Storing food in the garage - pros and cons?

[Wingshooter]

The only space that we have inside the house for food storage is getting way too crowded. Is the garage a viable option or a bad idea?

 

Our house sits on a hill, and we have an attached garage. It stays dry and ventilated. The garage is not heated or cooled, but the house around it is. It also has a poured concrete floor and wood-framed/drywall walls/ceiling. I thought about putting some shelving units along one wall and storing canned food out there. I know that warehouses are usually not climate controlled, so I assume it would not harm the canned stuff. What other types of food would "keep" out there? Food buckets with flour, beans, rice, salt, sugar, etc???

 

Will this be a problem later in the summer months when them temps spike?

 

Let me know your thoughts... thanks.

Edited January 28, 2013 by Batman

[UncleJak]

I keep my water in my garage.  Haven't tried to store food there yet.

[Guest Lester Weevils]

I think most foodstuffs, even such as MRE's and freeze-dried commercial survival foods, are reputed to have a shortened storage lifetime with increased heat. If you rotate the stuff frequently, perhaps it wouldn't matter?

[Wingshooter]

I think most foodstuffs, even such as MRE's and freeze-dried commercial survival foods, are reputed to have a shortened storage lifetime with increased heat. If you rotate the stuff frequently, perhaps it wouldn't matter?

 

That's what I'm concerned about. I don't want to put a bunch of stuff out there, have a really hot summer, then have to guess if any damage was done. I'm just out of room. Maybe I should grab the shovel and get to work on a root cellar :shrug:

[Guest brentt]

I have this same problem so keep the input coming.

[peejman]

Heat and critters are the enemy.  I keep stuff like bird seed and dog food in my garage.  I've had to put both of them in sealed plastic containers to keep the mice out. 

 

Keep the canned goods low or on the concrete floor away from any heat source (doors, water heater, etc.).  The concrete will help regulate the temperature.  Rotate your stock.... maintain a FIFO system.

 

http://www.clemson.edu/extension/hgic/food/food_safety/handling/hgic3505.html

 

You mention a root cellar.... got a crawlspace?  It'll stay cooler in there than in your garage.  If you use it, moisture is the main concern. 

[Guest 6.8 AR]

We've got a room in the basement that works like a cellar. Crammed full of vacuum sealed and canned food.

[Guest Lester Weevils]

Maybe eventually I'll get enough food that it becomes a problem, but in remodeling the ancient house, it had three small bedrooms and a postage-stamp bathroom upstairs. We turned one of the small bedrooms into a big bathroom and turned the tiny bathroom into a medium-sized walk in closet. Got a bunch of those chrome-plated wire shelving units to go in the closet. There are several brands that seem mostly interchangeable that use 1" vertical support pipe. Some stuff "looks the same" from walmart and such, but uses less-than-1-inch vertical pipe and wouldn't be parts interchangeable and those are not as rigid or hold as much weight.

 

There is a free-china made-in-taiwan good quality brand called "honey can do" which we got. They sell lots of sizes of shelves with lots of different weight ratings, easy to buy on amazon or online from home depot. You can get shelves 24" X 12", 24" X 15", 24" X 18", then also all those widths in 30", 36", 48", etc. And also some special "storage basket" type shelves, all interchangeable. You can get not-expensive rather-heavy-duty big-diameter casters that screw into the vertical pipes, so you can roll a loaded shelf around rather than have to unload it to move it a few inches or whatever.

 

I measured the little closet then drew some sketches on grid paper, and kept fiddling with the different available shelving modules until I could fill the little closet all the way around three walls with 6 foot tall shelving, 6 shelves in each rack with approx 10" to 12" vertical spacing and about a foot on the floor under the bottom shelves (added height of the casters). Shelves on all the walls and enough space to walk between them and reach everything.

 

Ended up paying something like $600 but it is excellent and adaptable shelving and I'd have paid at least half that if I'd built-in my own that would have took a lot more work and been less adaptable. We keep all kinds of useless crap in that closet, but the useless crap is stored in an orderly fashion. :) Several of the shelves have canned goods and boxed goods / bagged goods in grocery-packaging, beans and rice and noodles etc. The air conditioning, moisture control and pest control in the house makes it possible to keep the beans and rice and such grocery items at least til the expiration date, and keeps the canned goods from rusting. The MRE's and dehydrated long-term storage food is moisture-proof and relatively pest-proof, so it is stored on wood shelves in the basement. Basement stays cool in the summer and "fairly dry and bug proof".

