Freezers

[Vishenka69]

We want to get a freezer for the garage but can't agree on a chest or upright. Being short and currently pregnant, the chest ones aren't easy for me to access and I have this fear of falling in. Basically there's no way for my feet to keep on the ground while touching the bottom with my hands. So I want an upright. DH is convinced that all those shelves in the upright eliminate tons of space and wants a chest. He also has this notion that when you buy half a cow, they literally give you half with everything still attached. I don't even know what he's planning on doing with that much meat or why he'd want so much. We're not planning on a big family or opening a catering business.

Which one do you have and why? If you have a chest, how do you know what's on the bottom and is there a way to get there before eating what's on top first. If you have an upright, do you find that roomy enough?

I am about to get an upright. An upright freezer will fit better in the space I have for it so I haven't really looked at the chest freezer. My concern with the chest freezer is that stuff will pile up in it and I'll forget what is on the bottom. I think the shelves will help me see what is frozen.

re: the cow, I think the meat is packaged in smaller amounts and by type (ground beef, steaks, etc). I'm not sure half an intact cow would fit in a chest freezer!

[scrub-jay]

When I was younger, my parents had an upright freezer and it fit plenty of food. I highly recommend the upright. If you need more space, you can take out some of the shelves. My parents used to stock up on Turkeys around Thanksgiving when they are super inexpensive and give us at least 4 or 5 nice turkey dinners throughout the year.

As for the cow thought- I know that when my parents *accidently* won a silent auction for the local 4H kids (my mom doesn't remember signing for the one she won) they ended up with a whole lamb. When they picked it up it was neatly packaged and labeled. Oh, and this is after the upright was gone and they managed to fit it into a normal-sized freezer.

End of story -- go for the upright, it is also worlds easier to clean (I ended up helping a friend of mine clean out his chest-freezer and it was a pain, plus he did find many "goodies" that he'd forgotten about !)

[SuzySunshine]

We got a chest a few years ago when I was pg with Adele and it works fine (they're cheaper) but if I had it to do over again I would have liked to get an upright. I agree that it is easier to access and easier to see what is in your freezer.

We have a chest and I would LOVE to get an upright instead. Nellie is right - you totally forget what is at the bottom and it never gets used. There might be less actual space in a chest freezer, but it's not functional space.

I'd also really advise against a side of beef. You're only 2 1/3 people, and a side of beef is a LOT. I expected it to have better flavor, being all natural and stuff, but it really didn't. I won't do it again.

[bokelley]

We have a chest (cheaper) and now we want an upright. Since I am barely 5 foot, getting to the bottom is a nightmare! Plus you have to dig and dig through food to find what you are looking for. None the less I do love having a freezer!

[civilspouse]

My parents and aunt & uncle have uprights in their garages and they are great. They both use them for storing meat when they buy a cow or a lamb and like everyone said they will come butchered into usable pieces so fitting them in isn't a problem. Uprights take up less floor space and you can store things on top of them too.

[scarlett09]

We got an upright as a housewarming gift from my dad and stepmom. This is the one we have, which my dad recommended as its the same model they have and its been kicking for 15 years.

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage....=1207351932309

It also doesn't hurt that he works for Best Buy and has some general knowledge about which ones are good and bad.

Only a few of the shelves are adjustable, but the ones on the inside of the door can be adjusted and some of them tilt. And it's easy for me to use, as I'm 5'3". Ours is embarassingly empty though, as I live with a penny-pincher who freaks out about buying the awesome meat at Costco. That's for another thread, lol.

[spotty_dog]

I am trying to find where my friend told me about hers...I know she said upright, because you can see everything, and I think she said that her 15.4 cf (?) *exactly* fits a quarter cow and a half pig (they take delivery a few months apart though, so they can eat one down enough to still fit some other stuff in there by the time the other comes!) So I was aiming for a big upright as well, when we get ours.

And no, they sell you the cow (or piece thereof), but then you take possession via the butcher, who cuts whichever cuts you want.

A half cow is a LOT of meat, and I know you've been watching your saturated fat (though the O3:O6 ratio in grassfed beef is supposed to be excellent.) Try to talk your DH into a quarter, it's still about 135-150 pounds dressed weight. At 4 ounces per portion, that's 600 meals of meat, or enough for the two of you to eat beef almost every night for a year, LOL.

In practice I have seen the chest, and it has headaches (like finding the bottom). We'll go with an upright when we buy one.

[Cumberland]

I'd also really advise against a side of beef. You're only 2 1/3 people, and a side of beef is a LOT. I expected it to have better flavor, being all natural and stuff, but it really didn't. I won't do it again.

I was so excited to get our 1/4 of a steer and we are still eating it months later ( family of 5) but I dont think I will do it again. First bc we ate so much beef for a while- while we would usually eat chicken or ground turkey which is better for you. Second bc there were a lot of crazy cuts that were fun to experiment with but when it comes down to it I want to buy the cuts I want.

We have already committed to half of a pig which is coming the end of this month.

We have a top and bottom fridge in our garage- for our family it is plenty. It fit the quarter steer plus a TON of frozen breastmilk. The fridge part holds a keg of Bell's Oberon currently plus any thing else I can squeeze around it. I like having the fridge/freezer combo but that is just me.

[niener]

He also has this notion that when you buy half a cow, they literally give you half with everything still attached.

This is a hilarious visual. I have no clue what I would do if someone handed me half of a cow still intact. I hope they would at least wrap it up first .

My family (which consisted of just my dad, mom, and myself) used to buy a quarter of a cow every year and it would generally last us the full year. We had a freezer chest which I don't remember being a huge issue in terms of forgetting what was in the bottom. But then again, my dad is uber-organized (probably where I get it from...) and he would label everything meticulously and stack similar cuts of beef on top of each other, so the only thing underneath what you could see was more of the same. There was also a movable wire rack about half the width of the chest that provided a way to separate some items.

I could, however, see where a big pregnant belly might make digging into a freezer chest a bit more difficult

[Pollyanna]

The chest is more efficient as the cold air does not pour out every time you open it. The upright is more practical and user friendly. I'd go with the upright.

[Meenah]

I have the upright frrezer in my garage and I love it.

[BonBon]

The chest is more efficient as the cold air does not pour out every time you open it. The upright is more practical and user friendly. I'd go with the upright.

Yep. Chest is more efficient energy-wise, not so much when you have to chuck the stuff that sits on the bottom for 5 years. It is a HUGE pain to move stuff around to get what you need. Hence, we finally bit the bullet and bought an upright a month ago. Put the chest freezer on freecycle. We are much happier now. Not only can I see what I have, but it's also accessible!