Editing Refrigerator (section)

=== Effect on diet and lifestyle ===
The refrigerator allows households to keep food fresh for longer than before. The most notable improvement is for meat and other highly perishable wares, which previously needed to be preserved or otherwise processed for long-term storage and transport.<ref name="Craig">{{Cite journal |last=Craig |first=L. A. |date=2004-06-01 |title=The Effect of Mechanical Refrigeration on Nutrition in the United States |url=http://ssh.dukejournals.org/cgi/doi/10.1215/01455532-28-2-325 |journal=Social Science History |language=en |volume=28 |issue=2 |pages=325–336 |doi=10.1215/01455532-28-2-325 |doi-broken-date=1 November 2024 |issn=0145-5532|url-access=subscription }}</ref> This change in the supply chains of food products led to a marked increase in the quality of food in areas where refrigeration was being used. Additionally, the increased freshness and shelf life of food caused by the advent of refrigeration in addition to growing global communication methods has resulted in an increase in cultural exchange through food products from different regions of the world. There have also been claims that this increase in the quality of food is responsible for an increase in the height of United States citizens around the early 1900s.<ref name="Craig" />

Refrigeration has also contributed to a decrease in the quality of food in some regions. By allowing, in part, for the phenomenon of [[globalization]] in the food sector, refrigeration has made the creation and transportation of [[ultra-processed foods]] and [[convenience foods]] inexpensive, leading to their prevalence, especially in lower-income regions. These regions of lessened access to higher quality foods are referred to as [[food desert]]s.

Freezers allow people to buy food in bulk and eat it at leisure, and [[Economies of scale|bulk purchases may save money]]. [[Ice cream]], a popular commodity of the 20th century, could previously only be obtained by traveling to where the product was made and eating it on the spot. Now it is a common food item. Ice on demand not only adds to the enjoyment of cold drinks, but is useful for first-aid, and for cold packs that can be kept frozen for picnics or in case of emergency.