My mom and dad's old house has a vestibule at the front door. Underneath it is a "cubby-hole" in the basement. There's a hole in the wall from knee height up to the ceiling with a thick plywood door on it, and a step-stool in front of it. It's like a root cellar in the house, the same size as the vestibule which has a toy chest built in on one side and a coat closet on the other. The cubby-hole has wooden shelves built in which used to be full of home canned food, with a big bag of potatoes on the floor, and a sack or 2 of onions hanging from the rafters. My mom had a large coffee can full of potatoes under the kitchen sink, and another one full of onions. That was enough to feed the family for a day, or herself for a week or two, and the rest were in the cool, dark, cellar. She had a curtain hanging between the vestibule and living room so cold air wouldn't blow through the house when you opened the front door in winter. Every house should probably have a vestibule at the front door and a mud room in the back. I don't have either one.