Freezer size?

[ncomarc]

If everything is on time I should be moving to my new house come Sep. or Oct. and I would like to see the brand and size freezer ya'll use or think I need for 3 to 4 rockfish, as many crappie I can catch and 1/3 of a 1200lb cow. The wife and I plan on eating the food throughout the year. I also have been lucky enough to bag a deer or so per season.
Did the usual google-fu and talked to Home Depot/Lowes about this with mixed advice so I figured the end user could steer me in the right direction. Thanks in advance.

[R_Bert]

I would suggest - as large as you can afford, and as large as you have room. 

 

Reserve cooling capacity, and Parkinson's Law (basically  - "whatever you have ain't enough") 

[runco]

My freezer was a waste of money, we stocked it initially, but nothing really now.  I also figured out it costs about $25 a month of elect. costs.  So unless we are saving $25 a month, or $300 a year, we are going in the hole.  Great idea initially, but not now.  Hope you are different, and keep it stocked all the time.

[Luke E.]

 Seems that you can use the same rule of thumb with freezes as you can with purchasing a safe. Buy one twice the size you think you'll need or whatever can be afforded. I used to have a couple "chest" style deep freezes and I wouldn't give a dime for another one because once you get past the first layer you have to dig every time you want something. I got lucky about a year and a half ago when my dad decided to stop and look at something someone had in their yard sale and noticed they were getting rid of their upright freezer. It's a fairly late model freezer (can't remember which brand) and she was asking $200 for it and ended up taking $150. My wife and I made ourselves a deal that we would not just throw things in there and we've pretty well stuck to that but the fact that it's an upright really makes that much easier. I rarely have to move more than 1-2 things to get at what i'm after and that has made it MUCH more enjoyable and kept it from turning into a frozen food graveyard. I'm having to stay at my folks place while they're ot of town but will check the size of it and report back once were back at home.

[Hershmeister]

Upright all the way. Chest freezers are cheaper, but difficult to keep things organized

[peejman]

If everything is on time I should be moving to my new house come Sep. or Oct. and I would like to see the brand and size freezer ya'll use or think I need for 3 to 4 rockfish, as many crappie I can catch and 1/3 of a 1200lb cow. The wife and I plan on eating the food throughout the year. I also have been lucky enough to bag a deer or so per season.
Did the usual google-fu and talked to Home Depot/Lowes about this with mixed advice so I figured the end user could steer me in the right direction. Thanks in advance.

 

 

15 cuft minimum.  That's what I've got and it'll be packed with what you've listed.   My parents have a 25 cuft and with just two of them, it doesn't stay full anymore.  With 4 of us, ours stays full.  Ours is an odd brand name produced by Maytag many years ago.  My parent's is also a Maytag and it's more than 40 years old and still works fine.  That said, they don't make them like they used to, which is good and bad.  Consumer Reports seems to like Frigidaire, Whirlpool, and Kenmore (made by Frigidaire) freezers. 

 

 

 

 

Upright all the way. Chest freezers are cheaper, but difficult to keep things organized

 

 

I'll agree and disagree.  Depends on how much floor space you have and where you're going to put it.  If floor space is at a premium and you can put the freezer in a basement or air conditioned space, then I agree that an upright is the best choice simply because it's easier to access.  If it'll be in an unconditioned space (like mine, in the garage), then a chest freezer is probably better because it's more efficient. 

 

Regarding organization in a chest freezer, most newer ones come with absurdly over-priced baskets.  My old one didn't have anything so I got some milk crates and plastic totes to help keep things separated and more accessible. 

 

Note that most freezers put off a lot of heat... more than a typical fridge. Something to think about. 

[ncomarc]

Great insights so far, I will be stocking this with grass fed - grain finished cow/pork and wild caught fish and basically edibles that are healthier for the family. Maybe I watch too much documentaries about processing and food handling but cancer runs in the wife and I families so we are trying to be proactive in health and I think investing in good food and a way to store it will be well served. Researching the best way to get a cow and processing places also, deer I do myself and enjoy it since I hunt, and gut(eat the heart, liver fry the intestines).

[Luke E.]

(eat the heart, liver fry the intestines).

 

HARDCORE!  :rock:

[jtmaze]

I have done the heart and liver. Never the intestines. I can't even eat chitterlings if I have to clean them. JTM We the People of the United States, in order to form a more Perfect Union......

[gregintenn]

I would suggest - as large as you can afford, and as large as you have room. 

 

Reserve cooling capacity, and Parkinson's Law (basically  - "whatever you have ain't enough") 

Exactly. Take the same advice for a gun safe, garage, etc. Not so much for a woman, however. :rofl:

[RED333]

My freezer was a waste of money, we stocked it initially, but nothing really now.  I also figured out it costs about $25 a month of elect. costs.  So unless we are saving $25 a month, or $300 a year, we are going in the hole.  Great idea initially, but not now.  Hope you are different, and keep it stocked all the time.

The very way I feel, unless you have a graden, access to a lot meat and hunt every year, it is a wast of money.

[DaveS]

I have a 20 cubic foot upright Fridgedaire freezer that I use 24/7. I always have deer, boar and fish stocked in it. Not sure how much energy it uses monthly, but I know I couldn't feed my family without it. A good freezer is indespnsable!

