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What do you recommend in a freezer?

1K views 10 replies 11 participants last post by  Grainlady 
#1 ·
DH and I have decided to buy a freezer for our stockpile growth. We know we will probably buy new, because we want energy star efficiency since this is an add on to our electric bill.

Do you have any recommendations for brands, features, determining the right size freezer to buy, etc. Has anyone had both an upright and a chest freezer and what do you prefer and why?

Where do you keep your freezer? We are wondering if we should keep ours in the barn vs. the basement.
 
#2 · (Edited)
I have a 15 cubic ft upright by Fridgidare and I love it. I used to have a chest freezer and it was nice but you couldnt see what was underneath things and then I got back aches.
I have had my upright for almost 4 yrs now and have had no issues. We are a family of 4 and it holds plenty. I like that it defrosts itself and I have it set up with one shelf is chicken, one pork etc. I keep it in our basement and have not had any issues with that either
 
#3 ·
I have had both..I think that I can get more in a chest type but the upright is easyer to see what is in it..I also have keep mine out in the shed and now have them in the basement...it is easyer not to have to go out side to the freezer..I have 2 chest type right now and there is only husband and me but kids come and take garden things out all the time. We always put up way more than we can use.
 
#4 ·
I had a small chest freezer that my grandparents got me years ago. I thought it was harder to find things in and stuff at the bottom was hard to reach because I'm short. When I lived in my old house I had enough room for it in my kitchen and it was nice that it could double for extra working space.

When the chest freezer died we purchased an upright freezer and I'm much happier with it because it's so much easier to organize and find what I'm looking for. It's currently in our pantry just off the kitchen and I appreciate having it nearby.

If I had to pick between a basement and a barn, I'd probably keep the freezer in the basement as long as the basement wasn't too damp. Basements are normally cooler so the compresser wouldn't have to work as hard to keep things cold I think. I guess it really depends on what would be most convenient for you.
 
#5 ·
Upright, because you can see what's in it and stuff doesn't get buried in the bottom.

Adjustable/removeable shelves, if they have them. I have an old freezer and the shelves crust up with ice and I wish I could remove them to clean them without having to empty the entire thing. Also, it would be nice to have certain shelves a little higher or a little lower for more efficient use of space.
 
#7 ·
I have 2 chest freezers and just bought the upright, it has removable shelves, a basket in the bottom and what I really like is storage in the doors. If I had room I probably would have got the chest freezer because I beleive they hold more food, now they come with dividers that you can divide your beef from chicken etc.

Friends warmed me about putting my food in the upright in boxes, so that when I open it the food won't tumble out. I havent had that problem, but I don't have it full yet.

You might check out how much each freezer costs to run, the one we got only used a dollar or two more than the energy efficient, which was over $200.00 more.

We have two outside in the shed, and one chest on the back porch. All of them need to be defrosted. I have a half, stuffed in the upright and to tell you the truth its kinda hard to find things in there right now.

Really I think it comes to which one you like and how much room you have. One thing I am kinda worried about is the door not closing on the upright, but that probably comes from having a chest freezer for so many years. Guess I'm not much help.
 
#9 ·
I have a whirlpool chest freezer and I love it. It's not full size, but it's not the smallest either...it's kind of in the middle. The one thing I don't like about chest freezers is having to dig to the bottom, but chest freezers don't use as much energy as uprights...since cold air sinks.

We keep ours in our basement, I would think that keeping it in the barn would make it less efficient due to the drastic changes in temp unless of course your barn is heated year-a-round.
 
#10 ·
We have had both. Just like the others, I prefer the upright. I couldn't see what was at the bottom of the chest freezer. I love my upright. I, too, try to keep, pork on one shelf, chicken on another...We don't have a shed or basement, so ours is in our kitchen right next to the frig.
 
#11 ·
I'm a former freezer owner and found I could live without the expense of it by purchasing a larger, energy efficient, refrigerator/freezer than our decade+ old model refrigerator/freezer and upright 3/4-size freezer. I could get the same amount of food in the NO-FRILLS (no water or ice dispenser) side-by-side refrigerator as I could our 3/4-size upright freezer. So I eliminated two energy "hogs" and got one energy efficient appliance instead. We recently checked the energy use with a Watt A Meter and it is 7-cents per day with more than enough capacity.

1. Freezers (and refrigerators) are designed to run at room temperature, which is 70°F, so they are more efficient if placed inside, not outside. Freezers are a wonderful convenience, but the food bargains you place in the freezer can quickly be off-set by the price of running it - especially if you run it in extremely hot outdoor temperatures, or if you are using an old inefficient model.

2. Chest freezers are more energy efficient than an upright. The drawback of a chest freezer:

-They usually aren't frost-free and have to be defrosted (once a year - or more if they are place in a location where a lot of hot air and humidity enters the freezer each time it's open).

-More difficult to get in and out if you are short.

-It's easy to forget items that get shifted to the bottom.

-The take up more floor space.

3. Don't over-buy. Bigger isn't always better. You want a size that you can keep filled. Consider the amount of money that will be sitting in the freezer - especially if you lose everything during a power outage. Freezers tend to contain large quantities of the highest priced food - meat.

It costs more to run if there's a lot of empty space in the freezer, so keep containers (milk jugs work well) of water frozen in the freezer if you don't have enough food to keep it relatively well-stocked. The jugs of frozen water also will aid in keeping the food frozen longer if the electricity goes off for a long period of time.

Uprights use more energy because they are often frost-free, and more air enters them when the door is open - which requires more cooling to bring them to 0°F (or colder) temperatures.

4. A general rule of thumb is to purchase a size that will keep 6-weeks of food in it.

5. If you don't have one, you may want to purchase a FoodSaver to go along with your new freezer. You'll find foods keep longer when vacuum sealed. NO freezer burn.

6. Keep track of what you have in your freezer. Wasted food is ALWAYS the most expensive food we purchase. Freezers tend to get filled with "good intentions", and wasted because of poor execution, improper storage methods, and poor meal planning. Be familiar with proper storage techniques to extend the freezer-life of foods and the storage times for freezer foods, to avoid waste.

http://www.cdc.gov/nasd/docs/d000001-d000100/d000066/d000066.html

http://www.ext.vt.edu/pubs/foods/348-960/348-960.html

I divide foods into small plastic baskets (even in my refrigerator/freezer) - one or two types of food per basket. When you use a FoodSaver to package foods in a single layer, you can "file" the packages upright in the baskets. When you flip through the vegetable basket, it's easy to check the inventory. It's also handy to be able to remove the whole basket of food and shut the freezer door, rather than rifling through the freezer for something with the freezer door wide open. Same with the fruit basket, breakfast meat basket, beef and poultry baskets, etc...

7. When possible, eliminate the boxes frozen food are stored in. They take up a lot of valuable freezer space. If possible, repackage items using a FoodSaver. Cut out the instructions on the box and file it in a file located in the kitchen, or place in the bag when you vacuum seal foods in a FoodSaver bag.
 
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