Once I get my electrician to wire in my new outlet I am going to purchase a new chest freezer from Costco. Believe it or not, this will replace an upright Kenmore freezer that has to be close to 50 years old, and it is time. But I hate to admit it, I am going to miss that bugger. It is one of the only things I have from my mothers parents.
Anywho,I was wondering if there is anything I should look out for, or looking for? I will be keeping it in my garage and will make sure to have a 'garage ready' freezer. I was looking at 15cu ft. but now leaning to 20 since we have the room and like to purchase in bulk.
Well, I have a fullsize freezer fridge side by side in kitchen, full size over and under in garage that the fridge has been converted into a dry aging locker, a commercial size sub-zero side by side in the butler pantry, and a chest freezer as well in the butler pantry. When you harvest animals left and right, feed a small army of a family, occasionally cater, and often entertain, it still occasionally gets tight.
Have an inexpensive HiSense chest freezer from Costco. Has worked fine for several years, but it is not self-defrosting. Don't think any chest freezer has self-defrost. Every few months we take everything out and use a wooden scraper to remove the ice from the walls and other places and then use a dustpan to sweep up the water on the bottom and put into a pail sitting inside, and then dry with bath towels.. Takes about 30 minutes. The drain hole is useless for us.
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Weber Master-Touch
Blackstone Omnivore 4 Burner Griddle
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OnlyFire Rotisserie w/ Basket attachment for the Weber
Vortex for the Weber
Both of Meathead's books!
Way too many BBQ related accessories, tools, and doo-dads!
They stack well, and I grouped some of the meats together in one basket (ground meats, steaks, etc), and just have to remove a couple baskets to get to the meats at the bottom.
Another for organized baskets. I used collapsible crates, like the ones at Costco. They fit into my freezer. It was easy to organize poultry, beef, pork, veg, whatever in each. When I needed something on bottom, I pulled the top one out and it was easy and quick to find anything. It made defrosting easy too. I could pile them out on a cold winter day, defrost, dry, and replace easily. Depending on where you live and climate, that may not be an option for others.
I have several chest freezers and uprights and like them all.
However, the simplicity of a chest freezer makes them my favorites but they do need organization. The deepest parts, in mine defined by the shelf created by the compressor compartment, is where I store large cuts of meat. Pork on one side and beef on the other. Above these I use baskets to keep everything else in categories. One thing I do over each is have a whiteboard with a diagram of a side view of where everything is located. If I want frozen peppers they are on the second level from the top, column #2, so I remove the top basket in column #2 and easily access the basket with the pepper. Since I’m using a whiteboard I can change it to any location.
I just wanted to add that my chest freezers always have the coldest steadiest temperatures compared to my uprights which seem to be more affected by ambient garage temperatures. I usually just use the uprights for quick grab and go items liked packaged pull pork, country ham, bacon, pork chops, soups and stews, etc…. And a chest freezer is a heck of a lot easier to work or service than an upright, at least in my opinion.
I am very fortunate that my wife is incredibly organized. She honestly has lists, for her lists. I will definitely share you organizing tips with her.
I 'could' have both a chest and an upright freezer, but at least for now I want to see how we do with just the chest and I plan on putting some shelving where the current freezer stands.
+1 to dpearce 's suggestion about the freezer baskets. We have a similar set in our smaller (5 ft^3) chest freezer. They make life so much easier.
The one thing that I wish was easier to do in our chest freezer is defrosting. We have to do it manually, and drain out the water. The freezer sits on the ground, so it is tough to get the water to drain through the drain plug that is supplied. We may prop the chest up a bit next time we defrost.
theroc I've seen a few folks build a 2x4 frame underneath their chest freezers, just for that purpose. Either flat or on edge. They used some wedges (the kind you see in the home improvement stores for installing door frames) to bring the backside up a degree or two for better drainage.
The big thing I'd look out for is how the interior measurements square with what you're storing. It you plan to freeze uncooked racks of ribs for example, make sure the interior space has at least that much DEPTH. Will save you a lot of hassle.
