I have no idea how I would build craft this but the idea speaks out a bit since I use ice a lot to keep my reactors happy and cold. But there should be a block that takes in water buckets and gives out ice for whatever your use is but uses energy.
Another idea was make food spoil after a while so you can't just store it in a chest or a long time, you could use the freezer block to keep food from spoiling, maybe make it 2 blocks high with a freezer block on top and refrigerator block on the bottom. they can work independently or be stacked so you can have a fridge alone, or a freezer alone, or combine them. Freezer will give it more time before it spoils but would more consuming to heat back up, and the fridge would have half the time to keep the food from spoiling in it.
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but still there are many secret recepies like macerating plantball gives you dirt (good for forestry!)