Put perishable animal foods, such as dairy and fresh meat, in cold storage near the ice, and put vegetables and fruit in a cool cellar at 0-7 degrees C: root vegetables keep 4-6 months, potatoes 6-8, onions and garlic 6-8, apples 2-4, cabbage 3-4 and cured meats 2-3. A cellar that warms above 4 degrees C is too warm for fresh meat or milk, so keep those near the ice and eat them within days.
Part of Ice Houses and Cold Storage
What to store is the matching of foods to cold or cool storage: which belong beside ice, which belong in a cellar, and which should not be stored this way at all.
Cold And Cool Are Two Different Jobs
Cold storage means near-freezing: close to the ice, where the air is at about 0 degrees C. It is for foods that spoil fast and carry risk if warm, such as milk, fresh meat and fish. Cool storage means the steady 2-10 degrees C of a root cellar, enough to slow the ageing of living produce and cured foods without freezing them. The two are not interchangeable. A cellar cannot hold fresh meat safely, and an ice house is too cold and too wet for stored onions.
What You Need
- An ice house or cold space — see Ice House Construction.
- A cellar — see Cellar Construction.
- Thermometers and a plan for humidity — see Temperature and Humidity.
- Containers — clean boxes, crocks or crates that keep food off the floor and away from the ice.
Method: Place Each Food
The table uses the ice-houses parent article’s conditions.
| Food | Where | Conditions | Storage life |
|---|---|---|---|
| Root vegetables (carrots, beets, turnips) | Cellar, coldest part | 0-4 C, 90-95% humidity | 4-6 months |
| Potatoes | Cellar, slightly warmer spot | 4-7 C, 85-90% | 6-8 months |
| Onions, garlic | Cellar, dry corner, apart from others | 0-4 C, 60-70% | 6-8 months |
| Apples | Cellar, apart from vegetables | 0-4 C, 80-90% | 2-4 months |
| Cabbage | Cellar, coldest part | 0-2 C, 90-95% | 3-4 months |
| Cured meats | Cellar, dry | 0-4 C, 60-70% | 2-3 months |
| Fresh meat, milk, fish | Beside the ice, never in the cellar | at or below 4 C | days, not months |
Why fresh meat and dairy go near the ice. A widely used food-safety limit for refrigerated food is 4 degrees C (40 degrees F), recalled from national food-safety guidance. The parent article lets a whole cellar range up to 10 degrees C, so a cellar can run 6 K above the limit in summer (10 - 4). Bacteria in fresh meat and milk multiply in that gap. Put them where the air is at about 0 degrees C.
Step 1: Sort by risk. Fresh animal foods first: near the ice, in clean containers, off the ice itself and away from anything that melts onto them.
Step 2: Sort produce by humidity. Follow Temperature and Humidity.
Step 3: Keep apples and onions apart. Ripening fruit gives off a gas, ethylene, that speeds spoilage of other produce. The parent article warns that onions give off gases that spoil other crops, and their humidity needs differ from roots anyway.
Step 4: Inspect weekly. Remove anything soft, mouldy or sprouting. One rotten item releases moisture and gases that can destroy a bin within a week.
Step 5: Keep the stock turning. Eat the shortest-lived foods first. Cured meats and apples go before roots and potatoes.
Worked Example: Is The Cellar Cold Enough For Milk?
Summer cellar air at the parent article’s upper range: 10 degrees C. The limit: 4 degrees C.
- Excess: 10 - 4 = 6 K above the limit.
So milk or fresh meat held in that cellar is outside safe conditions. The same food held near ice at about 0 degrees C is 4 K under the limit.
Common Mistakes
- Storing fresh meat in the cellar — it spoils quickly at cellar temperatures.
- Putting food directly on or in pond ice — the ice may be contaminated, and the melt drips on the food.
- Mixing ripening fruit with roots — ethylene speeds spoilage.
- Counting the storage life as a promise — the months are for the right conditions and sound produce.
- Forgetting the rotten one — inspect weekly.
Safety
Warm meat and milk make people ill
Fresh meat, fish and milk held above about 4 degrees C breed bacteria that cause food poisoning, and cooking does not remove every toxin they leave behind. Do not trust a cellar’s summer temperature for them. Keep them at the ice, eat them within days, and discard anything that has been warm, smells wrong or has been in contact with spoiled food. Cured meats are safe only if properly cured. See Food Safety. Entering a closed cellar or ice pit for food needs the ventilation and tether precautions in Cellar Construction.
What’s Next
- Learn next: Temperature and Humidity — set the conditions
- Combine with: Cold Storage — other ways to keep food cool