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.

Difficulty:

Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need

• Straws Bales
• Clear Plastic Sheeting
• Plastic Sheeting
• Shovels
• Old Deep-freeze Or Refrigerator

1. Remove motor, shelves and lock from door (so no child can get locked inside).

2. Dig a hole large enough to hold the deep freeze where the top of the freezer is ground level or slightly below ground level.

3. Place some rocks in bottom of the hole for drainage.

4. Place the freezer into hole on its back. The door will open like a lid.

5. Fill around freezer with soil.

6. Place vegetables in freezer. Follow storage guidelines for vegetables just as if you were using a cellar.

7. Cover freezer with a sheet of plastic to keep water from freezing the lid shut.

8. 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.