I know this is an old post, but one reason I am switching a lot of things to propane is because you can make biogas yourself. You will have to play around with changing the gas line orifice size and air mix, but check out some YouTube videos on biogas. Propane never goes bad and doesn't require additives for long term storage and so far my propane generator has not gummed up like my big diesel generator does.

Yup, thats right about buying some time. If you have an average sized rural propane tank with a capacity of 500 gallons and used 1.3 gallons per week it would last you 6 years. If you had a regular electric refrigerator and wanted to power it by using solar power you would need a minumum of 10 large solar panels charging a battery bank of 12 -L16 batteries minimum. Eventually your battery bank will quit on you so its not like solar power will last forever either. You can't hook DC solar panels directly to a standard AC refrigerator because the motor will fry. If you had a generator to power your refrigerator you would run out of fuel, so anything you do will be a short term alternate of 5 or 6 years max. If the power grid stays off longer than that there will be no refrigeration for anyone.
The prices on these propane refrigerators are jaw dropping high plus if you can't buy one in the local area the shipping would also be outrageous.

that sounds good , I have looked at the Amish and they use nice wood cooking ovens etc. the problem with propane you are only buying a little more time.. at some point you run out... I am of a mind that we will be down long term and try to plan that way. Gas for the old model Auto, at some point runs out.... the price seems very high too.

During the last decade there has been an increased demand for propane powered refrigerators due in part to more people moving to remote areas where there is no grid power. The best and most popular propane refrigerators used to be manufactured by the Servel Corporation. I have owned 2 of these, bought them used, paid $400 for the first one and $500 for the second, larger model. These units were built in 1947 and worked great but they used a lot of propane, about 4 gallons per week. Propane refrigerators work by utilizing a small pilot light to boil amonia in the circulatory system (instead of freon) and when the amonia turns to a gas it steals the heat away from the interior of the refrigerator and thats why the ice box stays cold. Servels were great units and always kept the interior the same cool temperature no matter what the outside summertime temps were. Then in the mid 1980s a new company started making fuel efficiant refrigerators to cope with rising propane costs. Sun King and Sun Frost refrigerators started selling in alternative energy stores. These were smaller refrigerators and they did use less propane but on a hot day they could not keep up with the heat and the food did not stay cold. My brother in law bought one of these brand new from the alternative energy store and the ice cream melted on a hot day. The Amish have started making propane refrigerators that use less fuel and are quite efficient, the EZ FREEZE makes the EZ21 which is the largest propane refrigerator in the world with a 21 cubic foot box. This unit weighs in at a hefty 375 pounds and drinks 2 gallons of propane per week. It costs $2155 plus shipping. The EZ Freeze model EZ10 weighs 250 lbs, costs $1400 and uses 1.3 gallons of propane per week. Other manufacturers such as Danby and Diamond produce similar refrigerators and Diamond makes one without a freezer, model #DD18R that uses 1.7 gallons of propane per week. Most propane appliance stores will have refrigerators on display if you want to look at them. If the grid goes down these refrigerators will keep working as long as the propane supply keeps flowing out of your storage tank. This may be the best alternate cooling method for storing insulin and having the largest size propane tank available will keep your stuff cool for years.