See this unheated laundry room right here?
On Tuesdays and Thursdays, I post a photo (or three) and just a few words.
I've decided to look at it a little differently...it's not so much an unheated laundry room as it is a Cold Storage Room for Root Vegetables and Squash.
And also for onions. But not next to the potatoes, because that's bad news.
It is actually pretty nice to have a good place to put those foods because my kitchen has no pantry, and it's not really a cool, dark place anyway (and coolness + darkness is what these sorts of foods like best.)
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Joshua's 365 post: Stop.
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Yes, if you try to look at the bright side you won't mind the chilly laundry part so much. Also, it is far better than having to use a laundromat!
Oh my goodness, yes! I lived without a washer and dryer for the first year or so of our marriage, and I've never forgotten it.
Actually, over 50 years we have found the winter squash do best when storage is not super cold (we live in MN and it's all relative). But the whole idea is great. We have an air lock entry to our house and that is our "walk-in refr" from Thanksgiving until mid-March! Back to the winter squash, what has worked best for us is I split them open, remove seeds, put them in a roaster, cover and bake until done. When they're cool, I just scoop the meat and divide it into freezer containers, ready to go. My way is not the only way! Aren't we blessed to even NEED food storage 😉
It doesn't get crazy cold out there...my laundry room is probably the temp of your air lock entry, actually! It's not nearly as cold here as it is in MN (I'm cold just thinking about you all up there in MN!)
Good thinking and good attitude turn-around! I recently put some onions in my stairwell "pantry" which is pretty much unheated, for the same reason. 🙂
Why is it bad news to store potatoes next to onions?
The short answer is because onions are a horrible abomination that should be purged from modern cooking.
The long answer is that onions and potatoes both release gasses in storage which cause the others to spoil.
Yes that. Except the part about onions being an abomination. That's totally wrong. 😉
lol! I love onions too! I heard that if you slice one in half and leave it by your bedside, a lot of the viruses in the air are killed so the cold may last a shorter time! I eat fresh garlic too so...yeah just saying...lol. Rub some fresh garlic over toasted bread, slather some butter....yum!
I have heard this advice for as long as I've been cooking, for the second reason Battra92 states. I've also been storing onions and taters near each other for as long as I've been cooking - including in room-temp spaces - and never had a problem. My onions are used too quickly to show negative effects of this joint storage but I use potatoes only rarely and they've never shown negative effects either.
So I don't know what to think. I shall consult the sainted Harold McGee when I get the chance.
I had no idea onions and potatoes couldn't be stored close together! Guess I need to separate out my baskets in the pantry...
Yep-they'll last longer that way. It's interesting how many people store them together-I did for a long time too!
We store root veggies, onions and apples (all seperately of course) in a minimally heated (kept from freezing) room that we don't use and that has a door. Saves me from running into the basement daily. Also keeps the harvest/farm market purchases fresh for an extended period of time
I've always stored my onions & potatoes in the same storage bin. I've never had a problem with them going bad. Maybe I'm just lucky???
I was just thinking about this the other day. In the cold months I keep my onions and potatoes in the unheated garage. But I have a problem when the cold months pass. The onions are then put into the fridge, but I don't know where to keep the potatoes. In the past I placed them in the laundry room (AC for part of the summer), but they would go bad faster than they should. I can't put them in the basement because I can't do stairs. Suggestions?
See if you can put a blanket over them when the temperature drops, they should be better of 😉 My grandparents did this in their celler...
That's why I LOVE our attached garage. We have a regular fridge out there in the warmer months and use the unheated garage as a "fridge" in the winter. I don't know what i did before we had two refrigerators. An awesome convenience 🙂
Never fret on what you don't have, but embellish on what you do have. Since you stated that you don't have a pantry in the kitchen , make your basement into a pantry and add décor to cheer the space. God has blessed me to use what I have and to shop at places that are in my budget ie., yard sales, thrift stores, and estate sales. I love your site and keep up the good work.
Love you, Vanessa