Need for second fridge or freezer?

I came across a "logistical challenge" while processing this week ....

A bountiful cucumber harvest + love for pickles = "what do you mean there is no room in the fridge for the groceries you just bought?"

After harvesting SFG & Stanley.....I got a little carried away on the "pickles thing" and took up a large portion of the available space in the fridge.

I honestly never expected this kinda of result from one measly 4 x 4 SFG box .... so I'm guessing this is normal & I should just go ahead and buy a used 2nd fridge for harvest time ???

I'm not a big fan of "canned" products (processed and stored at "room" temp) to start with & living in Central Florida, we have no basements. Garage storing items is not an option for us since the "under-air" section my my home is 78-82 & un-air-conditioned portion in our home is frequently over 100F.

Is anyone else in this situation ???

Is a "deep freezer" a better solution to a second refridgerator, out in the garage?

I've thought about a second fridge as well. I'm very fond of many root veggeis and squashes, but the regular fridge is too cold and dry for prolonged storage. Then I'm forced to freeze, can or dehydrate and most veggies just do NOT have the right texture after dehydrating. I haven't done any canning since I was a kid helping my mom and haven't ventured there as an adult. Freezer space is somewhat limited, too.

My garage doubles as an oven in the summertime, so is obviously NOT going to help store winter squash and root veg. I really want a "root cellar" and have thought I could use a fridge that is turned up to it's warmest setting, around 50-55 degrees F.

Call for info from anyone with experience!

acara wrote:I came across a "logistical challenge" while processing this week ....

A bountiful cucumber harvest + love for pickles = "what do you mean there is no room in the fridge for the groceries you just bought?"

After harvesting SFG & Stanley.....I got a little carried away on the "pickles thing" and took up a large portion of the available space in the fridge.

I honestly never expected this kinda of result from one measly 4 x 4 SFG box .... so I'm guessing this is normal & I should just go ahead and buy a used 2nd fridge for harvest time ???

I'm not a big fan of "canned" products (processed and stored at "room" temp) to start with & living in Central Florida, we have no basements. Garage storing items is not an option for us since the "under-air" section my my home is 78-82 & un-air-conditioned portion in our home is frequently over 100F.

Is anyone else in this situation ???

Is a "deep freezer" a better solution to a second refridgerator, out in the garage?

Sorry, I shouldn't laugh, but I have been in the same situation, sometimes due to a bountiful harvest and other times due to making a huge dinner for lots of guests, or wanting all of the beverages cold.
I guess the best thing to do is, first, determine if you would be freezing enough to justify a freezer. Beans, greens and tomatoes can be frozen with good results, but cucumbers, not really. I happen to use my freezer a lot as I buy bulk meats often and there are only two of us, so I repackage in useable portions and freeze.
If you are in a situation where you can obtain and use a second refrigerator, at least you can use it for soft drinks and some adult beverages if you aren't currently storing a lot of veggies waiting for processing.

I think most of us are in this same spot. Here are a few of the things I have learned over a few years of harvesting my garden.

1. If I have the space, I will fill it.
2. The grocery can store large amounts of meat (instead of my deep freezer,) especially during hurricane season.
3. Soup is my friend for old, less pretty veggies.
4. Canning tomatoes really helped my storage space open up.
5. You can only eat so much zucchini bread in a year without gaining weight.
6. If you are storing food for more than a year or past the time when you can get it fresh from the garden, you saved too much.
7. Save veggies in single family servings. There will be fewer fridge science experiments.
8. Beans which were tough when you put them in the freezer, will still be tough 6 months later.

Hope this helps a little bit. I guess I should confess that I have a small garage deep freezer. It is full.

Patty from Yorktown

I have a freezer and a second refrigerator

We have a deep freeze mainly for meats, but I also freeze veggies too. The only thing about putting it in the garage, is that it can use way more energy because of the heat(we have to deal with this in az too) It can also shorten the life of the freezer because of how much harder it has to work.

Are you thinking about a second fridge to store your harvest short-term until you use it? Or are you talking about something for longterm storage? Veggies only last so long in the refrigerator and the longer they are stored, the more likely they are to lose vitamins and flavor.

I have a large bag of greens in my 'fridge at present that I picked several days ago and washed, but didn't cook. Now as I look at them, I'm thinking I'd rather go to the garden and pick fresh ones instead of using those. I wish I had frozen them when I washed them instead of keeping them. Freezing retains most of the vitamins if done properly, as well as maintains an acceptable level of flavor.

