# Storing Vegetables with out a root cellar



## crabapple (Jan 1, 2012)

10 Tips on Storing Vegetables w/out a Root Cellar Long Term

Leave the stem on. It actually doesn't matter what kind of food you're storing, any food, including apples and berries, will store longer with the stem intact. It keeps disease from getting into the center of the food and breaking it down faster.

Ventilation. You have to have good ventilation and air flow around your food. This will help fungus from growing and greatly increase the shelf life. Not only do you need ventilation in the room or where you're storing your food, your containers shouldn't be air tight either.

5 storage containers for root cellar and cold storage
mesh bags (I save these if/when we run out of our own onions and purchase them from the store
burlap bags that are left open
cardboard boxes with a few holes in the sides
baskets or trays with large holes
laundry baskets work well with both handles and openings

Curing. This is the process of leaving the crop out in a higher temperature than you would store them, right at harvesting time. During curing, the skin of the food is hardened and excess moisture is drawn out, which helps extend the storage life.

Crops that need to be cured are potatoes, sweet potatoes, onions and garlic. Depending upon where you live (moisture and humidity level in the air) the curing process generally takes 2 to 4 weeks.

How to cure crops for root cellar storage
Spread crop out so there's even air flow. Don't cure in direct sunlight, especially onions and garlic, as you can sunburn the crop. We've used old screens or even wire, stretched out over a saw horse to cure our onions and garlic.

Don't wash crops before curing or storing, if there's a lot of dirt, brush it off, but as the food cures, the dirt will dry and is easier to remove. Washing introduces even more moisture to the food and pushes it through the skin down into the crop&#8230; not what you want for curing or long term storage.

For winter squash, you can wipe down the outside of the squash with vinegar before storing.

Curing temperatures- regular potatoes should be cured at 55 to 60 degrees Farenheit while everything else is best cured between 70 to 80 degrees Farenheit, with sweet potatoes (those heat loving darlings) are best cured at 85 degrees Farenheit.

Note: Even if you don't have perfect temperatures for curing, don't worry about it, just do your best. We rarely have a full two weeks of temps above 75 degrees and I still cure my garlic. Sometimes you just have to cure it for a few extra weeks.

Best storage conditions for root cellar crops
Dark. Any food will last longer if stored out of direct sunlight, even our home canned goodies. This is especially true for potatoes.

Warmer storage crops. These are the crops those of us without a real root cellar or garage can successfully store.While they'll store longer at the cooler end of the temp gauge, they still do quite well even if your conditions are towards the warmer end.Learn these 10 tips to store vegetables without a root cellar long term. Tells how to cure, temps, and storing time for 7 vegetables using root cellar techniques when you don't have a garage or root cellar. Great way to save money and build up food storage!

http://melissaknorris.com/10tipsfor...st&utm_campaign=Replay+Sun+Oven+++Root+Cellar


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## Tank_Girl (Dec 26, 2011)

At the end of the season I always have green tomatoes on my vines even though the plant is finished.

I pull up the vine with the fruit still attached, roots and all and hang it upside down 
in the shed and the tomatoes ripen even though the plant no longer is in the ground.

I've stored ripe tomatoes this way as well - still attached to the vine that's hung up in the shed.
I find the cherry tomatoes store longer than the larger varieties.


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## bacpacker (Jul 15, 2011)

Couple other storage bins that I like, Bread Racks and Milk crates. They provide good air flow and are plenty strong enough to move around loaded up.
When we have tomatos late in the year, we picked them, wrap each in a sheet of newspaper and place them in a box. Check them every week or so from ripe ones. Most years we've done this we'll have ripe maters around Christmas.


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