Before the invention of the refrigerator, icehouse were used to provide cool storage for most of the year. Placed near freshwater lakes or packed with snow and ice during the winter, they were once very common. Using natural means to cool foods is still done today. On mountainsides, runoff from melting snow higher up is a convenient way to cool drinks, and during the winter months simply placing milk outside is sufficient to greatly extend its useful life. How far we've come with many home now having huge, double door, high capacity fridges with ice makers, water dispensers and even TV's and coffee makers built in.