I’ll be getting a pile of meat soon (300 lbs?) and need to buy a dedicated freezer for it.
What are the pros and cons of a chest freezer vs. an upright?
Tell me which you prefer and why.
For that much meat I’d think a chest would be much easier to pack. Another advantage of chests is they retain the cold air better when you open them to take something out as cold air sinks and will flow out the bottom of an upright, but stay settled in a chest.
I think you’re biggest pro vs con is going to be space. Do you have the space to have something 5 feet wide or would you rather it was 5 or 6 feet taller. Beyond that, I can’t imagine it’s going to make that big of a difference.
It you want to get nitpicky about it, a chest freezer will hold the cold air better when you open it since it would all ‘fall out’ on to the floor (but 300 pounds of meat will hold most of that) and as the seals degrade over time, a chest freezer won’t leak as much cold air as a regular freezer. But you’re talking about, what, an extra few bucks, maybe, a year in energy.
Personally, I’d worry more about space, both how it’ll fit in your house and how you’d like to arrange everything inside of it.
ETA, 300# of meat in early December…venison?
I chose an upright because all the places I have that I could put the freezer were places I didn’t want to give up space. I access the freezer every day or every other day, so I couldn’t get a chest freezer and store things on top of it. If you only get into it once a week or so to move things to your fridge, you might be able to keep stuff on top of a chest freezer.
Rudolph, is that you?
true a chest doesn’t dump cold like an upright.
a chest is some harder to load and unload. so you might have to handle stuff more and frost up.
either it is good to have an inventory or map. chest more so.
I voted chest freezer for all the reasons others noted above, and also b/c if you lose power a chest freezer will keep up to three days (probably even longer if you throw a heavy blanket over top) but an upright only makes it one day.
Plus it’s hard to accidentally leave the door open at all w/ a chest freezer.
I think chest freezers generally have more space inside, although I’m sure there are exceptions. True with a chest you’d still have to leave the top clear or move stuff every time. But I’d prefer a chest if space isn’t a huge issue.
What are you getting? Deer? Beef? Either way, the correct answer is to store it in my freezer.
Q: If a freezer has a door on the top, but its height is greater than its width in either direction, what is that, a chest? Those are a little awkward as you have to bend to reach the bottom.
In Alaska chest freezers are better for big chunks of meat; Son go dig me that t-rex hind quarter from the bottom of the freezer.
The stand up freezers do make it easier to get products out of the freezer.
As others have said a lot depends on what your size requirements are and what size meat chunks you are figuring on storing.
Another vote for chest - It’ll hold more.
We have a tiny 90 litre or so chest - it’s only around 3’ x 3’ x 4’
Another vote for chest - It’ll hold more.
We have a tiny 90 litre or so chest - it’s only around 3’ x 3’ x 4’
I have an upright freezer in my kitchen. If I could fit in a second fridge, I’d be in heaven.
Space considerations (and other points made above) aside, I like the upright style. I grew up with a chest freezer, and I know exactly what I’d do: shuffle the stuff I don’t like to the bottom until it was 2/3 full of cuts of meat that I don’t enjoy as much as the top layer of goodies. An upright helps me keep everything more accessible. I have to defrost it, which is a pain; should’ve sprung for a frost free.
Fwiw, when our electricity went out after a storm, my upright kept things frozen for at least 2 days. Some of the fruit was starting to defrost, but I didn’t throw out much meat.
Poacher? A buck yields about 75 pounds of meat.
ETA: assuming whitetail deer.
I would expect an upright would also need to be defrosted more often, since you’d have more moist air entering the freezer every time it’s opened.
Wouldn’t frost free be a bad idea for a freezer used for long term storage?
ETA:
75 * 8, split with one accomplice. The numbers work out…
I’m splitting a cow with my mom, I actually don’t know how much meat I will get, but I think it will dress out to about 600lbs, of which I get half. I don’t think I’ll be getting it until early next year though.
She’s done this before and has a chest freezer, but doesn’t like it. She complains that everything she wants is always on the bottom, so she suggested I get an upright.
I’m looking for other opinions…
Chest = Yes if you have room. Far better in terms of efficency, ease of use, and useable space inside. I have one in my laundry (20 yrs) and many people have one in the garage.
In fact I’ve had a chest freezer of some sort since I was at university (30 years ago), even in a friend’s bedroom. You won’t regret it.
I have a chest freezer because that was what was on sale when I was looking to buy one. It works for me because it sits in an unused hallway where I think would be too narrow to swing an upright door open. On the other hand, it does take up a fair amount of floor space.
I hadn’t really planned where it would go when I bought it. I thought I was going to put it in the mud room, until I discovered there was no outlet close enough and running an extension cord wasn’t going to work. I also considered the basement, then realized I didn’t want to be running up and down my awkward and rickety basement stairs to load it up or get food out, so it ended up in the hallway.
I would look at the space where you plan to put the freezer and decide what shape and size will work for you.
Chest, more energy efficient. That’s it. Uprights take less space and it’s easier to get everything in and out of them. Some chests don’t have a drain, or it gets clogged, and they will be much more difficult to defrost. Some uprights are frost-free, they’ll cost more, but it may seem worth it. I don’t know if there are frost free chests.
I have an upright although chest are better for a lot of reasons. Except in my case I forget things on the bottom for ages and ages until they are no good. Having an upright just functions better with my brain and habits.
A chest is, I think, much easier to defrost. Once a year, I pull the plug, pile all the stuff into a couple laundry baskets, put several pots of very hot water on the floor, balance a desk fan on a hunk of wood pointing down and wait a half hour. Then I clean up the mess with a mop and pail, wipe it clean, put the plug back in, repack the food. An hour and a half it’s over. True you can get an upright with autodefrost, but I wouldn’t trust it to hold food as long.