Cold storage rooms in basements were quite a common feature in older homes, as those were the places where the majority of food stock was kept in a good condition for a long time. That was the only choice to have the produce available when it wasn’t available at the stores all year around and when fridges weren’t that widespread or even out. Nowadays, more and more people get into the idea of incorporating a cold storage facility into their modern homes despite the wide use of fridges even despite the fact that those have become quite large and efficient to satisfy the needs of an average family.
That might seem a little bit irrational. But, as a matter of a fact, there’re a number of reasonable benefits of cold storage rooms that make them quite appealing both to the homeowners and the businessmen, whose operation is related to the goods, which are supposed to be kept in a cold storage place.
These are the reasons why you may want to ask your general contractor to include a cold storage room or a root cellar into the basement plan of a house you’re about to build or incorporate it into an existing home within an upcoming remodel.
Why to build a cold room
1. Cold storage is great for storing fruits and vegetables
If you have a lot of fruit trees in your backyard and do a lot of gardening to grow your own vegetables, having a cold storage would be absolutely fitting for your household. You’ll be able to store as many fruits and vegetables as your garden produces and preserve them for quite a long time.
An ordinary fridge won’t be helpful in that case at all, and leaving your fruits and vegetables somewhere at the room temperature will make them go bad quite quickly. You don’t want to waste your precious home-grown harvest, do you?
And, even if you don’t grow your own fruits and vegetables, you can buy a lot of them at the farmers market while they are inexpensive and in season, put them into your cold storage room and consume till the next season or so.
Cold storage is particularly great when it comes to storing large packs of potatoes, carrots, beets and other roots vegetables, as well as apples. By the way, if you’re a small farmer or want to become one, cold storage room is an absolute necessity in terms of inexpensive long-term storage for you.
2. Cold storage preserves food longer and better because of its humidity
When fruits and vegetables are left in the dry cold (like in the fridge) for a long time, it will eventually dry out due to the loss of moisture. That will happen even faster when the produce is kept without any packaging. But, in the cold storage, where the humidity levels are quite high, your fruits, vegetables and other foods will remain fresh and crisp for a long time. The only issue the humidity may cause is the mold growth. However, low temperatures should prevent that side effect.
3. You absolutely need one if you have a large family
Big families who need to buy their groceries in big bulks to always have food in their homes and save money on great supermarket deals need the appropriate space to keep that food, especially fruits, vegetables and canned products. Pantry isn’t a great option if you don’t want to waste food, as large quantities will go off before you use them up. Cold storage is a great solution for those who want to be prepared.
4. Do you like canning? You need cold storage then.
If you’re into canning fruits, vegetables, salads, meat, etc. for winter, cold storage will preserve the cans for much longer than the pantry. And, if you can in significant quantities, that’s definitely something you can’t go without.
Obviously, canned foods are able to last at the room temperature, just as a lot of processed foods from the supermarket the producers allow to store out of the fridge. But, will those really last long enough without proper storage? I don’t think so.
5. Backup plan and waste efficiency
Cold storage will never fail you like a fridge may during a power outage or a breakdown. On top of that, you may store a lot more food in them than in your refrigerator or pantry, which contributes to money saving, energy efficiency, and food waste reduction. Additionally, you may arrange it however you want, add different shelves and storage ideas to keep your food organized and accessible.
Consequently, cold storage will work equally great all year around, keep your food fresh and good for a long time and it will never break. Thus, if you’ve been contemplating building a cold storage, you should definitely contact contractors from HireRush.com and get them to add it to your home.
Leave your request here
I’m trying to come up with a good way to store all of my fruits and vegetables. It makes sense that I would want to have a cold room built! It’s cool that it can preserve longer thanks to humidity. I’ll have to see if I can have that done!
My husband and I are thinking of having a large family in the future. I love this advice here that being able to store large quantities of food for a long period of time will save us a lot of money and a lot of unused food! We’ll have to consider getting some cold storage in our home for sure.
Glad our article egged you on such a nice decision. Good luck in everything and let all your wishes come true!
I’ve recently moved into a new home, and it has a cold storage room. I’d never had one before and am not sure how to make the best use of it. It’s so interesting that the low temperatures and high humidity make it the perfect place to store fruits and vegetables.