Garage freezer question

[Deleted member 47532]

So my wife and I have been re stocking everything and wanted to get a chest freezer. We’ve always stock two fridge/freezers with meat but wanted to get something that can store a whole cow.

For those of you with experience, is 16 cu foot actually big enough to store a whole cow purchase? If so do you have any recommendations for requesting specific cuts to save space? Is there extra space for a deer after deer season? Is GE and higher end freezers worth the extra cost or do you have good experiences with the Home Depot and Lowes brands? I’ve found so many different opinions I wanted to ask actual peepers with experience in the wild temp swings here.

My wife and I have never needed this much freezer storage but our two kids will eat us out of house and home if we don’t start buying in bulk to save money.

Garage is temp controlled but not insanely well. Temp ranges from around 50 degrees to 85 degrees.

You can do a 1/2 a beef not much room after that I had a 21cf upright Hotpoint that worked well in the garage no ac there. Make sure that you have good airflow around the freezer. You don't need a high-end unit just to store the meat. Good luck hope this helps.

 

[Bigdawg90]

Thanks for all the suggestions guys. I hadn’t really thought about how hard organizing it would be with all that beef. My wife and I were just at Lowes for awhile looking at both and we’re gonna go with an upright. We’re putting together our prep area in our garage tomorrow so we’ll see just how much room we’ll have and then it’ll be trying to find a good deal.

 

[JEVapa]

The Frigidaire is pretty rock solid. I don't think you'd go wrong with one of those unless you got something smaller than 20cu ft.

 

[Foxfire5]

We have 3 21 ft uprights and one 7.7 ft chest. The chest is just for more long term storage just until we have room in the uprights. All of them are in a garage. We do have a small wall mount heater to keep the garage above about 40 degrees. Most of the freezers are Frigidaire. Actually one of the uprights is supposed to be a backup in case one fails, but we seem to be able to keep all of them pretty full. The fuller that they are the longer they can go without power. If you have empty space fill it up with milk cartons almost full of water. It is also a good idea to fill up plastic cup 1/2 full of water and let it freeze the put a coin on top of the ice. If the ice melts the coin will not be on the top of the ice.

Very good advice I do the same thing.

 

[garytx]

It all depends on the size of the beef. My empty 14.8 cu ft chest freezer easily holds a half-beef that delivered out at 325# of meat. It could have easily held another 300 pounds.

 

[Buck98]

I got a Kenmore 14cuft chest freezer with 2 rows of 4 hanging baskets and then the bottom. I dont have any problems with items getting lost. Came with 2 baskets and the extra baskets were $30 IIRC but its been worth it.

I lose some space with the basket system but nothing is ever lost in the chest. I slide one basket on the top row, then slide the basket on the lower row and can get at anything on the bottom.

I have one also with the baskets. Top two can be lifted out. Bottom two slide side to side. Also two plastic milk crates in the bottom,easy to remove or slide. Mine has a metal cage on the bottom that holds everything about 1/2 inch off the bottom so air can circulate. You could also “borrow” one of the plastic hand buggies you put groceries in at some stores. With a chest freezer when you open the lid all the cold air doesn’t fall out. Might be better in a power outage. Just my thoughts.

 

[Foxfire5]

I have one also with the baskets. Top two can be lifted out. Bottom two slide side to side. Also two plastic milk crates in the bottom,easy to remove or slide. Mine has a metal cage on the bottom that holds everything about 1/2 inch off the bottom so air can circulate. You could also “borrow” one of the plastic hand buggies you put groceries in at some stores. With a chest freezer when you open the lid all the cold air doesn’t fall out. Might be better in a power outage. Just my thoughts.

We have a 26ft Standup freezer. My wife has a great system. Buy the food, open door and put it in anywhere it will fit. It is fun watching her trying to find what she wants! You know pack, unpack, repack etc..! LOL!

 

[Mr.Glock]

No one mentions a WARNING device if any type freezer stops working! Best get one! Lots of waste when a freezer stops working and you don’t get in it for a day or so!

 

[Buck98]

We have a 26ft Standup freezer. My wife has a great system. Buy the food, open door and put it in anywhere it will fit. It is fun watching her trying to find what she wants! You know pack, unpack, repack etc..! LOL!

If your wife wears mini skirts a chest freezer might be more fun!! Not trying to ruffle any feathers.

 

[RickN]

Not sure if this will help any but