Small wine cooler for storing onions and carrots and other small everyday items?

[INresponse]

Just a wild thought but would it be an interesting idea to use a small wine cooler, with the glass door, to store everyday cooking items that need to be kept cold but usually end up getting lost in the fridge? With a larger family we constantly get things pushed to the back of the fridge or placed in areas where they are normally not kept and then they get lost until they need to be thrown out. The crisper drawers here are usually filled with lunch meat and blocks of cheese and the shelves on the door are full of things like mustard and and mayo and whatever other stuff the GF and the kids require.

I just refilled the water in my tea mug and there is part of an onion in a ziplock sandwich bag on the counter. Which is fine, but somehow that got me thinking to small items getting lost in the usually full fridge. With a small wine cooler, with a clear glass door and several shelves spaced for wine bottles, I was thinking it would be the ideal size to store small, everyday type items like onions, baby carrots, celery, salsa, cream cheese, and other smaller items but it would look nicer than a small, cheap3 cubic foot fridge. The couple I looked at real quick do chill down to about 38* so they would be cold enough for food storage.

 

[Pearl]

Just a wild thought but would it be an interesting idea to use a small wine cooler, with the glass door, to store everyday cooking items that need to be kept cold but usually end up getting lost in the fridge? With a larger family we constantly get things pushed to the back of the fridge or placed in areas where they are normally not kept and then they get lost until they need to be thrown out. The crisper drawers here are usually filled with lunch meat and blocks of cheese and the shelves on the door are full of things like mustard and and mayo and whatever other stuff the GF and the kids require.

I just refilled the water in my tea mug and there is part of an onion in a ziplock sandwich bag on the counter. Which is fine, but somehow that got me thinking to small items getting lost in the usually full fridge. With a small wine cooler, with a clear glass door and several shelves spaced for wine bottles, I was thinking it would be the ideal size to store small, everyday type items like onions, baby carrots, celery, salsa, cream cheese, and other smaller items but it would look nicer than a small, cheap3 cubic foot fridge. The couple I looked at real quick do chill down to about 38* so they would be cold enough for food storage.

Great idea!

 

[SheepDog]

Maybe place a small glass of water to keep the humidity for root veggies.
Excellent idea!

 

[Terri9630]

You can store onions in a cool, dark place. They don't like to be cold.

 

[joel]

If you have a small space, then a cooler will work.
I would look into a root cellar or small walk in cooler, so as to max my space with all the fruits/vegetables.

 

[INresponse]

If you have a small space, then a cooler will work.
I would look into a root cellar or small walk in cooler, so as to max my space with all the fruits/vegetables.

I don't think I have enough room on the counter or in the cabinet area for a root cellar.

I was just tossing out the idea of the small wine fridge that has the clear glass door so you can see what is where and it can be grabbed real quick. Obvious a luxury item, not too many people would consider it, but it's a thought for those with a very large kitchen area.

 

[joel]

I don't think I have enough room on the counter or in the cabinet area for a root cellar.

I was just tossing out the idea of the small wine fridge that has the clear glass door so you can see what is where and it can be grabbed real quick. Obvious a luxury item, not too many people would consider it, but it's a thought for those with a very large kitchen area.

Still if one likes wine or beer, even cold sodas, then top shelf for drinks & the rest for vegetables.

 

[Terri9630]

I don't think I have enough room on the counter or in the cabinet area for a root cellar.

I was just tossing out the idea of the small wine fridge that has the clear glass door so you can see what is where and it can be grabbed real quick. Obvious a luxury item, not too many people would consider it, but it's a thought for those with a very large kitchen area.

A solid door would be better. Light is the enemy of stored vegetables.

 

[zoomzoom]

Bump.
So, I put my harvested onions in the bottom 2 drawers of my beer fridge.
The fridge now reeks of onions. Will that smell go away after some time?
Will the onions rot quicker if I put them in plastic or ziploc bags then put them back in the drawers?