Some crops do better at room temp storage - potatoes, sweet potatoes, onions, and winter squash for example. I know there's a lot of discussion on proper temperatures and humidity levels for each veggie, and they aren't the same for any of them, it seems. But I've never had a problem with storing potatoes and onions in the garage or in the closet under the stairs. I store my sweet potatoes and squash in boxes under the bed.

I prefer canning pickles and relishes, and occasionally apples or pears if I have a bumper crop.

If you are looking for additional longterm storage for perishable crops, my vote would be a freezer. Mine is currently stuffed full of meat, bread, green beans, tomatoes, greens, corn, jalapenoes, berries, cherries, freezer jam, herb butter, leftovers, and grains. (I keep my flours and grains in the freezer to prevent them from getting buggy.) I have one large freezer in the garage and another small one upstairs which our DD purchased to hold meat we raise for her until she can transport it home.

I've been toying with the idea of buying a small chest freezer, not so much for veg, but so I can buy meat in bulk, make and freeze casseroles, and holiday cookies. It was tempting to try and find a used one on ebay or craigslist, but my last two big purchases with them have left me feeling burned.

i think having 2 freezers (not counting the fridge/freezer combo) is ideal for anyone who has a family size larger than 3. i know for us (family of 5) we fill up our huge chest freezer and i always wish i had another one. and i will be looking for an upright freezer for just that reason. esp with all the holiday baking i do - it would be nice to have a dedicated freezer just for that so i can more readily assess what i have/don't have and can pull out what i want to serve more efficiently.

We have a large frig and a large freezer and still need more space. We have to put something in front of the freezer door to keep it shut. Recently we were given a small (college dorm room frig) that we were going to modify for making cheese, but we can't keep from using it for vegis. You can often find good used fruges on your local online listing or here in Nashville we see them in Habitat for Humanities home stores.

Good luck

talk about feeling inadequate!

My little French freezer is 14" x 17" by 13" deep. It's all I've got, but it's pretty normal for French kitchens.

Guess I better take the commercial freezer from my failed resturant off Craigs List and get 220 wired into my garage. I plan to get back into gardening this spring with tabletops. Can't get off the ground easily any more. Been a long time since I have had a REAL GARDEN. Just some patio pots on the balcony of my Apt. while overseas. Back to my house now and starting all over. Also getting my son started. He had on the ground raised beds last year, but hadn't read Mel's book yet and didn't know about MM. Limited success because of the heat and couldn't afford the $300 water bills to keep it moist.

I sometimes do the "Once a Month Cooking" but usually run out of freezer space when I get just 2wks worth in there....so I'm looking for a 2nd freezer as well. I've found some great deals on Craigslist, but they are always gone by the time I find the ad or are too far of a drive. But it's funny you posted this because I was wondering what you all do with the "extra" harvest- especially when I hear some people plant tons of tomato, pepper and cucumber plants and the neighbors no longer answer the door when you go to try to give some away.

Tomatoes and cucumbers get "put by" in glass jars as whole tomatoes, pulp, juice, sauce -- and pickles, so they don't need to be refrigerated OR frozen.

Green peppers can be made into green pepper jelly, which is just a little bit spicy, a gorgeous emerald-green, and is delicious just poured over a block of cream cheese and served as a dip with crackers

We had a thread earlier about frozen tomatoes and frozen roasted tomato sauce. Previously I had always canned tomatoes, but the frozen roasted tomato sauce is wonderful. It also is faster for me to freeze than can and I am able to put by a smaller amount at a time if I freeze rather than can. My personal tomato harvest this year did not produce enough at any one time to can.

That said, if I had a big enough harvest, I would prefer to can my tomatoes, but then I also have a good sized pantry to store all those jars.

Sometimes you need to refrigerate your produce until you can get around to processing, no matter what method you use to preserve your harvest

Growing up my family always had second refrigerator. It held the extra milk cartons, extra drinks etc. Even my Grandmother that lived in town had a second frig. We have one large refrigerator and hope to make it our "second" frig when the house is done and I get matching stuff. Not just for harvest time but for year round for us. I can see it for harvest time as well. I have frozen some fruits I bought that were on sale this year, I didnt want to make jam in mid summer. A method to my madness with the freezing and refrigerating, make it last till I can use it so I dont waste.
Ha-v-v