The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Smallholding => Equipment => Topic started by: Buffy the eggs layer on September 08, 2011, 08:56:18 am
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Hi All :wave:
I'm not sure if this is the best place for this question but I wanted to know your thoughts on chest freezers.
My questions are,
If I want to freeze half a sheep and half a pig, how big a freezer do I need?
Does a front opening, under counter freezer make it easier to get to the item that you are looking for or is a top opening chest freezer just as good?
Does a chest freezer have more internal space than a an under counter one of the same size?
How much should I expect to pay?
Does anyone know of any cheap suppliers?
Buffy
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One of the biggest factors is that a top opening freezer keeps the cold air in when you open the lid, and is thus much more economical to run. As for finding things, that's largely down to how organized you were when you put things in in the first place!
One thing to bear in mind is the ambient temperature rating of the freezer. When I went to buy one I said "Is this one OK to keep outside in the garage?" and they said "Yes of course it is, as long as the garage temperature never drops below 5 degC" :o.
We ended up buying a catering model designed for use in a Swedish garage, and complete with a five year warranty. As with so many things in life, you get what you pay for!!
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The joy of a chest freezer is even though it may only have the same amount of space as an upright you'll still fit much bigger objects in with ease (husbands, kids, bailiffs that sort o thing ;D). On the whole though they tend to have a much bigger litreage than standard uprights.
If you are putting lambs and pigs in the freezer then the chest freezer would be my option for trying to fit in whole legs and large roasting joints. It does pay to be organised though or you end up discovering things in the bottom of the freezer like a pack of sausages that were reduced to clear several years before (Just under that traffic warden)!
The problem with the chest freezer is they can take up a fair bit of space, you really need a decent sized utility room for them to sit in if you are worried about the outside temperature aspect. That said, just about every farming family I know keeps the freezer in the garage or an outside shed somewhere. I have seen little ones though.
There is a good choice for buying them over the net. All the big electrical suppliers will happily take your money, if you shop around though there are some fantastic deals to be had on end of range models and lesser name brands.
Best o luck
p.s. Remember no matter how big a freezer you buy, or even how many you have you will still come home with the shopping and find that the freezer is already full and that there's not enough space for the bread!
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Thanks Dougal and Womble,
the freezer would be living in the garage as the utility room has a double upright freezer in it and yes, I do often come home to find that there is no room for the bread ( and the milk)
I think from what you have said that a chest style would be best. Its just a question of affordability. Is one for just over a £100 new likely to be rubbish?
Buffy
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Our was about £125 five years ago and we have had no bother. Shop around on the net. can be some really stunning deals
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Best to go and have a look at it if you can. The cheap ones we saw were really disappointing - glue everywhere, badly fitting seals etc. Also don't forget to factor in the running cost. An A+ etc rated one may cost more to begin with, but may pay back faster than you think.
HTH!
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If I want to freeze half a sheep and half a pig, how big a freezer do I need?
I couldn't get half a pig in a normal under-the-counter-fridge-sized freezer. Mine was about 80L net capacity. As others have said, it can be a problem getting leg joints into the drawers of the uprights.
Does a front opening, under counter freezer make it easier to get to the item that you are looking for
Yes, very much so.
Does a chest freezer have more internal space than a an under counter one of the same size?
Yes, very much so.
How much should I expect to pay?
Does anyone know of any cheap suppliers?
It is of course a truism that you get what you pay for!
As well as the other answers here, there have been a few threads on freezers before, here's the last one:
http://www.accidentalsmallholder.net/forum/index.php?topic=17301.0 (http://www.accidentalsmallholder.net/forum/index.php?topic=17301.0)
There's a warning about at least one make of cheaper chest freezer in this thread.
And, on the theme of freezers that won't work in the cold ( ::)), I posted about the fact that most freezers are not warrented to work when the ambient temperature is below 10 deg C here: http://www.accidentalsmallholder.net/forum/index.php?topic=17302.msg164351#msg164351 (http://www.accidentalsmallholder.net/forum/index.php?topic=17302.msg164351#msg164351)
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Depends on the sheep and the pig. We got 35kg of meat off a texel cross. It's not just volume though: look at how much meat can be frozen in one go. When we have meat coming back from the abattoir we put a couple of freezers on fast freeze the day before so the ambient meat goes into a cabinet that's already below -30C.
You need to be fussier about labelling stuff in a chest freezer because it's easy to find yourself with a collection of unlabelled body parts reminiscent of an episode of Silent Witness but probably without the love interest.
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You need to be fussier about labelling stuff in a chest freezer because it's easy to find yourself with a collection of unlabelled body parts reminiscent of an episode of Silent Witness but probably without the love interest.
;D ;D ;D
Pam Ayres always says we've all got a packet in our freezer of, "It'll come back to me." There's a recipe on this site somewhere for Half the Garden Soup. I have on several occasions had to decide how to cook The Unlabelled Defrosted Dinner. :D
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We got a great deal on our chest freezer from a supplier who also dealt in 'damaged' goods. You have to go and search through but most have only cosmetic scratches or dents that have no impact on their operation.
It might be worth asking around for something similar in your area.
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Thank you all,
I will let you know how I get on.
Buffy :wave:
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I love the 'freezer guessing game': I'm looking for something for dinner and waving a bag at my wife saying 'I think that's duck breasts' and she says "no, its chicken giblets - or stewing steak". Why does everything looks the same!?
::)
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You know, I vividly remember my mum serving steak pie and custard as a dinner party dessert one evening!
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You know, I vividly remember my mum serving steak pie and custard as a dinner party dessert one evening!
I would probably have enjoyed that... :D
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if I were you I would plump for the largest, highest rating freezer for the garage and then spend a fiver on a huge wipe board with a "plan" of the freezer on it, to put on a wall over the freezer. i did this, and it works a dream! Write on how many and where, and you can always find what you are looking for! i tied a dry write pen to the board so there would always be one and every time I put something in, I use it, and every time I take something out I re write it!
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Greenerlife, your my kinda person :thumbsup:
I like the idea of the white board and it would be a great help to OH.
Phesant Pharmer,
I will have a look for damaged freezers in my area as damage to the casing would not be to big an issue.
Buffy
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Remember that a freezer that can drop to minus 23 Oc is better than one that creaks to only minus 10 Oc
We looked around for a big chest frezer and most were silly domestic no lower than 5 oC ambient temp to keep them working .
I found a newsagents shop that was closing down and they let me have the big icecream chest freezer for nothing :D four foot by 2 foot by 2 foot deep with half sliding glass lids lids ..it has a freon or such gas fill and a big compressor and can be turned down to minus 25 oC .
It ran well last year when it dropped to minus 18 o C outside but because we also have the washer and dryer out in the garage in a partitioned off area along with the freezer I had to run 2 x 7 watt compact fluroscent bulbs 24/7 for a month or so close to the washer to stop it freezing up .
I also have some polyestyrene boxes in the freezer to hold my frozen sea angling baits.
some of the big lumps of meat were wrapped in kitchen towel on any sharpe bone before being wel and truly cling filmed they have a big lettered label inside the layers of cling film so we know what we are going to have.
I also vac pack loads of excess stuff & big batch soups into smaller manageable packs using a vac sealer from Aldi and some thicker embossed bags from a company on line . these are a sod to label with date and contents unless you get special freezer labels .
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Wow that sounds brilliant,
you clearly dropped lucky there!
I havent yet found one that is large enough at an affordable price.
Buffy
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You coud always try ebay or gumtree.
You can pick up second hand ones that are perfectly good. I have 2 second hand freezers that I got on Ebay and they live out in the garage.
Beth