Refrigerator or Freezer?

[Cincychic]

My refrigerator I keep in my garage went out on me about 2 weeks ago. Luckily it was cold enough I did not lose any food! I am having a hard time deciding between another refrigerator or just getting a freezer. We really need a freezer because I go to Dream Dinners and get my food for the month, and I also get ice cream and a lot of things from Schwans, so my freezers are usually packed. However, we used the refrigerator part to put beer and drinks and large dishes in during the holidays. So I guess if I had to I could live without the refrigerator part.

What do you think would be more useful to me? And also what would be cheaper? I am not looking to pay a fortune for something for my garage!

Thanks

 

[eolian]

Where do you live? I live near Buffalo, NY and every winter it gets so cold that the fridge in my garage no longer runs and so the items in the freezer start thawing. When it warms back up, we are back in business.

 

[tina.tina]

My parents have a cabin (not rustic) at their farm where they have two refrigerators one upstairs in the kitchen and one downstairs in the gameroom. It really comes in handy for holidays, parties, etc. We wouldn't be able to store everything with only one refrigerator. Of course, they also have a refrigerator and two freezers at their home 2 miles away.

I would love to have a freezer so I could stock up.

I would get cheap versions of each.

 

[Shelly F - Ohio]

I would get a freezer. If all you use a fridge for is drinks, you could put ice in the freeze to use to cool drinks. Just but the drinks in a cooler with ice. Why invest in a fridge if your main use for it is drinks for holidays. You would get more bang for the buck on a freezer.

 

[LJSquishy]

I have a large chest freezer in the garage and can't imagine not having one. I freeze meal leftovers, make soup from scratch to freeze, buy shredded mozzarella at Costco to freeze (I think 5lb bags??), and freeze whole coffee beans until we are ready to grind for our espresso machine.

A fridge would be useless to me, however you may be different. It seems to me that you would prefer a freezer. Having a chest freezer has saved us a lot of money on food...we waste almost zero food now. Even if our bananas are getting overripe or berries are close to spoiling I will freeze them! I even freeze tomato paste and just break off a chunk when I need it for a recipe...and just last week I bought bags of lemons and limes at Costco to squeeze and freeze in ice cube trays (then dump into a Ziplock) so I always have real lemon & lime juice. The bottled stuff is so nasty and tastes nothing like fresh.

 

[wiigirl]

I would get a freezer. If all you use a fridge for is drinks, you could put ice in the freeze to use to cool drinks. Just but the drinks in a cooler with ice. Why invest in a fridge if your main use for it is drinks for holidays. You would get more bang for the buck on a freezer.

 

[worm761]

OP, I would be torn too. I have an upright freezer and a second fridge. I don't know how I got along without my second fridge before! I originally got it to store drinks and to thaw my turkeys for Thanksgiving. And now I use it constantly for all sorts of stuff.

If I had to choose though, I would go with an upright freezer. But look around. I have a smallish one that I got at Lowe's a few years ago for $199.

 

[Jerseymomof2]

I would say the freezer. I have a huge stand up one in my garage and it's always full. LOL what we did was when the store by us was having a sample sale we picked up a mini fridge. It has some dings on it but who cares it sits in the garage. Turns out that is just what we needed.

SO I would say a freezer and if you need more fridge room you can do what we did and get a mini one.

 

[pandamom]

Where do you live? I live near Buffalo, NY and every winter it gets so cold that the fridge in my garage no longer runs and so the items in the freezer start thawing. When it warms back up, we are back in business.

We had the same issue with our Frigidaire but were able to purchase a garage kit for about $25 and it works great.

http://www.amazon.com/Frigidaire-5303918301-Garage-Kit-Refrigerator/dp/B005B9EABU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rZbJZ5fBqQ4

OP -- I wanted just a freezer for the garage but dh talked me into the refrigerator / freezer combo. I have only regretted the decision once (local grocery store closed and sold everything for 75% off -- our freezers were packed to the gills!)

 

[manning]

Get the freezer. You can put the drinks in a cooler for the very short time you need it.

 

[Cincychic]

Thanks! I will probably look at some freezers this weekend. I guess when the holidays roll around I will just have to make do with the one refrigerator!

Its so cold right now I can just sit drinks in my garage and they will be cold!

 

[lucyem]

Take a close look at energy usage - and thus cost to run. In general a chest freezer is going to use less energy then a fridge for example. You do not say what kind of fridge you lost or are thinking of, or the kind of freezer. But the differences can be a lot and outweigh any benefits to having the fridge.

 

[mieuxmew]

We kept having problems with out garage located freezer/fridge because of external temperatures. We have a side-by-side in our kitchen, so our freezer is too small. My husband refused to spend $500 on another freezer for the garage and throw out so much food.

I measured my laundry room and found enough space for a chest freezer. Bought it at Costco for $175. Fit in our Honda Pilot. Love it!!!

 

[Cincychic]

Thanks everyone!

The temperatures here have been extremely cold, so I wonder if that has something to do with my refrigerator going out. Now I am scared to put something else in there. Will just putting a freezer be a problem? If not, I can put mine in my laundry room as well.

Thanks again

 

[Green Tea]

I went through this over the summer and picked a freezer......I wish I'd gotten the fridge/freezer again. I found at christmas that I needed extra storage, and of course the stuff that was always down there, like beer, is now in the kitchen. The freezer is fine, but I sort of forget its there now. I miss the extra fridge.

 

[ImDMous]

I have a regular fridge/freezer in the garage that sounds just like your before it broke. Dream Dinners in the top, beer in the bottom. Couldn't live without our beer fridge! You can't put ice in beer and you can't just cool them before you drink them, they can't get warm or they get funky.