Is it worth buying a chest freezer?

locutus2003

geordie_joe wrote: »

Don't waste your time, if they actually do do what they claim to do then they are just doing what the fridge/freezer is designed to do anyway.

If you do waste your time, notice how many times they are out of stock on sites that are selling them. And the number of sites that say the model they are selling is discontinued. Most importantly, take notice of all the discussions about them on sites that are not trying to sell them.

Thanks for this - funnily enough I could only find it discontinued in my short search. However, did find several energy saving monitors which might be a possibility at some point!

geordie_joe

locutus2003 wrote: »

Thanks for this - funnily enough I could only find it discontinued in my short search. However, did find several energy saving monitors which might be a possibility at some point!

An energy saving monitor would be far better as it will tell you how much each appliance is using. This would be far better than reading [STRIKE]crap[/STRIKE] inflated claims on the internet.

I have one, but I have to say that once I had used it to check the energy consumption of each appliance I own it became redundant. I think I used mine for 2 weeks and haven't seen it since!

They are useful, as they tell you how much YOUR appliances are using, which is better than the over exaggerated claims made on some web sites.

If you can borrow one then do it, it will be well worth it. If you have to buy one, then that will be fine as long as you realise it will be something you only use for a short time, but the information it gives you will be very useful.

geordie_joe

Butterfly_Brain wrote: »

Uprights are ok if you want to find something in a hurry but they don't hold nearly as much as a chest freezer

The down side is things get lost in chest freezers for years.

I have both, and my chest freezer is full of little things but I haven't got a clue what is in the bottom 2/3's of it. It's full to the brim, but whenever I "dig" into it I only take things from the top third of it at most. Then when I have created a space in it I bung more stuff into it.

I haven't actually opened my chest freezer for two weeks now, because I am trying to empty my upright freezer to defrost it, then transfer all the stuff from the chest freezer into the upright so they are easier to find.

Then I'm going to organise the chest freezer much better.

ariba10

We put a chest freezer in the garage 12 years ago as a back up to the upright one in the house.

Although there are only two of us (But we do have visitors that stop over) we would not like to be without it now.

Olliebeak

My first one was a 'half-size' chest-freezer (bought around 1993/4) and I've still got it - love it! When I moved to this house, I got rid of the old 'under counter' fridge and got an upright fridge/freezer which is great - no more bending down to see inside the fridge :rotfl: PLUS four drawers in the freezer part.

About the same time, my DD got an upright f/f which I fell in love with, so when she decided a year later to sell it to get separate under-counter fridge and freezer, I jumped at the chance to get my sticky little mitts on hers with the intention of selling mine.

However, I went a bit overboard at the next pay-day and bought so much stuff that I had to switch the original f/f back on again to store all the stuff in . So now I've got DD's ex f/f for every-day stuff and opened packs; my original one for storing fruit, veg and unopened items like bottles of milk, cartons of fruit juice, tubs of margarine, packs of bacon/cooked meats etc; AND the small chest freezer. The freezers all come in handy when I'm batch-cooking and I shop monthly, so need plenty of fridge storage space.

janiebaby29

Pink-winged wrote: »

Hi locutus,

I have both a chest freezer and a fridge freezer in my garage and have had no problems apart from having to go out late at night in all weathers to get food out for the next day. My chest freezer has been there for 15 years! :eek:

My chest freezer saves a fortune because I can bulk cook and bake and also pick up reduced items that I would have to leave if I didn't have the freezer space to store them. The only slight disadvantage with a chest freezer is that unless you are well organised it can be difficult to remember and find what you have in there.

These earlier threads may help you to decide whether it would work for you:

Is it worth buying a chest freezer?

Is it worth having a second freezer

Pink

I have a wipe off writing board by my chest freezer which is in the shed .
when i put stuff in , i write it on the board , when i take it out i wipe it off,
simple , ' squeak like the meerkats on telly '

paddy's_mum

I'm half ashamed to admit that I've got two large chest freezers and a generous sized upright one too! However, in my defence I will say that we live way out in the country and popping a couple of miles to the shop every time you run out of milk or bread is not a sensible option. Mine are all in the garage, raised up on old pallets so as to increase airflow to help prevent early rusting.

I don't think I 'make' any money if I consider the running costs but I do value the fact that I'm never without the basics, keep a good selection of quick readymade meals for those bad days we all get sometimes, can take advantage of end-of-the-day boxes of tired fruit from the local market, supermarket reductions and bogofs, stock up on Hovis loaves at 10 pence each at 3.30 on a Sunday afternoon, have seasonal recipe soups by the score and there is no such thing in our house as leftovers, just ingredients for next time recipes!

I bought two pounds of over-ripe bananas today at the silly price of 60p and I now have five banana cakes cooling nicely. They'll be in the freezer tomorrow. The saving? I don't know to the penny but I'll guarantee they work out substantially cheaper than buying the same items from a bakery plus I know what's in them and to what standard of hygiene they were prepared.

Nothing gets wasted if you use your freezer wisely, and I believe that using it efficiently makes you a more imaginative cook. Enjoy your new toy.

stilernin

I used to keep my 'coffin' of a chest freezer tidy by using supermarket cardboard boxes.

I had found a 'brand' that fitted neatly front to back and 5 boxes wide - this was the bottom layer. Above that I had the same size boxes but only used 4 - this enabled me to slide them along to reveal the bottom layer. On the very top I had the hanging plastic baskets that came with the freezer from Bejams (who remembers them?)

The boxes were a bit thicker in those days and I kept the flaps pushed inside for extra strength. The same boxes lasted for over 10 years.

Now as a singleton I struggle with three and a half drawers in a fridge freezer.

To answer the original question - you won't regret having a chest freezer, buy the biggest you can if you have several people to feed.

pruney

grunnie wrote: »

I have a fridge freezer in my kitchen and a chest freezer which is in the garage. It holds most of the produce from the garden and I only put one or two of each item in the fridge freezer. Makes it much easier to find stuff in a hurry. Also make sure as you put items in the freezer that you keep a list so you know what you have. Found 4 tubs of hagan daaz icecream at the bottom of my freezer the other day. :cool:

Wish this would happen to me, the only thing I find hidden away are giblets...

Olliebeak

pruney wrote: »

Wish this would happen to me, the only thing I find hidden away are giblets...

....... chicken liver pate?