Containers for Storing Potatoes

The weather has been rainy.  My muscles are sore.  And I am digging potatoes more quickly than we can find containers in which to put them.

I called a local business man who is in the nursery trade.  Earlier this year he offered me a bunch of the pots that trees are sold in.  Customers turn them back in more quickly than he can reuse them.  Part of his dilemma is that he does not have a good way to sterilize them for reuse.

Roger still had them.  He would not take any money for them.  He said I could pay him with potatoes.

Twenty nursery pots of assorted sizes and styles.  Clearly, some of these are better suited to meet my needs than others.  But which ones?

If I had to pick just one I would probably go with  this one.  It is a "five gallon, squat".  By volume, potatoes "in the round" weigh about 4.7 pounds per gallon.  A five gallon container holds about 23 pounds.  A seven gallon container holds about 33 (the limit of what Mrs ERJ wants to dead-lift) and a ten gallon container holds about 47 pounds.

One of the endearing characteristics of the Classic 2100 (21 liters) are these handles.

One consideration regarding the choice of storage containers is the weight.  Since a container could well be in use for ten years one must think about our physical capabilities when we are ten or fifteen years older.  This might not apply to you if you are 27 years old but it is something old geezers like me need to think about.

And if we are guys, we must think about our better half.  Mrs ERJ can bend over and handle a seven gallon pot filled with potatoes (33 pounds, measured) today.  She would not want to fill a semi-trailer load of them but she can move them around.  Ten years from now?  The 23 pound, five gallon pot with the big, grippy handles will be the better choice.