Freezer

[kalmor]

I'm considering purchasing a small (7-10 cf) freezer for the garage. It will be used for bulk storage on meat and anything else needed for longer term storage. We have three in the household so not too much. I do like to smoke meats, brisket, butt, ribs, and when I see a good deal, I would like to buy extra. Also, last time we were in Costco, we did buy bulk ground beef and pork chops. We divided when we got home and that pretty much packed our current refrigerator/freezer (side by side).

I'm looking for advice or direction on considerations. Please let me know if you have any insight. Thanks.
Pete

 

[Whisky]

I would get upright over chest. We’ve had both and the chest freezers are just harder to work with. Things tend to get lost in the bottom of them. Look for a “garage rated” freezer. I don’t know if it’s just a marketing gimmick but they’re supposed to be able to withstand the temp extremes your garage will sometimes have. We bought a 16cu/ft Frigidaire 3 years ago and haven’t had any issues. Only thing I would have done different is bought a bigger one. There’s 5 in our family so when we buy bulk beef it’s 1/2 a cow.

 

[alpster]

Avoid cheap Costco, Sams club/Walmart freezers. I bought an upright from Sams that worked fine until the first time I needed to defrost it (about 3 months). Plugged it back in and it wouldn't get back to a freezing temp.. I got a refund, but it took 6 months. My next one will be a brand name and self defrosting.

 

[Lightcs1776]

I also prefer uprights to chest freezers. It gets old digging through things to find what you need. I would reconsider keeping one in the garage. It will run more during the hot days of Summer, or in the case of your neck of the woods, probably Spring through Fall. I have two in the basement.

 

[Old Hippie]

We have three chest freezers, two outside and one in. The only thing to keep in mind with the outside ones is to unplug them when the temps get down to about +5F/-15C. We buy meat in bulk from local ranches: mutton, lamb, beef, pork and chicken. That's one freezer. One is veggies that aren't canned and in the root cellar. The one in the house is generally for things we use regularly enough not to want to go outside for them all the time.

I will admit that with just two skinny old hippies we probably need to start downsizing the cold chain. But then I look at freezing a year's worth of corn from the patch this weekend, and that's gonna need some space.

O.H.

 

[kelbro]

Definitely go with an upright. We have both and things do get lost in the chest freezer

 

[ColtRevolver]

Go upright and don't go too small ...IMO, 7-10cf is too small. I'd hit up the classifieds for an older freezer. "They don't make them like they used to" seems to apply with fridges, freezers, and washers/dryers. My upright freezer at home is about 40 years old. Fridge and washer are both 30. At our farm, we have 3 fridges and two freezers. All are about 40 years old and still going strong.

 

[Toothpick]

I would get upright over chest. We’ve had both and the chest freezers are just harder to work with. Things tend to get lost in the bottom of them. Look for a “garage rated” freezer. I don’t know if it’s just a marketing gimmick but they’re supposed to be able to withstand the temp extremes your garage will sometimes have. We bought a 16cu/ft Frigidaire 3 years ago and haven’t had any issues. Only thing I would have done different is bought a bigger one. There’s 5 in our family so when we buy bulk beef it’s 1/2 a cow.

View attachment 1721632

I think that’s the same one we got. And looks pretty much the same inside, PACKED.

To the OP - We’ve had various chest freezers over the year and they do work but as mentioned they are harder to deal with. The bigger you go the worse it is to dig through it to find what you want and food does get lost in there. I think chest freezers do have their place though. If you are putting in BIG slices of meat, like half a hog, or whole legs then they make sense. Plenty of space for it. But if you are buying family packs and single serve size froze foods, pizzas, breakfast snacks, steaks, normal frozen food go with the upright if you can. You can organize it better and actually see what you have in there.

Also, every chest freezer we’ve had frosted bad. Requiring a defrost almost yearly and with the frost you loose storage space.

 

[kalmor]

Thanks for reply's. I looking at a 17cu upright at the moment. I'll keep looking as I'm in no hurry.

Pete

 

[Ckmaui]

Dont like the defrost cycling the uprights do
For managing chest use some milk crates or something easy to manage a chest its not hard

Uprights are the multiblade razor where chests are DE IMHO

Just research the defrost cycling of uprights and depends on how long you plan to store the meat and how you wrapped it
And how often you get into it
So really depends on use
If storing for less than 6 months and you get into it daily or a few times a week a upright would/might be the better option


Costco and sams have name brand name units
Frigidaire and kitchen aid have been garbage for me
But YMMV

Best is have a chest and upright hahahahaha kinda like having two razors or two brishes

 

[kelbro]

One more thing, make sure that you buy a monitor that alarms if/when the power drops. Breakers trip! It took me over a month to get the smell out of a freezer full of venison and elk meat that spoiled when I didn't notice that the breaker had tripped. I salvaged the freezer but lost a lot of fine protein.

 

[Ckmaui]

One more thing, make sure that you buy a monitor that alarms if/when the power drops. Breakers trip! It took me over a month to get the smell out of a freezer full of venison and elk meat that spoiled when I didn't notice that the breaker had tripped. I salvaged the freezer but lost a lot of fine protein.

had ours die and did not notice right away and destroyed a LOT of meat
need to get a unit that monitors temp in side the unit send to my phone

 

[Whisky]

Ours has a green light that shines on the floor as long as it’s on and running. Every time I walk through the garage (at least 2-3 times a day) I check it. It also has a door open alarm which is great with kids. I have a cheap wifi thermometer in it that alerts my phone if the temp gets too high.