Hey All,
Just thought id show you guys how i store cans in the cold weather, now mind you we havent had that bad of a winter yet but weve had some cold weather recently and nothing froze inside. This box was made of recycled material the cooler was found at fish plant but you can get them anywhere you can buy fish and the 3/8 ply was scraps from construction. The box is stored at my BOL which is only heated when im there otherwise its just as cold as it is outside. This box could be used in a shed or garage as well. I tried a regular cooler but it wasnt air tight and let moisture in.
Forgot to mention that the styrofoam and plywood lid is off to show you inside.
Just an update ! With a few weeks of good cold weather -10c to -20c still nothing frozen and i took a pic of the current temperature outside the storage box.
Hey thanks for the post! I've always wanted to know. Seems cans and even glass jars can take sub zero freezing without blowing up!
Thank you, Plainolme, for the 'research' project and the pic/results. Winter is not the best time to have an overflowing pantry and no interior space to store it, so I am sure this will come in handy for many.
Also good to know about the styrofoam coolers from 'fish plants' - I paid over $10 for one at CanTire in Antigonish recently to be able to transport a few lobsters back down south. I am 'collecting' local resource info here rapidly, which I know I will use in future, thanks to so many of you. 🙂
hi everyone,very nice topic for discussion and the posts also,i like this forum very much...
Hi allen and welcome!
Wookie, this was a way of getting around the freezing temperatures, the items in my storage box are not frozen 😀
Ya I have to store most of my food stores in a crawl space under the house so it's exposed to outside temps. But we don't ever see temps like that though. Great post!
Thanks for all your replies guys,
Im glad this is helpful to yas!
Would this work to store potatoes. The coldest my shed gets in the winter is about -10C.
I was thinking about building a box out of 3/8 ply and line it with 2" Styrofoam and
use planer shavings with it.
I think it's too risky . As far as i know potatoes shouldn't get below 36 F. or else they undergo a chemical process involving the starch, and making them less valuable nutritionally, and subject to rapid rot. They should also breathe.
It would be better to dig a hole in your shed floor if feasible,...deep enough (4' plus,) to get some earth temp working for you from below. Still use the shavings, but cover the hole top with a 1-1/2" x4x4 (halfsheet) of high density foam board....and line the upper 2' around the hole with the same material to prevent frost creep .
Obviously it's speculative if you have a drainage advantage with your shed roof cover .You may see soon enough whether you get any seepage after you dig the hole. In that case, i would drill dozens of foodgrade wine pails with holes around the upper half of the lowest layer of stocked pails, or no holes, but open tops, or drilled lids. Stack more drilled pails over those. optional 1/4" hardware cloth fitted over the top of the hole frame. to keep out mice. Maintain several mouse traps around it thru the season, to help assess rodent pressure to get in. make a hooked metal rod to pull up the pails by their metal handles. Place handles at or above rims to be able to hook them ...(not folded down over the sides of the pail). Leaving the bare earth at the bottom half of the hole should allow enough indirect breathing for the spuds.