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Erin Stringer
05-05-2005, 9:19 PM
LOML and I are looking for a freezer to put in the basement and store mass quantities of meat and other foods. I have no experience with these so I'm looking for "expert" tips, suggestions, or stories. I don't think we need anything too large but we want more than a "dorm size" unit.

As always, thanks in advance.

Erin

Jim DeLaney
05-05-2005, 9:36 PM
You didn't say how many people are in your family. In my case, there's just the wife and I, and we get along very nicely with a little 12 ft³ chest type freezer. Initial cost was about $200, as I recall. our current unit is about ten years old.

Over the years, we've had both chest and upright type freezers, and have come to much prefer the chest type. Advantages are that: 1. the cold air stays in when you open the lid, so there's less cold loss, making it cheaper to operate; and 2. the upright we had tended to leak around the door seal, again making it less efficient.

YMMV...

Matt Meiser
05-05-2005, 9:45 PM
We have had the smallest size Fridgidaire chest freezer for about 5 years now. It stays cold, so it does its job. For a family of three its borderline small. We buy large packages of meat to save money and that wrks well. Upright freezers are more user-friendly, but less energy efficient from whst I've heard.

Rob Russell
05-05-2005, 9:48 PM
We have 1 of each type - a chest my wife and I bought years ago + an upright we inherited from her parents when they moved out of their house a couple of years ago. My experience with the 2 is that it's easier to lose things in the chest because they get buried. The upright actually stays colder than our chest freezer. The upright is easier to find things in. And no - we don't need to freezers. I've been after my wife for months to empty 1 out.

John Hart
05-05-2005, 9:51 PM
I have an upright and I gotta say that they have one significant problem. It is very easy to not close the door completely and not be able to tell. I've lost a full freezer of food twice because all the cold falls out when this happens.

Definitely buying a chest next time!

Wes Bischel
05-06-2005, 12:26 AM
Erin,
We went with the chest freezer for the same reasons others mentioned. To make it easier to organize things, I bought 4 "milk crates" and color coordinated them. :rolleyes: The crates make it easy to get to the bottom and to keep things in their place. We also have a white board on the cabinet to help keep track of the contents.

Wes

Karl Laustrup
05-06-2005, 6:21 AM
Upright. Kenmore 18 cu/ft, 11 y.o. made by Frigidare. Takes a half second to check that door is closed. Used to loose stuff in the chest type. Upright is, according to experts, more to operate, but I would venture to guess it's not much more than a buck or two per year.

My .02 cents.

Bill Lewis
05-06-2005, 7:05 AM
We had a small chest type. It failed and we lost everything. We now have an upright that we bought from Sears. It is about 18 cu. ft. It does have an alarm system on it with battery backup. Something that would be good on either type. I think it was about $400. Uprights take up a smaller footprint. You can get uprights that are frost-free, not chests. Stuff get's buried in chests. As for effiency, I don't know which would be cheaper to run, just check the energy labels when buying if that is a concern.

Rob Russell
05-06-2005, 10:36 AM
A solution to the upright door not closing is to buy a locking model. The one we got from the in-laws has a lock on it. We don't use it, but you could very easily get in the habit of locking the door every time you closed it. The door would need to be really open for the lock to miss the door frame and that's something you'd probably notice.

John Hart
05-06-2005, 12:22 PM
Yeah...speaking of habits...the way we resolved our problem was to forbid the kids from opening it and for us to give the door a tug after closing it. The amzing thing is that it LOOKS closed even when it's not. Just a miniature gap between the magnet and the frame. The lock is a pretty good idea...or maybe even a detent latch.

Erin Stringer
05-07-2005, 9:45 PM
We went looking last night armed with the good information gathered here. We found a Frigidaire/Kenmore 13 cu ft chest type that looked like it would do just what we needed. The salesman was very helpful and answered all of my questions intelligently and without a lot of "fluff." We had only been to Sears so I wasn't ready to buy and he gave us the model # and his phone # and said thanks for coming in. We went to a local electronics place and saw the same unit on sale for $50 less but did not have a pleasant salesman and decided to wait to buy so I could do a little more research. I got home, checked it all out and decided that it was a good unit.

So, I called the first guy at Sears and told him we found a Frigidaire that was the same as the one they had but the model # was slightly different. He said "no problem, I can match that right now, we don't even need to call" and I said "I'll be there this afternoon."

thanks for all the input, it is always appreciated. One other thing...
Anyone want to help carry it to the basement?

Matt Meiser
05-07-2005, 10:12 PM
Now you've got to fill it, which will pale in comparison to the $50 savings. :rolleyes:

I noticed you are in central Ohio--do you ever go to The Andersons? We buy all our meat at an Anderson's in Toledo, usually in one of their freezer packs which are a good deal. I know the store at Sawmill has a meat counter, and they told my brother and his wife that the one off Brice Rd. was supposed to get one this spring (they live about 2 miles from that one.)

Joe Mioux
05-07-2005, 10:43 PM
Now you've got to fill it, which will pale in comparison to the $50 savings. :rolleyes:

I noticed you are in central Ohio--do you ever go to The Andersons? We buy all our meat at an Anderson's in Toledo, usually in one of their freezer packs which are a good deal. I know the store at Sawmill has a meat counter, and they told my brother and his wife that the one off Brice Rd. was supposed to get one this spring (they live about 2 miles from that one.)

Is this the same "The Anderson's" that have all the grain elevators etc?

As far as freezers go, upright is the way. ... ... Why? ... ... Because LOOL's can't stuff them like a chest freezer and lose food in the bottom.:cool:

Jeff Sudmeier
05-08-2005, 7:43 AM
Erin congrats on your freezer! I am glad to hear that Sears took care of you on the price match.

Erin Stringer
05-08-2005, 8:44 AM
Matt,

We go to The Anderson's quite a lot. I was looking at the freezer packs just last week. We have a friend that is getting half of a grass fed cow in a little while so we may go in for 1/2 of that but the Anderson's deals looked good too. I had a couple of their NY Strips this week, mmm mmm good.

Joe,
LOML saw the suggestion from Wes Bichel about the color coordinated milk crates and loved it. She is all about organization so I'm not too worried about losing too much (I'm sure there will be some sacrifices made...).

Matt Meiser
05-08-2005, 10:28 AM
Is this the same "The Anderson's" that have all the grain elevators etc?

Yes it is. They have a retail division, but only have stores in Toledo, Columbus, and Lima, OH. I love the place. They have fine foods and Unisaws in the same store!