How to Make a Deep-Freeze Root Cellar
No way to store some of your extra vegetables for winter? Then turn an old refrigerator or deep freeze into a root cellar.
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Things You'll Need
- Straws Bales
- Clear Plastic Sheeting
- Plastic Sheeting
- Shovels
- Old Deep-freeze Or Refrigerator
Instructions
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Remove motor, shelves and lock from door (so no child can get locked inside).
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Dig a hole large enough to hold the deep freeze where the top of the freezer is ground level or slightly below ground level.
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Place some rocks in bottom of the hole for drainage.
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Place the freezer into hole on its back. The door will open like a lid.
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Fill around freezer with soil.
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Place vegetables in freezer. Follow storage guidelines for vegetables just as if you were using a cellar.
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Cover freezer with a sheet of plastic to keep water from freezing the lid shut.
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Place bags of leaves or bales of hay or straw on top of the freezer to help with cold weather.
Tips & Warnings
- Apples, potatoes, beets, carrots, turnips, celeriac, kohlrabi and rutabagas work well in this type of storage.
- You may need to add a small vent pipe from the freezer to the outside to let in fresh air.
