Bought a freezer on sale but wow--expensive to fill it!

**AspiringToBeFrugal** · 09-06-2008, 04:34 PM

DH and I bought a 5 cu. foot freezer from Sears this week (we live in an apartment so we only have room for one this size) for $20 off the original price. Then, rather than pay $40 for them to deliver it to our house, my cousin donated the use of his Tahoe to get it to our house.

I'm SUPER excited about having a freezer--thinking about all the stockpiling/preparing for winter we can do. But then DH and I went to Wal-Mart today to pick up a few groceries and HOLY COW! It's going to be expensive to fill our freezer! I really started looking at how much stuff costs there (it's not our usual place to get groceries) and I swear it's almost more expensive to shop there than at Kroger. Not to mention, we have to drive three miles north (as opposed to a mile for Kroger) to get there THEN battle the crowds. Have you found that to be true?

Well, I'll just have to do better at watching sales and such to help me freeze my future bounty! (BTW--I'm getting a huge shipment of pears and peaches from my cousin tomorrow--their youth group was selling produce!)

**justpeachy92** · 09-06-2008, 04:53 PM

Where I live it is very common for the stores to mark down packages of meat on Wed. or Thurs., there is nothing wrong with this meat, they just like to put the freshest stuff out for the weekend shoppers. I have found that friday nights and saturdays are the worst days to go to any grocery store, is when people just got paid so everyone is out. In my area Wed. mornings in the store are wonderful, very few people are there other than store employees.

**elphie** · 09-06-2008, 07:03 PM

We fill our freezer with meat bought directly from the farm. We buy 1/4 side of beef and 1/2 side of pork at a time. The beef in the spring, the pork in the fall and both last our family of four for about a year. A major expense up front but it saves us greatly in the long run.

The last beef we purchased came to $2.09/lb including the processing. That's what we would be paying for the lowest quality ground beef at the store and we got porterhouse, t-bone, sirloin, and cubed steak; we also got several very nice roasts and a LOT of really high quality ground beef.

Its been a while since we bought pork and I can't remember what we paid but I know it was significantly less than the cheapest cuts at the store and, again, we go the finest cuts including bacon, ham, sausage, roasts, pork chops, and pork steaks.

**cissylu** · 09-06-2008, 07:06 PM

Glad you found a deal on your freezer.

**Pemberleyan** · 09-06-2008, 07:27 PM

Kroger is one of the most expensive stores in our area, and it and Walmart are both about an hour's drive.

You'll truly be surprised how quickly you can fill a freezer that size. Watch your store's sales on meat and stock up that way. Because we live so far from shopping, we have a large freezer and really enjoy having it.

**i.m.cheap** · 09-06-2008, 07:41 PM

I stock our freezer with sale items. Our Dillon's (Kroger owned) store has the best sales. When things are on sale, they are cheaper than Wal-Mart. When Kroger has their store brand of frozen vegetables 10/$10, I buy some of those for the freezer.

**dcompton** · 09-06-2008, 08:24 PM

I too find I do about as well at Kroger as Walmart. They're higher on some things, lower on others.

You do need to get the freezer full - it will run more efficiently and save on electricity, though one that size really doesn't use much. If nothing else, pop your flour, pasta, rice, etc, in there - just not all at once. Or cook some beans, soup, and such and freeze it until you can build up your stock of meat. Even bottles of water will help.

**Jamauk** · 09-06-2008, 08:51 PM

well, we're coming up on turkey season. This is how we filled our freezer last year. (link will take you to an old thread of mine)

**frugalbabe** · 09-06-2008, 09:49 PM

Originally Posted by elphie

We fill our freezer with meat bought directly from the farm. We buy 1/4 side of beef and 1/2 side of pork at a time. The beef in the spring, the pork in the fall and both last our family of four for about a year. A major expense up front but it saves us greatly in the long run.

Timely post dh and I were just discussing if it would pay for us to buy a quarter beef and a whole pork. We have a massive freezer. I always balk at the price tag of $500 or so but if that meat along with our wild game would last us a year (for a family of 6) that would be well worth it.

**C@rol** · 09-07-2008, 11:06 AM

Originally Posted by Jamauk

well, we're coming up on turkey season. This is how we filled our freezer last year. (link will take you to an old thread of mine)

Thanks, I'm going to use your brillant idea too.

**Cricketlegs** · 09-07-2008, 11:42 AM

If I make it to Super one Foods on time I can get a freezer load of quick sale meats and I am often lucky that way.

It helps and I also buy frozen veggies and things of that nature.

In the fridge freezer I just keep ice cream, juice cans and the like.

**hippytreehugger4ever** · 09-07-2008, 04:59 PM

Wow, I have a 24.5 cf freezer and that puppy was crammed full within a month-for 2 people! If you get today's paper there are awesome coupons for different brands of frozen vegetables, and my mom is getting the green giant ones free with coupons because their on sale. I think February is frozen food mont-great time to stock up! I also store all of my flour and grains in the freezer and chop up different vegetables, mix them up, and put them in individual containers in the freezer for soup so I wont have to do all that chopping later on.

**misscas** · 09-07-2008, 11:19 PM

Check out angelfoodministries.com. For $30, you can get $75 worth of food. Most of it is name brand stuff. Some of it is convenience food though. For another $20, you have your choice of several meat packages. There are no income guidelines and you can buy as many packages as you want. This is a very cheap way to fill your freezer.

**cheles2kids** · 09-08-2008, 09:23 AM

YAY YOU!!!! Congrats on your freezer!!!

Also, don't dismiss your local warehouse store: Sam's Club, Costco, BJ's, etc.
I don't know where you live or which you have locally, but the only thing close to use anymore is Sam's Club.

I've gotten great deals on reduced meat in the family packs. For just two people, one of these would probably do at least 6 meals or so, if you have a way to repackage it, without it getting freezer burned.
We repackage alot of things that we buy there, even pizza sauce, using the ice cube tray idea.
One can of sauce will last our family of 4 about 1.5 months, that's with making 2 pizzas every single week.
At our local Sam's club, one can costs us around $4.00 or so.

**Patty A** · 09-08-2008, 12:33 PM

another place to find real good deals for the freezer is the day old bakery places. The bread is often much fresher than what you get at the stores, and a real bargin price. I can't bake at home for what I get bread for at the place I pick it up. It is a two hour drive from here so we only go there when we have to go in to the city area for other reasons, no special trips, but it does pay us to stop there on our way home. I bring it home, let it sit at room temp for about 1 hour, then place it all in the freezer and it last for a month or until we go back to the city. For every 10 dollars you spend you get a free loaf of bread, so sometimes you get all your bread free. I buy all my bread, hot dog, and hamburger buns, english muffins, bagels, and rolls there. It really does save, check your area for the day old bakery's they really do save you a ton of money.