We eat a lot of potatoes here – there are two teenagers in our household- need I say more? I had grown a couple of potato plants here or there as I had room over the years as my vegetable garden overtook the flowers, but as soon as I had space, I planted more. We ate them as “new potatoes” in the summer and then had great fun harvesting them in September (more later about the method I use – no digging and clean harvest – it’s great!).
However, I stared at four 5-gallon buckets full of organic potatoes (these days, worth a lot 
with no idea how I was going to store them. I searched my gardening books and the internet and came up with these options:
1. Cool basement (not in this house)
2. Root Cellar (hey-we live in the West – I don’t know anyone with a root cellar!)
3. Bury a plastic trash bin in the ground with the lid at ground level (dig 4 feet down? Uh…I don’t think so)
4. Make an above-ground “root cellar” with straw bales and plastic (too complicated, not to mention sounds like an eyesore)
5. Build a cold storage room in your garage (no garage at the time, and build a whole room for a few potatoes?)
Honestly, I couldn’t find anything easy or within my abilities. I actually was a little discouraged and started thinking about all the dishes with potatoes in them I was going to have to make over the next few weeks…
Then I read somewhere online about someone putting some potatoes in a cooler (the kind you take camping) for about a month. I thought, well, if they don’t last longer, it’s still better than nothing. So I found our old cooler out in a shed:
And loaded it with potatoes. In September. It was about 3/4 full that first year. I kept it out in the shed and would go “shopping” for potatoes whenever I needed them. They lasted until the middle of January! The last ones were starting to sprout a little, but they were still good. I’ve since learned you can choose varieties that store better and I also now use up the varieties first that aren’t good storage potatoes.
So today when I when out to get some potatoes for dinner this is what I found:
We have about 1/3 of this cooler yet to go (I filled 1 and 1/2 coolers this year) and they still look pretty good for this time of year. They will probably last another month, getting us all the way from September to March this year – just in time for planting a new batch!
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they don’t get wrinkly and kinda spongy feeling when you store them this way?
Nope, its kinda like storing them in the frige, which I read recently that America’s Test Kitchen did a test and found it’s fine to store potatoes in the frige- contrary to what we’ve always been told! And that’s been my experience, too. I’ve cooked them directly from the coolers (and they’ve been cold) and never tasted any difference.
Now, about March there will be a few getting soft or sprouting more, and I set them to the side for planting – shriveled and soft is fine for replanting. A few will go bad throughout the storage period, and when I’m there getting the ones we need, I just toss them. I think that’s to be expected with any stored food for that amount of time.
Every year I’m just more amazed at how well they hold up – I just got the last good ones last night for roasted potatoes!
Jami
I think I’ll be giving your cooler method a shot this year. I am new to this couponing thing and I found your blog thru becentables site. I like that you have all these gardening tips and recipes on here. I am looking forward to the frugal home improvement tips you commented on adding to your blog. I just want to say thanks. I’m a new mommy and try to save where I can. Keep up the good work!
Thanks again,
rachel
Rachel-
Thanks so much for your comments- I love when readers let me know what they’re liking! It’s one of the best parts of blogging.
I’m searching for our pictures of our house projects, and when I get them in order, I will be able to post about them.
There are lots of different ways to save- good for you for trying to find what works for you- and I hope I can help some!
I was searching for this post just yesterday after I bought 50lbs of organic potatoes from someone local who grew to many ( I didn’t plant any this year ) I couldn’t find it!! I put them in a box in a cuboard in the garage but am now going to move some of them into a cooler and put them in the garden shed and see what happens to both. I just took some organic potatoes from the grocery store ($8.99 regular price, I paid 2.99 for 5lbs) out of the fridge and cooked them for potato salad and they turned out great!! I think I will plan to grow my own potatoes again next year. Thanks for all the info!