An abundance of acorn squash - now what?

I planted a few acorn squash this year not knowing what was germinating in my compost pile - and now have more acorn squash than I've ever seen in one place! I read that they are best stored at 50-55 degrees f. Any suggestions on how to keep an area at that temperature? My garage is uninsulated and fluctuates with the outdoor temps; maybe some kind of insulated box or ? I don't have air conditioning so can't keep a room that cool.
Any suggestions appreciated!
Ronaye

[moray-eel-bite]

The other option is simply dicing and freezing it. If you have a large enough freezer.

[mensplace]

Assuming they have dried til the vines are dry, they next need to dry either in the sun or at least a totally dry, sunny place. Humidity or dank dark, cold, moist places will guarantee mold and rot. You might try a quick dip in a gallon of water with a tablespoon of bleach for a few minutes, rinse, then dry thoroughly to kill any spores and bacteria before that drying process. The skin/shells need to harden a bit before storage. They don't have the thick shells of other varieties, so if you save them for six months that's pretty good. I cook mine in the microwave whole after removing the seeds. They can be used whether you use middle eastern spices or the classic New England mix. Some folks today even advocate eating the skins when fresh..not for me.

[joseph]

I store winter squash in the non-heated spare bedroom. It's slightly cooler than normal room temperature, say around 60 to 65. They store for months. I start them out in the garage, but when temperatures start getting near freezing I move them inside into the spare bedroom. My woman always tells me that we can process them and freeze winter squash, but I don't understand why I would try to preserve something that stores well on the shelf. Acorn squash has a shelf life of 3 months so I can understand that, but I don't understand butternuts that have a shelf life of up to a year.

Thanks, folks. After doing more reading today I'm thinking about the freezer, if there's any room left with all these tomatoes stuffed in there. Will definitely keep some fresh as long as possible, but it sounds as if Acorn is about the fussiest of the winter squash when it comes to storage. Good news for the food bank, anyway! There are a ton of these puppies hiding out in my yard!

[joseph]

I donated about 800 pounds of butternut squash to the food pantry last week. I can only store or eat so much squash. I eat an abundance during the winter causing my skin to turn orange, but even I have my limits.

We need a "like" button here.

[Tomato Beth]

You can can them if you have a pressure canner and can them in pieces.