Bulk Food Storage: The Chest Freezer
One of the most common concerns I hear as people start to buy their food directly from a local farmer is, “where do I store all this food?” or “I wish I had room but my freezer is full.” It’s an excellent question and one I hope to address here by providing a compelling option that doesn’t break the bank, and can even save the family money. That option is the chest freezer.
Why should I get a chest freezer?
As of the moment I’m writing this, there are more than 20 chest freezers available for sale on Craigslist in the Rochester area alone. And almost all of them are about $100 - $150 (up to about $300 for the really large upright units) and appear to be in good condition.
There is an amazing used market for these freezers. It’s tough to pinpoint why but a few possibilities come to mind. The first is that the restaurant business is relatively volatile. As a restaurant closes its doors it will frequently hold an auction. Here you can get things for pennies on the dollar. Using Craigslist, we found a huge, like-new upright freezer for $300 being sold by a restaurant going out of business. We can put a half-beef share, some chickens, pork, and frozen veggies in there no problem. Another reason used models are so prevalent may be because fewer and fewer people are storing food in their homes and are instead relying on frequent trips to the grocery store. People are getting rid of their chest freezers to make extra space in their finished basements. Did you know most towns only have enough food in their grocery stores to feed their whole population for a few days max? If the supply chain gets cut off, our towns can only provide up to three days worth of food before we start getting hungry. A used chest freezer seems like a pretty cheap insurance policy to me when you look at it like that. Plus, it’s a great place to store venison, surplus garden veggies, and food that won’t be used before spoiling in the cupboard. For the roughly $10/yr cost in electricity to operate a chest freezer, you’ll more than make up the cost by reducing food waste and the number of trips to the grocery store.
“If the supply chain gets cut off, our towns can only provide up to three days worth of food before we start getting hungry.”
To summarize all the reasons to have a chest freezer:
Provides storage of healthy foods from garden surplus and bulk direct-farm purchases. Eat like a king during the winter months.
Helps save money by reducing food waste.
As a side tip, we scramble up all our old eggs and freezer burned meat and freeze it in Tupperware. We feed it to our dog which he loves - plus it saves on dog food costs.
Eliminates frequent trips to the grocery store.
Food safety buffer for the family.
Considerations when buying:
There are two types of chest freezers to consider when deciding what to buy: the upright models (which look like your refrigerator) or the floor models (which are a large box sitting on the ground).
The upright models are nice because you can easily find what you’re looking for without having to go digging. Whereas in the floor models, things get buried, lost, and forgotten about - sometimes for years. I’ve seen some pretty ancient artifacts on the bottom of larger chest freezers. And unless you’re the type to take on the annual task of organizing your freezer, I’d shy away from the larger size floor models. (Note, this aforementioned person - the one who organizes their chest freezer annually - they do not exist).
If you’re looking for a smaller unit, I’d suggest a floor model because they are less expensive and with the small size, you won’t lose things on the bottom of the pile. They are also easier to transport and move. But, if you’re looking for something larger to store greater quantities of food, and you can afford it, I’d suggest an upright unit. They are easier to organize plus they take up less floor space (and utilize the room’s vertical space).
Chest freezers are also sold based on size, which they measure in cubic feet (length x width x height). The larger the freezer, the more expensive. To decide how big of a freezer makes sense, I will literally take a tape measure out and try to visualize how big that storage space is. It also helps to think about it in terms of how many items of something you want to store. For example, if you want to freeze pastured chicken, figure that a whole bird takes up about .20 ft^3, assuming an average 4 lbs bird. If you’re looking at a 7.0 ft^3 freezer space, that will fit roughly 35 birds. (Note, that whole chickens are not a nice even package so in actuality you may not really be able to fit that many chickens in there.) Pick the size freezer that’s right for you, and if you ever need to upgrade to a bigger unit, I’m sure you could easily sell the old one on Craigslist!
At the end of the day, it’s tough to make a bad purchasing decision. Having a chest freezer is better than not. You’ll thoroughly enjoy the food variety and savings it brings to you and your family.
-Kevin Smith, The Pasture Stand
Copyright 2019, All rights reserved