A root cellar is an underground room or storage area used for keeping food in a constant, cool, and low-humidity environment for extended periods.
This is much like what takes place in an underground cave. Whether the temperature at ground level is swelteringly hot or well below freezing, this doesn’t alter the underground temperature.
The ground-level temp has no bearing on the chilly, jacket weather you would experience in the cave all year round.
Or think of a root cellar as nature’s refrigerator – something people have tapped into for thousands of years.
That constant, cool environment is precisely what you want when storing food for extended periods. Have you ever had extra potatoes or onions that went bad in your kitchen while sitting on the floor in a bag?
Though some foods are resilient enough to last a few weeks at the warmth level of your house, they will eventually spoil.
So what are the benefits? If you’re like most people, you don’t have the room in your refrigerator to store everything you’d like to. A root cellar helps solve that problem.
Fruits, vegetables, jams, salted meats, and even alcohol can be stored in this setting. Here are a few benefits to get you thinking:
A Huge Refrigerator: The available space can be much larger than your refrigerator. You’ll have plenty to work with for many months.
Longevity: Fruits and vegetables will last much longer than if they were simply set on the floor of your home.
Save Money: A root cellar cuts down on your food costs. You can store fruits and vegetables in large bulk. Whether you found a great deal at a local store, were given large quantities of food, or have a large garden, you can store them instead of going bad. Months after your garden is done for the season, you’ll still have plenty of fresh food at your disposal.
Better Health: Root cellars encourage healthy eating. They store incredibly healthy foods. No foods with a hundred ingredients and shelf life of ten years are found here. You’ll only find foods that will increase your vitality, contributing to a long and healthy life.
A Chance for Generosity: You can share some of the extra food you have with someone who needs some. The great thing is that this can occur whether your garden is in season.
Certain fruits and vegetables are better choices for root cellar storage. Strawberries, for instance, would be a poor choice.
Good choices would include beets, carrots, potatoes, turnips, onions, and other root vegetables. Apples are a great fruit to store and typically are kept in a separate cellar.
Books on Building Root Cellars
Some of the root cellar plans that follow may be enough to get you the food storage you need, but in all likelihood, there is not enough information available.
To be thorough and complete, you are truly best served by buying a book dedicated to building and maintaining a root cellar. It will help with the learning curve and save you precious time, money, and vegetables.
Looking for a project that is almost 60% done? Mother Earth News has a great article on utilizing a NEW concrete septic tank.
The septic tank is buried on a hillside, complete with a door, venting system, and more. In this article, they recommend purchasing a new tank with slight defects to keep costs down.
You’ll cut an entrance into the septic tank and install a door. Then you need to add a pair of vent pipes and pour the soil thoroughly over the tank. That’s pretty much the gist of what it’ll need.
These guys over at wilderness college did a fantastic job building this classical-looking root cellar from earthbags.
The items needed are earthbags, barbed wires, wood, drainage foundation, balling twine, tampers, levels, measuring tapes, and old coffee beans. Then you need to lay the drainage foundation to get started. Next, you need to find the exact center of the drainage foundation and set the compass. To make a compass, use old chain link fence parts with L-bracket lashed onto them. Laying down the earthbags is quite tedious, so you might want to call your friends for the work.
They chronicled their entire build as well as provided us with a complete list of materials used. Inexpensive and will last forever. I give them 5 stars!
How about building a root cellar from an old 1,500-gallon water tank?
That’s what these guys did. Simply ingenious, another fine example of making do with what you have laying around.
This root cellar serves four purposes: protection from snakes, mice, squirrels, and spiders, the shelter would be above ground to avoid water storage, cold storage of food and supplies, and it had to be strong enough to withstand harsh weather like storms and winds.
It has a simple design. Firstly, clean the tank thoroughly and make a wooden frame of around 2×4 feet that suits your tank. Then cover the above with the plywood and bolt both of them together. Then make a doorway using angle iron and steel plates. Lastly, pile the mud and dirt all over the structure.
Unleash your inner hobbit with this picture-perfect root cellar. Once again, Mother Earth News published this article a while back, but it’s still one of my all-time favorites.
This cellar was also constructed of earthbags which seems to be the go-to material for easy and affordable cellar construction.
Nothing says high r-value than a building made from cordwood. I have always been fascinated by the process and would like to use this method in the future.
This eco-friendly root cellar is a great option for someone with materials already on hand.
The interior is framed with 2x4s and metal for the roof.
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