When great-grandma stored fresh vegetables, she used a root cellar or put them in small wooden nail kegs covered with dirt in the back yard. This afforded the family fresh vegetables throughout the winter. I haven’t seen too many root cellars where I live. I don’t even know if nails come in kegs anymore. In this day and age we need to adapt.

Did you ever reach for an onion or garlic and find they’ve rotted? Here’s a solution a friend sent me the other day.

1. Put the onions and garlic in separate paper sandwich bags.

2. These are regular sandwich bags, but you have to prepare them first. Take a hole punch, fold the sandwich bag in half lengthwise, and punch holes every half inch down both sides. You want air to circulate around the vegetable.

3. Only fill the bag half full with your onions or garlic.

4. Fold the top over once and secure with a paper clip.

5. Label the contents with a magic marker.

6. Store in a dark place that doesn’t exceed 70 degrees F.

7. Avoid crowding the bags.

8. Avoid storing the vegetables in plastic bags and refrigerators. This will make them rot faster.

9. Store the onions and garlic separate from potatoes. The gasses they emit will cause both to rot quicker if stored in the same bin.

This is much easier than making a trip to the root cellar or digging up a nail keg from the back yard, don’t you think?