Personally after having both, I'm squarely in chest freezer camp. Mostly because they keep things cold better and have shown a lot less freezer burn than my upright did. I open mine regularly so that probably made the difference, but who wants a freezer they have to open and close faster than Usain Bolt ran the 100?
Yes organization is a thing, but I solved mine with some small Amazon cardboard boxes and by labeling the Foodsaver bags. End of the day that made it a piece of cake.
BTW presuming you have a Foodsaver (tm) or similar, but if not run out and grab one of those. They are IMO indispensable to deep freezing, even more than they are to sous vide.
In the old days, lot of old fridges up here were made into fish smokers mostly, old metal fridge, electric hot plate, grandma's cast iron skillet and some chunks of wood and you were in business. The link above is more involved than that but it shows the repurpose idea.
We have two refrigerators with freezers, and find it helpful to keep an updated inventory. It helps with meal planning, because we can look at what we have in the freezer without having to dig through the freezer. I found an easy to use form with circles that you X out to identify the number of same items you have, and when you use one you use one you color it solid. While they can be a hassle to find things in, I’ve always heard chest freezers are more efficient.
I replaced an upright that was inadvertently turned off for several days before I discovered it (I was out of town) with a chest freezer. I should have gotten another upright one. Unlike a lot of our ar mates, I am not that organized. So the bottom of mine is like an unexplored country. I am trying to cook from the bottom this summer.
We have a chest freezer, I would replace it with an upright. We use baskets that stack to organize. A pain to always remove baskets to find what's in the bottom basket. Nothing seems to be in view. We do have an inventory list posted on the wall but that's only as accurate as the person grabbing something and actually deleting it. We have to empty it about every 8 weeks before our Costco trip to double check and correct our list. Seems lime we are constantly unloading it.
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I have one of each. My chest freezer has a divider section above the compressor and two baskets. Sometimes it’s still a treasure hunt. I’m getting better. My upright has adjustable shelves and I bought bins from ikea for organizing. One shelf for chicken, beef, etc. I bought an extra shelf for a narrow section when I freeze things flat (stocks, beans, etc) and then “file” them in the door.
Thank you for all of your replies, I truly appreciate your input. Hence one of the many reasons this place is awesome and I had no problem re-upping for another year.
I should add that my wife and I run a large in home daycare, so besides the chest freezer we will also have two fridge freezers. I certainly empathize with those of you that struggle keeping up with your inventory, but as I said my wife is a freak when it comes to being organized. She is already figuring out how she wants to organize and track the chest freezer items. She gets a perverse pleasure out of it.
If not cooking outdoors, I am cooking on the stovetop with my 14" carbon steel wok, 12" CI skillet, or in the oven with my two Lodge CI pizza pans, or two dutch ovens. I've also got a nifty Lodge carbon steel grill pan that rocks for veggies outdoors.
I am firmly in the chest freezer camp, for two reasons. First - they hold the cold in while open, versus all the cold air spilling out. Second, they do not have an automatic defrost cycle like most modern upright freezers. This means they keep food longer without freezer burn, with the hassle of potentially needing to chip frost off or unplug to defrost every couple of years.
The downside as others mentioned is the organization issue. I solve that with a couple of stackable milk crates that I put in, with beef in one, pork/chicken in another. And large items like a turkey or brisket go on the compressor hump. Slabs of ribs get laid on top of the baskets or stand vertically on the hump. I have a hang in basket as well that came with the freezer, but mine is full of hops (for brewing).
I used to use a phone app (Freezer?) to track what was in the chest freezer and 3 fridge freezers but the author quit maintaining it, and it didn't work well on my latest iPhone.
I have a paper inventory that works pretty well especially for meal planning. I don’t have to go checking the freezer to see the possibilities. We use it for cooked meals, too. Of course, the hard part is making the entries and marking them off when you use something.
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