 

[Pearl]

Bump.
So, I put my harvested onions in the bottom 2 drawers of my beer fridge.
The fridge now reeks of onions. Will that smell go away after some time?
Will the onions rot quicker if I put them in plastic or ziploc bags then put them back in the drawers?

Open a box of baking soda and put it in the fridge! You may have to wipe the inside of the fridge down with vinegar!! Not sure if the bags would help. Do you have a cool dark place to store the onions instead of the fridge? Drink a bunch of the beer!!

 

[zoomzoom]

The only cool, dark place I have is the basement. It's in the 60's down there but I don't think I want 100+ onions down there for the same smell issue.
I'll do the baking soda. I don't think the smell will bother the beer.

 

[Pearl]

The only cool, dark place I have is the basement. It's in the 60's down there but I don't think I want 100+ onions down there for the same smell issue.
I'll do the baking soda. I don't think the smell will bother the beer.

The smell won't bother the beer, but the whole situation will seem a lot better if you drink a bunch of it!!

 

[zoomzoom]

The smell won't bother the beer, but the whole situation will seem a lot better if you drink a bunch of it!!

Oh, I'm on top of that. Must have been preparing for this onion situation for many, many moons.

 

[backlash]

I hang onions in the pump house. It stays cool year round. I try to have 100 pounds stored by the end of the season and they last till March of the next year. I don't notice any strong smell either.
The best onions I have stored are Candie Sweets and Walla Walla sweets.
The refer has the same problem as other storage places. Things get pushed to the back and forgotten.
I need to empty it and toss all the stuff that's way past the best by date. 5 year old salad dressing does not appeal to me.
When we bought a new refrigerator I put the old one outside and use it to store drinks and seasonal stuff.

 

[zoomzoom]

The refer has the same problem as other storage places. Things get pushed to the back and forgotten.

That won't be an issue in the beer fridge. All that's in there is beer, some bottled water and... onions.

I do know what you mean about things getting buried. For that reason, I bought a separate upright freezer just for meat. I hated it when we went to clean out a chest freezer and at the bottom was meat that was old. Mrs. Zoom can have a couple freezers for "stuff" but I'm not going to waste meat.

We're currently running 5 fridge/freezer combos and 4 deep freezers and have a couple more in reserve (in the event of one of them failing or we buy a large purchase like a whole cow and need to fire up another).

 

[Magus]

Genius idea! a hotel room fridge might fit the bill too!

 

[PopPopT]

It's not small, but...

We had a fairly large (25 cu ft ish?) upright freezer that was getting kinda tired so we replaced it. But, the old one still worked. What I did was got a thermostatically controlled outlet that connects to a thermometer on a wire that gets put inside of the freezer. It turns it on and off such that it will maintain whatever temperature you set the thing for, within a range, of course. I set mine to 52 degrees and it runs between about 50 and 55 degrees. It's cool but not cold. Some of our veggies like that, things like cucumbers, squash, okra, stuff like that. We like to be able to save some for market that otherwise wouldn't keep quite long enough. It's worked well for us.

Maybe not what you wanted exactly but figured I'd share anyway. I only wish it were a chest type freezer rather than upright as every time I open the door, I get a lot of cold air rushing out and it has to run. Not bad when it's kept closed. But... we already had it.

Good luck!

 

[Amish Heart]

We ended up with a couple of small dorm room sized fridges from our kid's college days. One is in our bedroom closet with cold drinks. And orange juice, in case husband's blood sugar drops too low at night. The other is in our laundry room. I use it to store cheese in.

 

[zoomzoom]

Well, after a day, the smell went away. I guess they're not as pungent at cold temperatures.

 

[Pearl]

I would still stick a box of baking soda in there if you are going to put more onions in there!!

 

[backlash]

I read an article that said if you were looking for a small refrigerator anything else that would be used in a college dorm wait till the last week of classes and then keep a close eye on the local bulletin boards or post wanted notices on them.
They said the students returning home get rid of stuff cheap or even free.