My vegetable storage cupboard which is ... well ... more than just a mere storage cupboard !This is my vegetable storage cupboard (which I mentioned in a recent post on how I buy and store my vegetables which you can read here). It came with the house, so I’m not sure who built it, but it has been well made out of a solid, untreated wood. It stands in the corner of my pantry (or ‘food store room’ as we call it here) but used to stand in the kitchen. I moved it because the pantry is cooler, darker and the fruit and vegetables last better in it than they did in the kitchen.
The sides are covered with mosquito gauze which keeps insects and flies out. I usually store my potatoes, sweet potatoes and onions on the top shelf and my ginger, garlic, lemons, limes, tomatoes and some fruit on the second shelf and then things like pumpkins and melons below. There is no reason for this other than the fact that my 3 year old loves to open the cupboard and remove items to throw around, chew and play with … and by storing the heavy melons etc on the lower shelves (they’re mostly too heavy for her to pick up) the smaller items like potatoes etc remain “safe”. (Oooooh … do I sound like a terrible mother or what ?!)
She actually loves to get onto the bottom shelf of the cupboard and close the door behind her (“I’m hiding Mummy, and you’ll NEVER find me !”) – this drives Dibble crazy and he thinks it’s a great ‘game’ to bark at her in there. Once she even locked poor Tessa in the bottom shelf (for all of 10 minutes) until I came to rescue her, poor cat !
My husband likes to store slightly wet biltong (a dried meat snack) on the top shelf until it dries out completely (no flies can get to it, so it’s the perfect place) and Justin often leaves a large pot of freshly cooked rice for the dog’s food on a middle shelf until it has cooled enough to put in the fridge.
We keep a crate of soda’s on the top of the cupboard (out of reach of my daughter, once again) as the glass bottles are quite breakable. It’s also a great place to hide things I don’t want her to have. Like the annoying whistle she was blowing on non stop all day last week (“Well YOU bought it for her !” my husband was quick to point out to me when I complained about it). As soon as she forgot about it I hid it on top of the cupboard. Then later, when she asked me where it was I said “Oh no, have you lost it ? How annoying, I wonder where it could be ?” with the most innocent voice I could muster.
So you see, this is not merely a boring old “Vegetable Storage Cupboard” but rather a “Fruit & Vegetable storage/biltong drier/toddler hideout/cat cage/rice cooler/whistle hiding cupboard”. I recommend that you get one for yourself, it’ll provide you with hours of fun and entertainment – who needs TV, eh ? (Or … maybe … just maybe …. I should get off the farm more often ?!)
The sides are covered with mosquito gauze which keeps insects and flies out. I usually store my potatoes, sweet potatoes and onions on the top shelf and my ginger, garlic, lemons, limes, tomatoes and some fruit on the second shelf and then things like pumpkins and melons below. There is no reason for this other than the fact that my 3 year old loves to open the cupboard and remove items to throw around, chew and play with … and by storing the heavy melons etc on the lower shelves (they’re mostly too heavy for her to pick up) the smaller items like potatoes etc remain “safe”. (Oooooh … do I sound like a terrible mother or what ?!)
She actually loves to get onto the bottom shelf of the cupboard and close the door behind her (“I’m hiding Mummy, and you’ll NEVER find me !”) – this drives Dibble crazy and he thinks it’s a great ‘game’ to bark at her in there. Once she even locked poor Tessa in the bottom shelf (for all of 10 minutes) until I came to rescue her, poor cat !
My husband likes to store slightly wet biltong (a dried meat snack) on the top shelf until it dries out completely (no flies can get to it, so it’s the perfect place) and Justin often leaves a large pot of freshly cooked rice for the dog’s food on a middle shelf until it has cooled enough to put in the fridge.
We keep a crate of soda’s on the top of the cupboard (out of reach of my daughter, once again) as the glass bottles are quite breakable. It’s also a great place to hide things I don’t want her to have. Like the annoying whistle she was blowing on non stop all day last week (“Well YOU bought it for her !” my husband was quick to point out to me when I complained about it). As soon as she forgot about it I hid it on top of the cupboard. Then later, when she asked me where it was I said “Oh no, have you lost it ? How annoying, I wonder where it could be ?” with the most innocent voice I could muster.
So you see, this is not merely a boring old “Vegetable Storage Cupboard” but rather a “Fruit & Vegetable storage/biltong drier/toddler hideout/cat cage/rice cooler/whistle hiding cupboard”. I recommend that you get one for yourself, it’ll provide you with hours of fun and entertainment – who needs TV, eh ? (Or … maybe … just maybe …. I should get off the farm more often ?!)