 

Rodents would have to be pretty smart to survive the hound. We've never seen a rodent in the house. The hound even dispatches the occasional little bird that manages to get in thru the dog door. I try to catch the poor birds and release them but the hound leaps up and snatches them out of the air in flight before I manage to catch them. He's pretty fast and can vertical jump higher than my head.

 

It would be great to have a water-tight root cellar/storm cellar, but having a basement suffices somewhat for that purpose.

 

edit: There is also a neat (I think rubber maid) wire rack in a couple of sizes sold at home depot. The size I use is 72" X 18" wide with eight 4" deep shelves. You can wall-mount them or mount them to doors. They are not especially expensive. I have several door-mounted or wall-mounted in the basement for such as boxes of fasteners, tools, spray paint, lubes, etc, and several door-mounted in the house, on doors where the storage isn't an eyesore. On the inside of the bathroom closet door, the inside of the walk-in closet door, the inside of my bedroom door. We keep bathroom supplies in one, I keep more useless crap on my bedroom shelf, and we keep some canned goods, spices and such in the one in the walk-in closet. If dedicated to canned goods and boxes, a couple of those narrow wire wall shelves would hold quite a bit without taking up much space, if you have some places you can put them "out of sight, out of mind" so they are not eyesores.

Edited January 28, 2013 by Lester Weevils

[Jonnin]

I would move something that is nonperishable from inside out there and use that space for the foodstuff.   Flour, sugar, rice, beans, grains, etc in a bucket are fine if you have them sealed against moisture and they were moisture free to begin with.  Vac sealed dried veggies should be fine.  Canned should be fine.  But I would still try to find something else to put out there and keep the food indoors to keep it safer from moisture, animals, and temp extremes.  

 

Every garage is unique.  If yours is dry and cool most of the year, its perfect.  If its damp or gets 120 in july, its a bad idea.  Home canned foods will not survive temp extremes, and bought cans will not take it for years on end, it will cut down the shelf life.  Most bought cans will rust if it is damp, eventually.

Edited January 28, 2013 by Jonnin

[Wingshooter]

[quote name="peejman" post="898222" timestamp="1359379744"]Heat and critters are the enemy.  I keep stuff like bird seed and dog food in my garage.  I've had to put both of them in sealed plastic containers to keep the mice out.    Keep the canned goods low or on the concrete floor away from any heat source (doors, water heater, etc.).  The concrete will help regulate the temperature.  Rotate your stock.... maintain a FIFO system.   [url=http://www.clemson.edu/extension/hgic/food/food_safety/handling/hgic3505.html]http://www.clemson.edu/extension/hgic/food/food_safety/handling/hgic3505.html[/url]   You mention a root cellar.... got a crawlspace?  It'll stay cooler in there than in your garage.  If you use it, moisture is the main concern. [/quote] I do have a crawl space. It has about 4' of clearance, but I have a moisture problem under there. I have been needing to fix the moisture problem anyway (grading around the foundation and ventilation). That's an interesting idea, though. I could even pour a small concrete pad down there in a convienient spot, get some concrete blocks and build an under-floor pantry with a trap door for access. I had considered doing something similar a couple of years ago for a storm shelter, but pretty much abandoned that idea. I'll put some more thought into that.

[Wingshooter]

[quote name="Jonnin" post="898357" timestamp="1359392135"]I would move something that is nonperishable from inside out there and use that space for the foodstuff.   Flour, sugar, rice, beans, grains, etc in a bucket are fine if you have them sealed against moisture and they were moisture free to begin with.  Vac sealed dried veggies should be fine.  Canned should be fine.  But I would still try to find something else to put out there and keep the food indoors to keep it safer from moisture, animals, and temp extremes.     Every garage is unique.  If yours is dry and cool most of the year, its perfect.  If its damp or gets 120 in july, its a bad idea.  Home canned foods will not survive temp extremes, and bought cans will not take it for years on end, it will cut down the shelf life.  Most bought cans will rust if it is damp, eventually.[/quote] My garage stays very dry, and it actually keeps a pretty moderate temp if the door stays closed. I guess the biggest problem would be on those hot summer days when I am working on the car or building something and the garage door is open allowing it to assume the outside air temp.

