Val
Forum Legend
Don't worry, potatoes can last a year or more, if you store them "like soviet people do", lol.
When i was little, we used to store them in our "caisson" (it's a french word), which is basically a gigantic iron container buried under our garage. So almost any basement will do (if you have any).The most important conditions are:
1) Absolute DARKNESS (except when you enter the basement with a flashlight). You need to avoid any light, otherwise solanine appears in potatoes, and it's kinda poisonous (not very deadly, but it may cause troubles);
2) You'll need to check if rodents can't penetrate inside your basement, and (they advise so), just in case, it's important to desinfect the area.
3) Temps must be ~+2°C... +4°C (35.6°F...39.2°F). It mustn't be frozen, otherwise its cells' structure is being destroyed and it becomes disgusting (but it's edible...);
4) Humidity about 70%-85% (not more), otherwise mould will appear. You'll need to use a ventilator ocasionally in order to dry it up;
5) The floor has to be covered with sand, or with anything that absorbs liquids, otherwise mould will cover the walls and then devour the potatoes (mould can be pretty invisible and undetectable by human eye);
6) The best wooden boxes' type for potatoes (we used to have something similar). The boxes are usually put on shelves (not directly on the floor):
7) Oh, and you'll need to tickle (stir) the potatoes every now and then (but very carefully, in order not to cause damage, which can turn into a rotten spot with time). Tickling potatoes helps to decrease the pressure of upper layers on lower layers,- it also helps to find rotten ones and to remove them from the boxes...
I hope you succeed. It's a good idea - to learn how to store potatoes (not because of the approaching apocalypse, but because you'll be able to buy good cheap potatoes in bulk, lets say, at a "vegetable base"). Lol, i don't know what it's called in English, but by saying "vegetable base" i mean this kind of facilities (like a huge clearance of leftovers that were gathered on the fields belonging to the state):
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Toilet paper is in abundance though. Thankfully, russians don't have this idea - to stock up on TP yet. Everything is in abundance, except masks and isopropyl. I told mom to buy a few bottles of 40% vodka, at least (to desinfect masks and surfaces in the future, though 40%-ethanol doesn't actually desinfect anything)... At least there is an enormous supply of vodka everywhere (so there is no threat of running out of vodka, lol).
Elijah (my sister's husband) told it. Elijah works in Mariinsky too (as a choir soloist). All their tours are cancelled. Performances are not cancelled yet (wtf??). Everyone is getting really scared. E.g. tomorrow, mom is going to Koltushi village, where my sister Liza, her husband Elijah and their 16-months son (my nephew baby David) live, because they need her to "baby-sit" David. It's very far from us. So Elijah is going to come here, to our hometown, by his car, deliberately, just in order to take mom to their place, so she won't have to traipse all over the city (especially in the subway), which is unsafe now.
On that radio, they are monitoring the situation quite thoroughly, which affects the listeners' mental health, i believe, but what can we do... Oh, well...
And stay safe.
. I can use it to wash the garage siding as it's has green algae or something on the side.
Now i can use it at work and even without water! (because it's not very foamy, and feels more like cream that can be just wiped away from hands with a towel or a handkerchief). I can even play piano with this soap on hands (i checked it out!). Moreover, i got an unexpected bonus out of it: it's capable of moisturizing my tzipki (and other parts of irritated skin). It was sold out yesterday. People have bought almost all liquid soap in so-called "frogs" (soft plastic containers), because it's very convenient.
