# Some freezer advice?



## kady05 (Jul 29, 2011)

Okay so, I'm sitting here looking at freezers, since they're kind of a must have if you're feeding raw, IMO. I've read on a couple of sites that chest freezers might not be the best for short people, since you know, we might fall in :redface: I'm 5'0", so I definitely classify myself as short!

So would an upright one be a better choice? Pros, cons to both? My fiance just told me that most uprights don't store food for more than 6 months, is that true? And what about sizes? In theory, I'm feeding one 45-50lb. dog.. but you never know, I might just switch my other adult dog (Wilson) too. In that case, I'd be feeding another 55lb. dog. I don't want this gianormous freezer in the garage, but I do want to be able to store quite a bit if necessary. 

Any tips would be great! I want to get a freezer before I even start feeding, so this is my first step


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## Tobi (Mar 18, 2011)

We only feed one 45lb dog and we don't have a freezer as of yet, could we save money buy buying heart in 60lb cases?! sure... but in all honesty i'm just not sure of where i would put it, and haven't found a good enough deal on one the size i would prefer yet! :lol: 

having said that, it's not a must have, it depends on how much frozen things you have for yourself really, about half of ours is dog food, and then he gets a small place in the fridge part, we eat mostly fresh things so we don't need as much freezer space for ourselves.

Upright imo would be a better choice... I like to use the plastic tote type things for the meats and organs so it is much more easily stacked into the freezer. If you don't want to go the way of tupperware i would have to say chest as you don't want a 5lb frozen beef heart falling 4 ft to your foot. I dunno about the 6 month thing i've never heard of such a thing but hey who knows... thing about it is, how long are you going to be storing this meat? usually we rotate meats out every 3-4 weeks before we go pick up more from our processor.

Craigslist, kijiji are going to be a good place to start if you want to find one that is used, otherwise I would watch out for sales at sears and such.


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## kady05 (Jul 29, 2011)

Oh I guess I should've mentioned, we do have quite a bit of stuff in our freezer.. definitely NO room to put a case of chicken quarters, etc. 

I have no idea how long I'd be storing it.. since I've never done this before LOL. I've found quite a few on CL. There's a Frigidaire on there with these dimensions: 60" tall x 27.5" wide x 28" deep for $150 right now. Then another GE one that's 15.4cu ft. that's like new for $175. That just sounds HUGE to me..but I'm new to this so maybe they're not that big.


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## CavePaws (Jan 25, 2011)

I'm 4'11" 
Chest freezers are annoying if you are digging something off the bottom...I'd get one though if I were you. They just store more. I have a 15 c.f. chest for my 7 pups, 1 15 lbs the others from 40 lbs to 80 lbs. I have more than enough room. :] If you got a 10 c.u ft chest you would be pretty happy I'm sure.


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## magicre (Apr 7, 2010)

we bought a chest freezer and i had the same problem, so we bought a stand up freezer and i like it better.

we waited for a sale at one of the big box stores and bought a 14 point something freezer. now we use the chest freezer for the large bags of raw we've broken up...and the stand up freezer has the food i take out to feed our dogs every week....

when the shelf is empty of its protein, i go to the chest freezer and get more of what i need...

on the other hand, i do buy in bulk....and my dogs eat less than a pound a day.

your dog or dogs would eat more than mine....so an upright would work just fine. it's not so ginormous when you're feeding approximately two pounds a day.


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## minnieme (Jul 6, 2011)

I've always heard that chest freezers are more energy efficient so that was our main buying point when we purchased ours. Unfortunately, my boyfriend and I can't relate with the shortness thing -- we are both very tall, 5'9 and 6'4.


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## chowder (Sep 7, 2008)

I had a giant upright freezer that died and then we got a little bitty chest freezer (before we fed raw). I really wish we had gotten another upright and I'm looking for one now. The chest freezer takes up more floor space, you have to leave all the area above it free so you can raise the lid, and to get to anything on the bottom you have to remove everything on the top! Ours has three baskets, but you still have to remove them first, then there's the first layer of frozen food, then the second and third layer of frozen food. I honestly don't know what is at the bottom of it right now! I prefer to be much more organized then it allows me to be.


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## kady05 (Jul 29, 2011)

I'm kind of leaning toward an upright now that I'm reading a bit. I'm slightly OCD and it seems like an upright would let me organize better. Decisions, decisions!


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## chowder (Sep 7, 2008)

Here is a link to the one I am looking at. It is on sale this week for $260 off! I'm hemming and hawing about it but I made $300 at my garage sale selling junk so I almost made enough for a dog food freezer!

