Ground Temprature
 

Hey all I was wondering about MRE's and storing them. I live in a hot and humid climate, I.E. The east piny woods of Texas. And when looking at MRE specs they don't last too long above 80deg. I was wondering what burying these things 4' under the earth would get them. I can't find a thermometer probe long enough, but I would be curious as to the temperature that far under, when it's July, 92 and 80% humidity here in Tejas. Anyone crazy enough like me to wonder about this kinda stuff?

Re: Ground Temprature
 

In discussions of geothermal energy, I have heard that underground temperature throughout most of the U.S. ranges between 45 and 65 degrees most of the year.

My sense is that you're okay burying them.

Google "geothermal ground temperature" to confirm this.

Re: Ground Temprature
 

My great grand parents lived in a small Texas town called Tioga. It is north of Denton.

Which puts it smack dab in the middle of tornado alley. So they had a storm shelter. It was about eight feet down. Well, it had about two/three feet of dirt on top, so it was probably only about five feet down in actuality.

It was ALWAYS about 65 degrees. It was also their root cellar where they stored all their canned goods. NEVER had a problem with storage.

Re: Ground Temprature
 

You could bury a piece of double wall black plastic culvert in a hillside and leave an opening where it could be easily exposed by a little digging. A culvert with an inside diameter over 12 1/2 inches would accomodate 6 gallon paint buckets. This way you could have several buckets of food easily accessible, cool, yet well hidden and impossible to find with metal detectors. The culvert could be positioned at a slant so that removal of buckets would be easy.

Re: Ground Temprature
 

If your home has a crawl space, it is usually much less extreme than the outside temps as well.

Re: Ground Temprature
 

From my youthful days as a spelunker, the caves thru this area run mid-50's year round.

But the depth would need to be a bit more than 4' probably. My water line is buried about 3' and I can definitely tell a difference in the water temp of the cold in mid summer versus mid winter......gets quite a bit more moderate in summer, which means at 3', the temp is affected by air temps.

Re: Ground Temprature
 

Thanks fellas. I just now have to find out how deep I can go without hitting water. Another thing that makes the dirt either like cement, or like mud around here is rain. It had rained for a while around here and the digging was easy. During the drier times the same dirt is like rock or scrabble. I'd hate to have to unearth things during a drought. Maybe the culvert idea would be better with some loose topsoil.

Re: Ground Temprature
 

Dave, there is a thread on here somewhere, in this forum, on building a small root cellar. Some food storage books have that too.

Looks like you would have to have some watertight containers inside your cool space too, but you are for sure on the right track.

The food storage pits that are not like storm cellars, but just for putting food in, have been used all over the world for the even temperature of the earth. In cold climates it keeps the food from freezing. Generally some kind of fairly easy to open lid is added, then a pile of whatever you have for insulation -- leaves, hay, old carpeting, etc.