What can you leave in the cupboards over winter (3 season)
 

I didn’t want to see the suggestions here get lost in the winterizing thread.

But I’m not used to being concerned about stuff in the garage, shop, cellar or kitchen cabinets.

Like is it safe to leave
maple syrup?
Jam?
Peanut butter?
Ketchup?
Liquid Soap?

etc.

It sure would be pain to clear out everything.

We clear out all food and start fresh in the spring. It's not difficult to do if planning meals around what's left.

Any cleaning/chemicals left go into a bucket in case they freeze (never do, but just in case).

Paper products are also used up or taken home. No need to leave nest materials hanging around.

Anything we absolutely don't want to take home we leave in one set of cabinets that is on an interior wall with no rodent access.

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hard liquor

Relax...
 

All those should be safe. Cooking oils, even vinegar, has survived. Glass food containers are stored, winter-long, in the shower.

Only once did we have spaghetti sauce glass jar crack. It stayed mostly intact, so cleanup was fast.

Leave no grains, spaghetti, or bird seed, unless stored in metal tins.

I worried about forgetting our glass "Galileo thermometer", but it's filled with something akin to clear kerosene, and has survived two winters without breaking.

I try to limit stuff being trekked back and forth to Florida (!), so have developed some expertise along these lines! :cool:

I wouldn’t leave any of those things you noted. Besides the possibility of containers cracking, I wouldn’t eat any food or condiment that’s been refrozen a number of times that’s just gross...

Dan

At the beach cottage:

All liquids and all food items, canned or otherwise come home.

We cycle everything into our daily use in the off season.

When opening the cottage in the spring we just start everything anew with a grocery store run.

Our reason is that we don't want anything to freeze, become a critter attractant or go past its shelf life.

Almost everything in the bah room can stay.
We leave cleaning stuff in the kitchen
Food all goes, except spices, cooking oil etc that won't freeze.

Wine will freeze, break the bottle or pop the cork, but hard liquor is usually safe. We take it all, but left a cooler full of bar stuff by mistake one year, and that's what happened. The wine that guests brought "Because it had a unique label" goes into a "Yankee Swap". Sometimes it shows up again in next year's Yankee swap.
Anything you're not sure of, leave in an old cooler or other plastic box and see how it works for you.

Each generation does stuff the previous generation did or didn't do. I think a lot depends on how long a drive it s to the winter home and which place has the best excess storage.
Edit: Batteries for power tools, jump boxes etc should not be allowed to freeze.

Good point on power tool batteries. Thx.

Lots of other good tips. Interesting how each handles it.
Can’t wait to get back to 4 season.

BTW, staying for the next few nights. Really pushing it, I know, down to 15F.
Should be an adventure.

This thread got me to thinking about what may have been left behind when I closed up. What about the ink cartridges in my printer? (First time I've had a printer at the cottage) Will the ink freeze up and make a mess come the Spring thaw?

Don’t leave the ink...been there done that! It won’t make a mess but It doesn’t work after freezing.

Dan

Take the whole thing
 

McDude, my advice is to take the printer home. Depending on the type of printer cartridge, one where the print head is on the cartridge, those can be removed and taken to a warm storage place (home).

Printers where the cartridge is really an ink tank and the ink flows from that to a print head, take the printer home. If you pull the ink tanks, the ink left behind can dry out and block the flow of ink come springtime.

For me, unless it takes three men and a boy to carry the printer, take it home and use it once or twice a month to keep the flow of ink going.

Dave

Damn.......after I'm all packed up and pulling out of the driveway I always think "Now what did I forget?" (There's always something!) Now I know! Thanks, Guys :D

Printer cartridge....
 

I take the cartridges out and put a piece of Scotch tape over the ink nozzles, wrap it tight in plastic wrap and it stays good for quite a while.

Urban Myth...
 

Two years ago, I forgot Corona glass bottles in a carton in the woods. (There's a back-story). Come spring, all was well (except for the carton). :rolleye2:

One year ago, I forgot three Corona glass bottles in the refrigerator. :eek: Come spring, all was well—again! :)

Canned goods are bulletproof. I've exchanged some—fifteen years out of "best" date. The manager didn't even check for dates.

Re-freezing food "depends". A manager from a major food processor (SE Massachusetts) told me, many foods can be repeatedly refrozen: Ice cream is one of the few items that shouldn't be refrozen—even for relatively short periods.

Left over
 

How could anybody have left over Coroina in the woods? Haven't stored Corona in the woods for over 50 years, and never had left overs.

I leave the house at 45 degrees for the winter. I do put sweets like Equal or sugar in the refrigerator just to be sure they are not an attraction to pests.

I have a cabin on the property that is totally shut down and winterized every year. It has an LCD television. One year when we opened up in the spring the television didn't work. I am not sure if they can freeze. LCD = liquid? Now I put the replacement TV in the heated house to be sure.

i have a full basement so leave can goods ( as long as expiration dates last until next summer) I have left wine in basement and it was fine. Olive oil i left and it didn't look good. Vinegar was fine.