Sears: Online department store featuring appliances, tools, fitness equipment and more


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## Ivy (Mar 16, 2011)

I have a chest freezer and I'm only 5'0" too and I've never fallen in yet, lol. 
From what I have been told the chest freezers are more energy efficient so that's why we got the chest style. Since I'm feeding so many larger dogs I get to the bottom faster so never really have a chance to get a collection of mystery meat at the bottom. (I have a 7 or 9 cubic feet) I wish we would have gotten a bigger one, but we have a budget to stick to.
If you're more of an organized freak than I would say go with the stand up freezer. If you're more interested in usable space go with the chest style.

Not sure about your area but there's a yahoo group called freecycle that you can look into and see if anyone is giving away a freezer.


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## KlaMarie (Dec 30, 2010)

I have a Frigidaire upright, 20.5 cu ft and I like using it so much better than when I had to use my mom's chest freezer. If you use plastic bins, I think I'm able to store just as much I did in a chest freezer. Mine isn't even half full right now, I'll need to place another bulk order in a month or so, but here is a pic with a couple of my plastic bins in.
http://i185.photobucket.com/albums/x164/klamari/2011-08-02140611.jpg

The bins are great for me because with just one dog to feed, I portion her food out in plastic baggies for each meal. And then I can separate differents meals and proteins out, and just grab the baggie from the bin I want. 

I got the model where the door had the bins running all the way across, instead of those ones that are half the door and each side and you can take them out to adjust height. I'm able to fit more because the bin is the length of the door.
http://i185.photobucket.com/albums/x164/klamari/2011-08-02140622.jpg


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## kady05 (Jul 29, 2011)

KlaMarie said:


> I have a Frigidaire upright, 20.5 cu ft and I like using it so much better than when I had to use my mom's chest freezer. If you use plastic bins, I think I'm able to store just as much I did in a chest freezer. Mine isn't even half full right now, I'll need to place another bulk order in a month or so, but here is a pic with a couple of my plastic bins in.
> http://i185.photobucket.com/albums/x164/klamari/2011-08-02140611.jpg
> 
> The bins are great for me because with just one dog to feed, I portion her food out in plastic baggies for each meal. And then I can separate differents meals and proteins out, and just grab the baggie from the bin I want.
> ...


Thanks for posting those pictures! I found a Frigidaire on CL for $150, it's 4yrs. old and is 14.1cu. ft. I *think* I might go with that.. I just like how you can organize everything better.


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## magicre (Apr 7, 2010)

kady05 said:


> Thanks for posting those pictures! I found a Frigidaire on CL for $150, it's 4yrs. old and is 14.1cu. ft. I *think* I might go with that.. I just like how you can organize everything better.


that's how big ours is...but with our stinkin' co op, i'm glad we kept the chest freezer because i think i now have enough food FOR THEM.....that could last two years.

plus the freezer in the house.

i can't complain, though, it allows me to buy bulk without necessarily having run out of the protein.


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## splitnightsky (Jun 20, 2011)

my husband and I got stuck with a fridge the old owners left when we bought our new house,
and we tried to sell it so we could buy a chest freezer but apparently no one wanted a nice 4 year old fridge *rolls eyes*.
so we use that for our pup. I know that seems like a lot for one dog,
but I am an obsessive buyer - "TURKEY/$.60LB!!!! buy ALL OF IT!!"

my favorite thing about him having his own fridge is that I get to thaw his meat out there.
I just walk out, move the meat the night before, and I'm good 

I would definitely get an upright - my parents have had one since I was a kid, and they still use it.
I've never heard of the 6month rule, although there is a limit to how long meat can be frozen anyway.
if you're buying that much food, you must have a small dog - I buy a little over 2 weeks worth and pack my side pretty well.
just make sure you defrost it on a fairly regular basis - that helps the food to last longer


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## kady05 (Jul 29, 2011)

Well I WAS going to get that Frigidaire freezer tonight, but then the lady decided to tell me that she told 2 other people to come to her house at the same time and it was "first come, first serve". Not driving 40min. for a "maybe", and what if we all showed up at the same time? What would we do, draw straws LOL? So my search continues!


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## whiteleo (Sep 7, 2008)

I have both, 2 uprights and a chest. I like them equally for different reasons. I store all my cases in the uprights and once I have thawed and cut up things that were in cases and portioned them out and put into plastic ziplocs I put them into my chest freezer that has dividers in it. My chest freezer definitely is more energy efficient than the uprights.


