chest freezer? | Imamother

mamamea

Mon, May 03 2010, 9:44 am

I'm thinking about getting a chest freezer, but I am at a loss as to what size to get. I love to be able to stock up at costco with milk, bread, ground meat, chicken, chulent meat etc AND still be able to cook ahead for shabbos and yom tov when the need arises. it is only me, dh and ds right now, but iy'h it won't be that way forever.

I really don't want to spend an arm and a leg, but I don't want to buy something that is too small. we also don't have tons of space...... lol

any help would be greatly appreciated!!!!
THANKS:)

Simple1

Mon, May 03 2010, 9:53 am

I was advised not to get a chest freezer because it's hard to get things out from the bottom - especially I"yh in the future if you'll be pregnant and big. In an upright freezer it's easier to keep things organized. I have not yet got a separate freezer so I don't have much other advice to give.

yo'ma

Mon, May 03 2010, 9:56 am

I can't tell you what kind to buy or what exact size because I don't live wherever you live, but I can tell you my experience with buying an extra freezer. I went planning on buying also a chest freezer because that was all the space I had and what did I need a bigger freezer for anyway. We had a choice of a small one and a tall one, but a drop bigger. The one that was bigger, I didn't think would fit where I was going to put it and like I said, what did I need a bigger one for. In the end, we got the smaller one obviously. Dumb, dumb, dumb, for a few reasons. One, it didn't end up fitting in the space I was planning on putting it and where I did end up putting it, the bigger one would have fit. Two, the difference in price wasn't much. Three, the energy saver on the bigger one was A and the smaller one is C. And four, now that we have an extra freezer, it's packed too and still need/want more room. Okay, the space thing in the freezer itself is another story because I was planning on using it to make food in advance and freezing it and my dh is using it to bring home meat. He works in a shochet place.

yo'ma

Mon, May 03 2010, 9:58 am

Simple1 wrote:

The freezer I have has drawers, metal whatsitcalled kind.

YALT

Mon, May 03 2010, 10:19 am

I have a chest freezer. I had wanted upright, since easier to get things in/out, and it seems that it holds more in less floorspace.
But I was offered a chestfreezer for froo. So I took it.
I need to go find the thread, but somewhere I had posted all the maalos & chesronos.
In the mean time:
The chest freezer we have actually takes very little energy. We barely noticed the dif in our bill.
In chest freezers, food has a longer life than uprights. For example, I think breast milk lasts like 3 months in upright, but like 8-9 months in chest freezer.
My upright fridge/freezer that I have (side-by-side) - when I put things like my soup or other already made dishes, it seems to have a funny taste. But by my chest freezer, it can last a really long time & still taste as good as new.
It is quite hard to get to the bottom in general, and ESPECIALLY when you're pregnant. But I do manage.
One thing I do to make it easier, is that everything in the bottom goes in shopping bags. I put all my whole chickens in 1 bag, my prepared meals in another, my cookies & cakes in another, raw meats in another.... like this, I just grab onto the handle & pull it up. Then I can go thru the bag to take out what I wanted.

I'm very happy I have this chest freezer. I would definitely want an upright one day, but for now, this has def. come to good use. and I'm not so sure I would get rid of it when I do get an upright.

mamamea

Mon, May 03 2010, 1:27 pm

thanks for the responses! a couple more direct questions:)-
1. why would I need to defrost the freezer?
2. is the 7 cubic foot one big enough to hold everything I mentioned in the first post? If not do you think the 8.8 cubic foot one would be better?

YALT

Mon, May 03 2010, 5:50 pm

chocolate moose wrote:

If it's a manual defrost, not automatic, you will need to defrost it every 6 mos. so it functions optimally. If you let the ice build up, it's bad for the unit and your electric bill.

I've been using my freezer for about 4 years now, and NEVER had to defrost it. And it IS "manual defrost".
Have in mind a bit of science. nothing can build up if it's full. Everything falls to bottom. In an upright, on the other hand, every shelf is building up ice in between. and then hangs down to where there is empty space above the shelf below. Don't know how to explain what I mean. so if you understand, then good. If not, then sorry.

mamamea

Mon, May 03 2010, 6:23 pm

that is an interesting point about the frost build up-thanks! is it possible that it depends on the make/quality of the freezer?

what size do you have? how much can you get into it? I'm looking for the smallest one that will fit everything I mentioned in the first post:)

YALT

Tue, May 04 2010, 7:12 am

sorry, I thought the label was in the back. To get to the back I need to move out my couch and then the freezer. Not so easy... But I did it - to find that the label is all off. So I don't know what size mine is. But I do know it's quite small. I measured it with a ruler. Here are the measurements from the OUTSIDE

21" width
x 27" length
x 33" height

this includes all the wall space of the freezer. so it is smaller. Also, the whole motor takes out a chunk of it. In other words, half the freezer is space to fill going practically down to the floor but the other half only has about half the space, since the motor is under there.

I'm not sure how long you want to stock up for at once - do you mean like for half a year or for a month at a time? Right now I have in there: 16 chickens, 12 lbs of chopped meat, boneless chicken breasts from 9 chickens (each piece is a double), shopping bag full of frozen veges, 4 pizza crusts 9x13 size, 5 small pans of kugels (half of 9x13 size), another half a shopping bag of other misc raw stuff (cholent meat, kishke, 2 big pkgs of meat I just got in Costco - now that they started selling something I use!) I also have in that freezer a box of frozen pizza, a pkg of puff pastry shells, box of falalfel balls, and prob some other stuff. I know I still have some space to add more.

I just took pictures. I'll try to post them later today. I can't find anywhere the brand. I'll have to ask my husband. I think he knows.

mamamea

Tue, May 04 2010, 9:01 am

WOW you fit A LOT of stuff in that 'small' freezer!!!!! I thought I was going to need the 8.8 cubic foot one, but I think that would be serious over kill based on what you just told me:) which is great because now it doesn't have to be such a big purchase and I don't have to worry about it so much lol.

another question I just thought of-do you think it is important to have a lock on the freezer (for child safety reasons?)

THANKS!!!

YALT

Tue, May 04 2010, 9:09 am

well, my kids just discovered that they can climb into the front-loader washer. So now I need to put a lock on there.
The freeze - because it's right next to my couch, they can easily climb ontop. They know it opens, but never tried opening it. I think it would be too cold for them anyways, that they'd just jump out b4 they had a chance to close it. But I could be wrong.

I think most chest freezers come automatically with a key.