10/27/2019 / By Darnel Fernandez
Proper storage of home-grown produce is an important prepping skill any gardener should have if they want to enjoy the fruits of their labor. Freezing is a great way to enjoy fresh produce all year round. But even if your freezer breaks after long use, you can retain its usefulness in preserving food by converting it into a mini root cellar. (h/t HomesteadSurvivalSite.com)
Before the invention of refrigerators and freezers for food storage, people had root cellars. The pioneers used to store their food in them for years. These cellars are underground storage areas used for storing things like fresh vegetables, garlic, grains, and potatoes. They didn’t even need temperature-regulating equipment back then because the dirt surrounding the cellar can keep the temperature levels balanced throughout the year. (Related: Storing food without a refrigerator: 25 different kinds of root cellars.)
People assume getting a root cellar would be an extremely arduous task and that it isn’t worth the time, effort, and money to build and maintain. This is a reasonable concern when building a large root cellar. Fortunately, there are cheaper alternatives. All you need is some ingenuity and creativity, you don’t need to mimic the pioneers to have a useful DIY storage system.
There are four factors you need to understand about a practical root cellar: Darkness, humidity, temperature, and ventilation.
An adequately built root cellar should be easy to keep dark and should have proper insulation and moisture management. It should also have ventilation that can draw in cold air while expelling warm air out of the storage area.
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Here’s how to create your DIY root cellar from a broken freezer:
You can watch the video below for a visual tutorial on how to make this DIY cellar.
Now that you have your root cellar, you need to know how to use it. Having the best root cellar in the world won’t save your food from rotting if you don’t know how to store them properly. Here are a few tips you can follow to prevent this from happening:
Even if you already have a working refrigerator or freezer, a root cellar is a useful addition to your home since it allows you to store food without needing electricity.
DIY projects can help improve your home in ways you couldn’t imagine. Visit Homesteading.news to learn more.
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Tagged Under: DIY, Food storage, food supply, freezer, Fresh, fruits, Homestead, homesteading, how-to, organics, preparedness, prepper, prepping, refrigerator, root cellar, self sufficiency, SHTF, storage methods, survival, survival gear, survivalist, sustainable living, vegetables
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