How to store vegetables without a fridge?

A refrigerator is very useful but it is possible to do without it to preserve your vegetables for a long time. They can be kept in the ground, in a silo or on a shelf. As a general rule, they are stored away from light, oxygen and heat. Without forgetting that vegetables, depending on their variety, can be sterilized in jars, dried, preserved with vinegar or sugar…

Store your vegetables in a silo

Certain vegetables can be kept in a silo for a long time. This involves placing them in a substrate composed of earth, sand, sawdust… This is perfect for all root vegetables such as carrots, turnips, beets, potatoes… Vegetables must be protected cold, floods and pests.

They can be buried in a hole in the brick-lined ground with straw on the bottom. The vegetables are covered with straw and then buried. A washing machine drum does the job very well and it has the advantage of letting air pass through.

A crate or barrel can be placed in the cellar. The carrots are stored there, separated by layers of damp sand. In all cases, the silo must remain at less than 12° C. Carrots and beets are kept there for three to four months, two months for cabbages, four to five months for parsnips and potatoes. /p>

Store your vegetables on a shelf

Wooden shelves are a type of shelf that allows air to pass through. Turnips and potatoes are stored in a cellar, garage or shed. The room must be well ventilated, at a temperature of 6 to 12° C., dry and dark. Vegetables should not be mixed on the same level but placed without contact with each other. Turnips can be covered with straw while potatoes will do well under burlap.

Keep your vegetables in the ground

This is the simplest solution: certain vegetables can remain in the vegetable garden soil during the winter. You just have to pick them from the garden when you want to cook them. This is the case for leeks, Savoy cabbage, Brussels sprouts, parsnips, etc. To protect them from too low temperatures, mulching the base is possible.

Store your vegetables at room temperature

Other vegetables can stay at room temperature for a few days and for some for several months. They are stored in a cool, dry room, between 10 and 20° C. away from light. This is perfect for squash and pumpkins which can wait six months to be cooked. This is also the solution for having garlic and onions hanging in bunches.