Storage Freezer ??

[rantnnravin]

Looking into buying a storage freezer.
Which is better chest or upright?
About how big do you think would be adequate for 3 person family who like to cook on weekends and freeze for later.

 

[vaDisneyGuy]

I think the upright is easier to find stuff in, things seem to get buried under other stuff. This link helps answer some questions about a freezer.

http://www.helpwithcooking.com/food-storage/owning-a-freezer.html

 

[pixiewings71]

We have a chest freezer, it's definitely not as easy to use as an upright but it works fine for us.

 

[rantnnravin]

Thanks for the link.
I was hoping other Disers could share their personal experience/likes/dislikes, etc.
and thanks for including your own experience

 

[DisneyCrazyX5]

We have a large upright freezer. We raise our our beef and chickens. We are about to put 24 chickens and over 175 lbs of beef in it each year. I also have some room for pork when it comes on sale, veggies from the garden and a few make ahead meals.

 

[Sadie22]

There are three of us. Like you, I like to cook big batches and freeze meal-size portions for later. We have two large upright freezers. I'm the shortest family member and I don't want to deal with digging in the bottom of a chest freezer. Both of my freezers are frostfree. Manual defrost may be slightly more energy efficient but it would not be convenient for me.

 

[CTdiznymom]

We have a chest freezer that we got from Lowes. If we didn't have a problem with getting a big enough upright down the basement stairs I would have gone with an upright. We pretty much had to get the chest model. I love having the freezer but I'm only 5' so DH is usually the one that has to dig to the bottom as I can't reach! It's been a real $$ saver - I shop sales, and freeze alot of what I cook. My only concern is when/if we lose power. Need to get a generator next!

 

[sarahlovesmickey]

we just bought a 5.5 cubic foot chest freezer. It's still in the box, but I mainly bought it because we like to stock up on chicken and other freezer items when they are on sale because we have a rather large family. We haven't plugged it in and used it yet. My main draw to that one was that it supposedly only costs $26 per year to run. We shall see!!

 

[Gumbo4x4]

I think the upright is easier to find stuff in, things seem to get buried under other stuff.

^^^This. We have one of each. The upright is twice as big & still easier to find stuff.

 

[Chelley00]

We have both.

We buy meat from a farm every 6 months to freeze, we have 4 kids - 2 are big tall teenage athletes with extreme appetites, and I have food allergies so I stock up on allergy free foods every few months.

I like my upright freezer WAY better than the chest freezer. It's much easier to keep organized and find things. With the chest freezer things fall to the bottom, or I have to take things out to find something else that's stacked on top of it.

 

[jedijill]

I've had both and definitely am in the upright camp now. So much easier to find things!

Jill in CO

 

[RooRach0906]

We are a family of 3 and have a chest freezer I love having it... especially when we lived an hour from the store and now that I am getting into freezer cooking but when it dies we will replace it with a upright... our last house a chest was all that would fit but since its in the garage now a upright would be way better.

 

[herdtoDisney]

I have an upright Whirlpool (from Lowes) energy-star rated freezer. I LOVE it! It even has a light and an alarm if the door is left open. And a lock (although my kids are past danger age, I would use it if they were younger). I'm short and could not reach the bottom of a chest freezer, and floorspace is an issue where the freezer is.

It is suprisingly inexpensive to operate! I don't think it's more than a couple dollars a month. It's a huge improvement over the 20-something year old used one I had previously-shockingly so. I think it's worth it to buy new and energy-star.

A PP mentioned power outages-having been through two extended ones last year I found that, if kept closed, the freezer will stay quite cold for at least a day and perhaps more. I have a smaller generator and was plugging the freezer to it intermittedly to try to keep it cold enough-although we went ahead and grilled the meat we had (it wasn't alot) and ate up a few things I had stocked for Thanksgiving. I only ended up tossing a couple things (some frosted cupcakes). If you plan to keep expensive meats stocked in the freezer, you should probably get a good-sized generator. CTdizneymom, you're in CT too I take it? so yes, it's a matter of WHEN we go through this again LOL

 

[worm761]

An upright is definitely the way to go. They take up less room and it is easier to find stuff.

 

[Dacky619]

I think the only advantage to a chest freezer is they are more energy efficient, otherwise an upright is more convenient.

 

[girli565]

We live in a small 2-bedroom apartment. Our Master has a HUGE walk in closet (small room but giant closet, makes no sense) so we are planning on buying a chest freezer because that's what will fit in that space conveniently. My husband it much taller than I am so he'll be digging in it when I need something. I like to cook huge batches of meals and freeze meal size portions so I'll be using our fridge'ss freezer for those and the chest for our bulk meat purchases.

We're hoping to find a place that sells quarter to half cows within a few hours of us this summer so we can fill it up!

 

[rantnnravin]

Wow - looks like upright is the way to go.

Thanks everyone for your input.

Are there any brands or "features" we should look for or steer clear of?

 

[Muushka]

Our upright (yes, the way to go) has an alarm that will go off if the door is left open. Like that.

It is also not frost free. While I do have to defrost it every 9 or so months, there are advantages to it (well, what I believe).
There is no cycle that it goes through to defrost like the frost free. Saves electricity.

If there is a power outage, I have extra ice in there to help keep things frozen.

When I defrost it, I empty it out (put the stuff in laundry baskets and cover with a blanket).

Then I put a box fan in front of it and blast the warm air into it. It defrosts in about a half an hour.

But my freezer is in the garage. If it was in the house, I would not get this type.
Finally, buy the largest you can afford. If I remember correctly the annual cost to run is not that much more for larger units.

We are a family of 2 and outgrew our 18 cubic foot. We now have a 23 and I question if that is big enough!

 

[MrsPete]

We have a small chest freezer, and I find it cumbersome.

We have baskets inside to organize ground beef, roasts, pork, chicken, etc. When they're full, which is most of the time, the baskets are heavy to lift up to get to the stuff on the bottom.

Don't get me wrong: I love having a freezer, but I wouldn't mind having a more convenient upright.

 

[Honeybell]

We bought a frost free, upright freezer a year ago December. We had previously had one that didn't auto defrost and it was a pain. I don't know if it was our particular model or what but it filled with ice very quickly. Our new freezer also has an alarm that goes off if the door isn't shut. This is my favorite feature! It's a Kenmore.