Chest Freezer As Cold Storage

I have a nonfunctional chest freezer in my garage that I am wondering could be used as a "root cellar" for storing spuds through the winter. I could place it on a couple of pallets to get it off the garage floor. Anybody out done anything similar? House sits on an Alaskan slab, so no basement.

Hey Dennis;
I have seen several that were buried and used as a root cellar with a vent pipe out the side.
Covered over winter with hay/straw bales.

I imagine your garage gets pretty chilly in deep winter, I'm not sure your "root cellar" would stay above freezing sitting on pallets.

I agree with Thomas -- freezing could be an issue. The freezer will eventually equalize to the ambient temperature.

Another potential pitfall is moisture management. Some sort of slow air exchange is generally necessary to prevent mold and rot (hence the "vent pipe" referred to above). Or, moisture absorbing materials that can be removed and dried externally.

One year I layered sawdust and spuds in plastic buckets and put them in a dead freezer and they kept really well without any extra air exchange. However, I'm in a damp Maritime environment and our below freezing weather is minimal.

How much of the winter does the garage floor freeze and how deeply does the ground freeze. Essentially, you're counting on Mother Earth to keep sending the warmth of Earth's core gradually up to the surface, and have the garage capture that heat. So putting the freezer on the slab, then several layers of straw bales multiple rows out and up around the freezer, will help you trap that gentle heat. Putting an insulating blanket on top of the freezer will act as a hat. But unless Earth can send heat faster than that heat will escape into the rest of the garage space, things may freeze.

So I absolutely would do some sort of temperature monitoring. If it looks like the weather is winning, Adding a jug of warm water to the freezer may be all that's needed to keep it at the freezing point or above.

thomas rubino wrote:Hey Dennis;
I have seen several that were buried and used as a root cellar with a vent pipe out the side.
Covered over winter with hay/straw bales.

I imagine your garage gets pretty chilly in deep winter, I'm not sure your "root cellar" would stay above freezing sitting on pallets.

Trying to dig down deep enough on the side of a hill/mountain with ledge all around is hard. I had to place huge rocks over my dogs grave because could only get 2-3 ft down. I guess I could build up the sides with rocks and a load of dirt. I take it the bales were able to be removed to access the spuds to be able to eat some in winter? I could leave them in it until the real cold comes and then move them to storage along the outside of the house. Salt box style house so it slopes down from the roof pitch to just 4 ft off the ground in back.

To add on to Douglass, not only is humidity important for the food, it's important for the steel case of the freezer. If you partly bury it, you might end up with slabs of rust embedded in the ground not a freezer.

I have a livestock dog and have found the best use for my non working freezer is for bones: I found a farm with a personal quantity of dairy cows, who keep their girls going into January with a late calf, which they then bucher in January, giving her a break, and the buchering can't be done at the meat cow commercial buchery, go figure...
so they do the buchering themselves in their full service setup for hunters.

I get all the bones including the head, and the organ meat, and if I'm lucky ground beef. So by January it doesn't matter that the freezer doesn't work: I have bones and meat for the rest of the winter. I took the gasket off the lid so it doesn't freeze shut, a larger piece of plywood and a couple of chunks of wood to weigh down the top and everything inside is triple bagged, and it stays outdoors.

Ra Kenworth wrote:I have a livestock dog and have found the best use for my non working freezer is for bones: I found a farm with a personal quantity of dairy cows, who keep their girls going into January with a late calf, which they then bucher in January, giving her a break, and the buchering can't be done at the meat cow commercial buchery, go figure...
so they do the buchering themselves in their full service setup for hunters.

I get all the bones including the head, and the organ meat, and if I'm lucky ground beef. So by January it doesn't matter that the freezer doesn't work: I have bones and meat for the rest of the winter. I took the gasket off the lid so it doesn't freeze shut, a larger piece of plywood and a couple of chunks of wood to weigh down the top and everything inside is triple bagged, and it stays outdoors.

The organ meat is great for them. However, don't give them a lot of liver at one time, causes the runs. I mix boiled liver with pumpkin/squash (equal parts) and bake a cookie treat.

The straw bales mentioned by Thomas might be used as insulation to keep the root cellar from freezing.  Place them on all four sides and the top.  Maybe also figure out some kind of insulation for the bottom.

Also fill the root cellar with sawdust to also insulated against freezing and to keep the veggies fresh.

Dennis Goyette wrote:

The organ meat is great for them. However, don't give them a lot of liver at one time, causes the runs. I mix boiled liver with pumpkin/squash (equal parts) and bake a cookie treat.

Good point!
Context : we're talking liver for dogs can cause the dreaded dog poop soup

Nah I love liver -- he has to share
He gets the bones, none of the tongue or jaw meat, we fight over the lips, he gets the kidneys and the grissle around the heart, and the tougher parts of the liver, which I bake so I can get it cooked quickly and prepared (cooked in homemade salsa)

I save all the juice as well and cook up split lentils with it because they are quick and there's a lot of cooking to do quickly.

Yes I use the squash family a lot for us both, and if I have tasteless melon I cook that in as well, plus dried carrot tops, nettles, frozen/canned radishes, green tomatoes, zucchini etc
If the dog gives me the look of disgust, I mix in half a can of cat food, but directly into his bowl, not the communal pot if we are eating the same delicacy lol

Ra Kenworth wrote:

Dennis Goyette wrote:

The organ meat is great for them. However, don't give them a lot of liver at one time, causes the runs. I mix boiled liver with pumpkin/squash (equal parts) and bake a cookie treat.

Good point!
Context : we're talking liver for dogs can cause the dreaded dog poop soup

Nah I love liver -- he has to share
He gets the bones, none of the tongue or jaw meat, we fight over the lips, he gets the kidneys and the grissle around the heart, and the tougher parts of the liver, which I bake so I can get it cooked quickly and prepared (cooked in homemade salsa)

I save all the juice as well and cook up split lentils with it because they are quick and there's a lot of cooking to do quickly.

Yes I use the squash family a lot for us both, and if I have tasteless melon I cook that in as well, plus dried carrot tops, nettles, frozen/canned radishes, green tomatoes, zucchini etc
If the dog gives me the look of disgust, I mix in half a can of cat food, but directly into his bowl, not the communal pot if we are eating the same delicacy lol

I use Dr Becker's raw, but I boil the meat, I don't give it to them raw. They also get pureed fruits and veggies, all the necessary vitamins and minerals and an egg sunny side up (don't break the yoke until it all gets mixed.)  I use trade for the organs with a farm that raises beefalo. I roast my own coffee beans so its meat for coffee. My friends down the road trade eggs for coffee. Nothing beats barterin.