

Russia

Saint Petersburg, Russia.
Courtesy of Admiral Home Insurance
"There are three people in my family. I am 23, my mother is 53, and my father is 57. We all contribute to the food shopping but my father is the one who goes to get it. We don't travel far to buy our food as there are plenty of supermarkets close to our apartment. My father goes shopping every few days." — Anastasija from Saint Petersburg, Russia

"A special treat would be yogurts or sausages."

Anastasija's fridge.
Courtesy of Admiral Home Insurance
"Vegetables go in the lowest boxes, then go cheese and sausages. The milk and drinks are located in the door. On the other shelves you'll find an assortment of different things."

Ukraine

Kharkiv, Ukraine.
Courtesy of Admiral Home Insurance
"There are two people in my family and we are 27 and 33. My husband pays for the food shopping but we go to get it together." — Denys from Kharkiv, Ukraine

"Food essentials for us are milk, chicken, fruit, vegetables, eggs, honey, coconut oil, butter, and cottage cheese."

Denys' fridge.
Courtesy of Admiral Home Insurance
"We try to keep waste to a minimum and probably waste around 5-10% of our food. The supermarket is around 15 minutes' walk from home."

Uruguay

Montevideo, Uruguay.
Courtesy of Admiral Home Insurance
"My girlfriend is 23 and I am 24. We moved to Uruguay from Venezuela four months ago." — Pedro from Montevideo, Uruguay

"Treats are generally fruit such as strawberries. Other times it can be apple dessert or dulce de leche (caramel)."

Pedro's fridge.
Courtesy of Admiral Home Insurance
"Above the fridge we place our cartons of eggs and bananas (and avocados when we have some). The bottom shelf is for leftover vegetables. In the door we place the jam, leftover salsa, tomato sauce and butter. We always keep chicken and ground beef for lunch.

We shop on Fridays and Wednesdays and I fetch the shopping as I have a more flexible work schedule. I buy from the nearest farmers' market and carry the food in an environmentally friendly bag."

United States

Somerville, United States.
Courtesy of Admiral Home Insurance
"There are three in our family: myself, my partner Ben, and our dog Pluto — who was too squirmy to pose for our family photograph. We shop for food together and we like to cook together and plan our meals for the week based on whatever looks best on the shelves." — Meghan from Somerville, United States

"We have a few canvas bags that we put shopping in. Our town actually charges for paper and plastic bags, so we fell into the habit."

Meghan's fridge.
Courtesy of Admiral Home Insurance
"We shop at Wegmans, a 30 minute trek in the car, and Trader Joe's which is down the street from our house. We spend $70ish per week if I'm also including food ordered in restaurants. We always have a good amount of seasonal produce on hand (our diets are primarily vegetarian)."

Venezuela

Merida, Venezuela.
Courtesy of Admiral Home Insurance
"I am 81 years old and my daughters buy my food and go shopping for me every eight days. They only go one kilometer [0.62 miles] away to buy food from the local street markets and the charcuterie." — Rene from Merida, Venezuela

"I only waste a tiny bit of food in preparation, but leftovers are always eaten."

Rene's fridge.
Courtesy of Admiral Home Insurance
"In the fridge I always have meat, eggs, chicken, vegetables, cheese and juices. For me special treats are jelly and marmalade. In the bottom drawer are vegetables. Cheese and eggs sit in a special tray."

Wales

Monmouth, Wales.
Courtesy of Admiral Home Insurance
"There are five of us in my family, myself (44), my wife (41), my stepson (15) and my two children (seven and five). My wife buys the shopping from Tesco, Lidl, or Waitrose every few days and we use Bags for Life to help the environment. We grow our own tomatoes." — Richard from Monmouth, Wales

"Treats for me are spicy sauces and jalapenos."

Richard's fridge.
Courtesy of Admiral Home Insurance
"Essential foods are butter, cheese, lettuce, ham, peppers and onions. Sauces are stored at the top, wine/dairy on second shelf, meats and bulky items on third and fourth and vegetables in bottom two drawers."

 

[VCheng]

"We shop at Wegmans, a 30 minute trek in the car, and Trader Joe's which is down the street from our house.

Wegman's and Trader Joe's are good chains to shop for food.

 

[Hamartia Antidote]

Wegman's and Trader Joe's are good chains to shop for food.

Don’t forget wholesale clubs!

 

[VCheng]

Don’t forget wholesale clubs!

I switched back to BJ's from Costco recently, great for bulk buys.

 

[Hamartia Antidote]

I switched back to BJ's from Costco recently, great for bulk buys.

Yep, we had both and dumped Costco. BJ’s has better coupons and every week when I shop I get $20 taken off due to all the cashback I get for using their credit card.

 

[VCheng]

Yep, we had both and dumped Costco. BJ’s has better coupons and every week when I shop I get $20 taken off due to all the cashback I get for using their credit card.

I just could not get past the lack of signs in the local Costco telling me what was in each aisle. Apart from a few core items, it was a different layout each week, leading to lots of wasted time.

 

[Sully3]

wait there is walmart in lahore ?

usually everyone just uses either street vendors, hyperstar, al fatah or metro

 

[Jaanbaz]

The poor Bangladeshi and Pakistani fridges look empty as hell.

 

[INDIAISM]

I can't be sure about anything else but one thing for sure that you are going to see in Indian Refrigerators is AMUL Butter..

 

[Hamartia Antidote]

I just could not get past the lack of signs in the local Costco telling me what was in each aisle. Apart from a few core items, it was a different layout each week, leading to lots of wasted time.

I don't mind that too much. I was just sick of the completely useless coupons. At least at BJ's they have coupons for non-obscure stuff.

Speaking of refrigerators most of the stuff I buy needs to be refrigerated.
So I toss one of these big 5 day coolers for the cold items and a few smaller ones for the frozen stuff in the back. Works out nicely with those blue cold bricks. Considering they don't bag it it's just easier throwing it all in straight from the carriage instead of having them rolling around.

 

[VCheng]

I don't mind that too much. I was just sick of the completely useless coupons. At least at BJ's they have coupons for non-obscure stuff.

Speaking of refrigerators most of the stuff I buy needs to be refrigerated.
So I toss one of these big 5 day coolers for the cold items and a few smaller ones for the frozen stuff in the back. Works out nicely with those blue cold bricks. Considering they don't bag it it's just easier throwing it all in straight from the carriage instead of having them rolling around.
View attachment 558922

I like this idea. Maybe I should get one of these that would fit my SUV, perhaps with wheels to make it easier to lug around for other uses too.

 

[terry5]

wait there is walmart in lahore ?

usually everyone just uses either street vendors, hyperstar, al fatah or metro

And banana is a treat ? Whaat .....

 

[Hamartia Antidote]

I like this idea. Maybe I should get one of these that would fit my SUV, perhaps with wheels to make it easier to lug around for other uses too.

I wanted to get a wheeled one but I was reading reviews that say they don’t keep things cold as long as the non-wheeled ones. Yeesh!! Always something!!

Anyways with the non-wheeled ones the space inside is consistent.

 

[VCheng]

I wanted to get a wheeled one but I was reading reviews that say they don’t keep things cold as long as the non-wheeled ones. Yeesh!! Always something!!

Anyways with the non-wheeled ones the space inside is consistent.

Good point. May be handtruck/cooler combo?