 

Dave

[mike243]

Being in the fridge repair business for a long time I will take a chest freezer over a uprite any day of the week. less operating parts food lasts longer due to no defrost/heat let into the insides. when the door is open the cold stays in. Freezers put out less heat as a rule of thumb because they are opened less & will never put out more than a fridge. whirlpool would be my first pick. milk crates in a chest freezer makes it simple to keep stuff sorted out, less $ to run due no defrost . About 1.2 amps on the compressor on either type. 4-5 amps of defrost every 12 hrs of run time on frost free models. I like simple so stay away from electronics if you can,surge protectors when you cant

[Peace]

Get as big a freezer as you want.... but with all of that meat in there, be sure and buy a generator for it. - and check with your neighbors if you are out of town and a storm hits (probably good to do anyway).      :pleased:   Paying to freeze food for one year = $200.00.  Loosing $1,500.00 in meat to a power outage=priceless.

[ncomarc]

Great information all, appreciate it....

[tnhawk]

I had a chest freezer for a few years.  It was given to me and when I stopped using it, I gave it away also.  I said if I got another it would be an uprite model, but I haven't enough use for one to buy it.

[Hershmeister]

[quote name="mike243" post="1168688" timestamp="1405421654"]Being in the fridge repair business for a long time I will take a chest freezer over a uprite any day of the week. less operating parts food lasts longer due to no defrost/heat let into the insides. when the door is open the cold stays in. Freezers put out less heat as a rule of thumb because they are opened less & will never put out more than a fridge. whirlpool would be my first pick. milk crates in a chest freezer makes it simple to keep stuff sorted out, less $ to run due no defrost . About 1.2 amps on the compressor on either type. 4-5 amps of defrost every 12 hrs of run time on frost free models. I like simple so stay away from electronics if you can,surge protectors when you cant[/quote] I disagree - the chest freezers will develop frost build up over time. my upright fridgedair has never had any and has no defrost mode. It holds at -10 degrees in an unheated garage. The milk crates are a good idea for a chest, but its still a PITA to have to dig then out and sort thru vs just reach in. But they are way cheaper - thats for sure

[teecro]

My vote is for an upright without a defrost system as they are easy to find what you need and with no defrost system they have way less moving parts. Ours has the cooling grids built into two of the shelves and no fan inside or outside to go out.... You decide when to defrost it and we find that ours can go a year or more between defrosting. When it was inside the house it ran all but completely silent, same in the garage too. Yeah an upright uses a wee bit more energy but so what....

[Dane]

[quote name="Hershmeister" post="1168952" timestamp="1405482568"]I disagree - the chest freezers will develop frost build up over time. my upright fridgedair has never had any and has no defrost mode. It holds at -10 degrees in an unheated garage. The milk crates are a good idea for a chest, but its still a PITA to have to dig then out and sort thru vs just reach in. But they are way cheaper - thats for sure[/quote] What part are you disagreeing with? Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

[Luke E.]

I disagree - the chest freezers will develop frost build up over time. my upright fridgedair has never had any and has no defrost mode. It holds at -10 degrees in an unheated garage. The milk crates are a good idea for a chest, but its still a PITA to have to dig then out and sort thru vs just reach in. But they are way cheaper - thats for sure

 

 I agree, the milk crates are a great idea if you already have a chest freezer but an upright still beats the crap out of a chest with milk crates when it comes to convenience. When my wife or I need something, we just reach in and grab it, worst case scenario is that we have to move a ziplock or two out of the way to get to it. The problem with using milk crates or any othe manner of crate or basket in a chest freezer is when someone this doesn't use their freezer often reaches in to move one and it won't budge due to the frost/ice that not has to be chiseled out from around it (ran into this when I was going through my grandmothers chest freezer about 2 years back). 

 

My vote is for an upright without a defrost system as they are easy to find what you need and with no defrost system they have way less moving parts. Ours has the cooling grids built into two of the shelves and no fan inside or outside to go out.... You decide when to defrost it and we find that ours can go a year or more between defrosting. When it was inside the house it ran all but completely silent, same in the garage too. Yeah an upright uses a wee bit more energy but so what....

 

Our upright is much,if any, louder than our fridge/freezer side by side in the kitchen. I agree that the boost in electric usage is well worth it and is usually more than made up for in food that gets "lost" on the bottom of a chest until it is not fit to eat.

[mike243]

that uses 103 kilowatt-hours per month will cost about $14 a month to run.

Small Chest Freezer

By buying an Energy Star unit built between 2001 and 2008, you can cut your energy costs for that same small chest freezer by less than half per month. A chest freezer sized below 16.5 cubic feet costs $53 per year, using a total of 404 kilowatt-hours per year, or 34 kilowatt-hours per month. When you divide $53 by 12, your monthly costs equate to a little more than $4 per month.

Quicken Loans - America's #1 Online Lender

www.quickenloans.com

 

15 Yr. Fixed at 3.125% 3.562% APR $1,742/mo

30 Yr. Fixed at 3.875% 4.142% APR $1,176/mo

disclaimer

Energy-Efficient Models

An energy-efficient large freezer with more than 25 cubic feet will use about 956 kilowatt-hours per year, according to EnergyStar.gov. That equates to about $10 a month. When you reduce the size of your freezer, your costs go down. Standard freezer sizes run between 19 cubic feet and 22 cubic feet. Monthly costs for these units average about $67 per year or a little over $5 a month.

[mike243]

Cons: Overall Cost

Frost-free freezers typically cost more to purchase than their traditional counterparts. In addition, frost-free models generally cost more to operate. Based on the U.S. Energy Information Administration's September 2013 report, one frost-free 15-cubic-foot freezer costing 12.5 cents per kilowatt hour will run you about $219 every year, while the equivalent manual defrost freezer only costs about $144 annually. A frost-free model costs more to operate because it uses a heater to melt ice crystals, a fan to circulate cold air and sensors to monitor for frost buildup.