[peejman]

I do have a crawl space. It has about 4' of clearance, but I have a moisture problem under there. I have been needing to fix the moisture problem anyway (grading around the foundation and ventilation). That's an interesting idea, though. I could even pour a small concrete pad down there in a convienient spot, get some concrete blocks and build an under-floor pantry with a trap door for access. I had considered doing something similar a couple of years ago for a storm shelter, but pretty much abandoned that idea. I'll put some more thought into that.

 

 

If you've got moisture issues, I'd fix that first.  Lots of long-term problems can result. 

 

My house had one corner of the crawlspace (slopes from 48" - 18") that stayed kinda damp.  I fixed the drainage problem on the outside (I think) and put down 6 mil plastic vapor barrier.  It made a huge difference.  You could start by putting a few concrete stepping stones on top of the plastic.  That will prevent the concrete from wicking moisture from the ground and give you something solid to sit the buckets on. 

[Jonnin]

My garage stays very dry, and it actually keeps a pretty moderate temp if the door stays closed. I guess the biggest problem would be on those hot summer days when I am working on the car or building something and the garage door is open allowing it to assume the outside air temp.

 

Then it sounds like an ideal location if you can keep the food safe from rats/bugs/racoons/squirrles/etc.  

 

The occasional hot day should not destroy anything.

[Wingshooter]

[quote name="Jonnin" post="898424" timestamp="1359398500"]Then it sounds like an ideal location if you can keep the food safe from rats/bugs/racoons/squirrles/etc.     The occasional hot day should not destroy anything.[/quote] I might put some of the food that is least likely to be affected out there until it starts to warm up. Then, I'll monitor the temp with a thermometer. If it looks like it's varying significantly or staying really hot, then I'll move it back inside. I'll keep it close to the floor and near the door going in the house. I haven't seen any evidence of furry critters yet. I sprayed Termador around my house last year and have not seen a single bug since. I think I nuked them all, lol.

[Guest brentt]

The stuff I have stored is rice and beans in mylar bags vacumed out and has oxygen obsorbers in them. The mylar bags are in plastic buckets with rubber gaskets under the lids. Right now I have them stored in the garage which has no moisture issues and stays decent temp all year except the 2 - 3 HOT months. then the temp might get 90-95, maybe even 100 not completely sure. Anyway, I also have a crawl space with (slopes) 4-5.5ft clearance. No moisture issues there. Well the ground is never wet. No mice or critters. Im sure there are bugs but not alot. I also have a scheduled maintenance with an exterminator which comes once a month and sprays around the house ( not in the crawl space). So that should keep alot of them away. What do you think my best options are? Garage, crawl space, or build a samll block storage room under the house and use a trap like door fo access? Thats prob the best but also the biggest pain. What do you all think?

[peejman]

The stuff I have stored is rice and beans in mylar bags vacumed out and has oxygen obsorbers in them. The mylar bags are in plastic buckets with rubber gaskets under the lids. Right now I have them stored in the garage which has no moisture issues and stays decent temp all year except the 2 - 3 HOT months. then the temp might get 90-95, maybe even 100 not completely sure. Anyway, I also have a crawl space with (slopes) 4-5.5ft clearance. No moisture issues there. Well the ground is never wet. No mice or critters. Im sure there are bugs but not alot. I also have a scheduled maintenance with an exterminator which comes once a month and sprays around the house ( not in the crawl space). So that should keep alot of them away. What do you think my best options are? Garage, crawl space, or build a samll block storage room under the house and use a trap like door fo access? Thats prob the best but also the biggest pain. What do you all think?

 

 

If you don't mind getting in/ou of the crawlspace, it's probably the best option.  How often do you need to get at them anyway?  Sounds like your stuff is sealed up quite well.  At the least, you could move them to the crawlspace in June and back to the garage in September.