diff --git a/vars/redhat-7.yml b/vars/redhat-7.yml
index 00f8b967..ec1b250e 100644
--- a/vars/redhat-7.yml
+++ b/vars/redhat-7.yml
@@ -53,6 +53,7 @@ lxc_cache_map:
     /usr/bin/wget https://dl.fedoraproject.org/pub/epel/epel-release-latest-7.noarch.rpm -O /tmp/epel-release-latest-7.noarch.rpm
     /usr/bin/rpm -ivh /tmp/epel-release-latest-7.noarch.rpm || true
     yum clean all
+    mkdir -p /var/backup
 
 lxc_cache_packages:
   - ca-certificates
diff --git a/vars/ubuntu-14.04.yml b/vars/ubuntu-14.04.yml
index 98efdb7f..8de4501b 100644
--- a/vars/ubuntu-14.04.yml
+++ b/vars/ubuntu-14.04.yml
@@ -60,6 +60,7 @@ lxc_cache_map:
     chmod 700 /root/.ssh
     userdel --force --remove ubuntu || true
     apt-get clean
+    mkdir -p /var/backup
 
 # This forces any modified configurations to remain, and any unmodified configs to be replaced
 # ref: http://serverfault.com/questions/259226/automatically-keep-current-version-of-config-files-when-apt-get-install
diff --git a/vars/ubuntu-16.04.yml b/vars/ubuntu-16.04.yml
index 529ac54d..4d1eae56 100644
--- a/vars/ubuntu-16.04.yml
+++ b/vars/ubuntu-16.04.yml
@@ -64,6 +64,7 @@ lxc_cache_map:
     chmod 700 /root/.ssh
     userdel --force --remove ubuntu || true
     apt-get clean
+    mkdir -p /var/backup
 
 # This forces any modified configurations to remain, and any unmodified configs to be replaced
 # ref: http://serverfault.com/questions/259226/automatically-keep-current-version-of-config-files-when-apt-get-install