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## Liz (Sep 27, 2010)

I am 5'4" and love my upright freezer. I had asmall chest freezer out of which I constantly provided freezer burned meat for myself. I organize my upright so much better and we purchased the largest one available - I believe it is 25 or 26 CF. We do have 4 large dogs and a small one to feed so I go through a full freezer three or four times per year. But I can also buy hundreds of pounds at a time - and it is organized where I can find it quickly. I have organ in smal zip bags which then go into shoe box size containers on the top shelf and heart goes into containers. The bone in foods go in zipper bags in large tubs that fit four to a shelf. Necks and such go in zipper bags in the door. It is neat and easy to see what I need. It is not as energy efficient but if you are organized you are not spending alot of time in the freezer anyway. My husband is a mechanic so garage space is highly prized - he would die a million deaths if I bought a chest freezer that big. LOL


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## chowder (Sep 7, 2008)

Well, reading all these posts convinced me to bite the bullet and I got the upright freezer on sale. It's suppose to arrive Thursday!! I'm going to keep my little 7 cu ft chest freezer and put the upright next to it. (our craigslist didn't have any good deals on freezers....I guess everyone here keeps theirs :frown

I get to go meat shopping next week!!! Guess I'll have to have another garage sale!


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## Scarlett_O' (May 19, 2011)

I didnt read all the replies...but I LOVE my upright!!

I have to have EVERYTHING in the kitchen in its own place....and this does it PERFECTLY!:happy: And I, at 5'3"(with shoes)can VERY easily get EVERYTHING!!:nod:

(However I LOVE chest freezers.....for family and friends! Cause its sooo easy for meat to get forgotten and burned in them....then my babies get said meat!LOL :laugh


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## kady05 (Jul 29, 2011)

Liz said:


> My husband is a mechanic so garage space is highly prized - he would die a million deaths if I bought a chest freezer that big. LOL


Ah see, I can relate to that! My fiance is big into cars and the garage is essentially "his". But he has told me we can make space for whatever freezer I want 



chowder said:


> Well, reading all these posts convinced me to bite the bullet and I got the upright freezer on sale. It's suppose to arrive Thursday!! I'm going to keep my little 7 cu ft chest freezer and put the upright next to it. (our craigslist didn't have any good deals on freezers....I guess everyone here keeps theirs :frown
> 
> I get to go meat shopping next week!!! Guess I'll have to have another garage sale!


Oh jeez, congrats! 

It seems like there are a lot more chest freezers on CL vs. uprights. I feel like a freezer stalker on there right now!


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## lauren43 (Feb 6, 2011)

I wish I could get a freezer but I rent and I have no clue where it would go or what my roomie would think of it. Right now we have two refrigeraters, one in the kitchen and one in the garage...I kinda took over the garage freezer with dog food, oops! Luckily the roomie doesn't seem to mind...


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## Scarlett_O' (May 19, 2011)

lauren43 said:


> I wish I could get a freezer but I rent and I have no clue where it would go or what my roomie would think of it. Right now we have two refrigeraters, one in the kitchen and one in the garage...I kinda took over the garage freezer with dog food, oops! Luckily the roomie doesn't seem to mind...


We rent as well...and live in a 750(MAYBE)square foot house with no garage...ours is behind the kitchen door....but if you have a grarage then you have, IMO, PLENTY of space!!LOL


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## magicre (Apr 7, 2010)

we rent, too....and both of our freezers are in the garage.

if we didn't have a garage, they would either be in the bedrooms or the living rooms or the kitchen....i'm the
one who lives here....and honey doesn't mind. he's as obsessed as i am.

if your room mate doesn't mind, go for it....


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## kady05 (Jul 29, 2011)

Well I got one! 16.5cu ft. Whirlpool Estate (upright).. it's in great condition, looks brand new! Got it for $125, I'm pretty happy


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## tansox (Jun 22, 2011)

I have a chest freezer and it seems to work for me, although I'm not sure I don't have a touch of OCD either!!! lol All new food is put in the chest freezer on the left and older stuff is moved over to the right, food is only taken from the right side of the freezer and is rotated regularly. I pack it carefully with various types of meats and bones, and try to keep some type of order (that'll be the OCD creeping in again!) and every now and then I throw caution to the wind and take something out from the "wrong" place just for the sheer hell of it!!!!


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## chowder (Sep 7, 2008)

tansox said:


> I have a chest freezer and it seems to work for me, although I'm not sure I don't have a touch of OCD either!!! lol All new food is put in the chest freezer on the left and older stuff is moved over to the right, food is only taken from the right side of the freezer and is rotated regularly. I pack it carefully with various types of meats and bones, and try to keep some type of order (that'll be the OCD creeping in again!) and every now and then I throw caution to the wind and take something out from the "wrong" place just for the sheer hell of it!!!!


Oh my!!! I chuck new things into whatever little open spot I can find in my chest freezer. Then in about 6 months I have to haul everything out and guess what the frozen, frost covered objects at the very bottom once were! 

I am SOOOO glad that I got my new upright!


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