Should I keep it?

[jas]

I have a few questions to ask all of you. I have a small chest freezer that I am thinking of getting rid of in a garage sale in about two weeks. I have and will keep a tall standing freezer, also the freezer in my kitchen. (side by side) Right now and for a good bit of time the sm chest freezer has just been empty. Big waste on more than one issue. Now before I made my mind up I wanted to know these staples are okay to freeze and for how long approx.
I would consider keeping it and storing staple type items in it.

flour, all types
sugar, brown sugar, powdered sugar, butter
dried beans, all types, rice (not boxed)

thanks for any input!

getting inspiration from all of you who are trying to store up for a year, not saying I can do that but maybe on some items.

[madhen]

Some of it would depend on how old/energy-efficient the freezer is. My utility company just informed me that any refrigerator over ten years old is NOT energy efficient.

Also, if you rotate your stock as you eat it, do you really need to freeze your dry goods?

[TexasPeanut]

I would consider keeping it, if it did provide me with the needed storage space. If it's going to sit empty or half full then maybe not. I do in fact freeze flour, butter, sugar, dried beans, and rice. I keep all sorts of dried goods like that in my extra freezer just to keep them lasting longer. (Some are recommended to be kept there for long storage to prevent possible bugs or weevils getting to them.) Brown sugar has been common to keep in the freezer because it keeps it moist and not dry, you just have to pull it out a few minutes in advance to be able to scoop it. I've kept items like this in my deep freezer up to a year. Be sure you wrap or place them in a sealed bag, especially the flour so it doesn't pick up any freezer odors. Butter freezers quite nicely as well.

[Gardengal18]

I didn't even think one could freeze dry goods. I keep all mine in the walk-in pantry (cool dark place)

[TexasPeanut]

I didn't even think one could freeze dry goods. I keep all mine in the walk-in pantry (cool dark place)

I keep half of what I have on hand in my pantry/stockpile room as well but the other half I keep in the deep freezer. For example if I have 4 bags of reg. and wheat flour on hand (and I do go through flour at a pretty decent rate with baking and breadmaking) I keep 2 in the freezer just to keep them "fresh" until I use them. I learned that a long time ago from a local bakery.

[jas]

The freezer is not that old maybe four years. My dh got it for me when I first started to stock pile. It proved too small pretty quickly so then we got the larger stand up one.

I had started to put smaller amounts of flour, and rice in the freezer to kill any eggs but then just started to keep in there. Here in Florida there are not too many cool dry places. With the air on in the summer is the coldest it gets. We do turn off the air from about now (mid Oct- Nov.) It is not cool by any stretch and if I wanted to keep larger amounts I would feel better if they were able to be put in the freezer.
I would think the beans and rice would be okay to freeze. Should I take them out of their bags and repackage?

thanks

[crazyBMB]

I think it depends on it's age and if it really is a good idea for the type of family

[katybug]

I would say unplug it, and move it out of the way for awhile. Give yourself some time to think about it. I would like another freezer, I have my side by side but it is tiny and a small chest freezer. I want enough space to store my food stuffs and my perpared foods and have enough room to move around without stuffing it full (like mine is out)

Seriously, one 17lb turkey and that is it for my chest freezer!

It would cost you more to get rid of it and get another one. I find if I'm having second thoughts about getting rid of something, I need to think about it a bit longer. I recently went through several years and many many purging sessions of stuff. The first time around it was defiantly get rid of, not sure, don't want to get rid of. Every time I did one of these sessions it cleared my mind for the next round. I'm in a much better place now. (This was 26 years worth of stuff, everything from early childhood on up I wasn't sure about until recently).

~KB

[Pemberleyan]

Don't unplug it yet -- I don't know if newer freezers are different, but I destroyed a chest freezer that way. I moved and put it in storage for a while. They cannot sit up for an extended period of time -- something about the freon being inert for a while -- maybe acid is produced. Again, newer freezers may not do this any more.

I keep flour, cereal, and butter in the freezer. I package the butter again within zip loc bags to keep out any "freezer" taste.

[Jamauk]

I freeze my butter & flour. I haven't heard of freezing sugar/beans/rice ~ but I don't see how it would hurt.

If you are trying to build your stockpile, I would lean towards keeping it. I have a side by side in the kitchen, a fridge/top freezer in the garage and a 25 cu ft chest freezer in the garage and they are all packed full. In fact, my chore for tomorrow is to reorganize the chest freezer and take a turkey out so I can fit all of the bread in that I bought the other day.