New freezer

[Creeping Death]

As the title suggests, what say yee on new freezers? Make, style (chest vs upright) size?

My Frigidaire from 07 chest freezer is going away. You see, my 19mo old son turned the knob to "off" or I can only assume it was him. The smell was/is not good haha. Anyway, went to get some meat for tonight's dinner and was met with a surprise.

Good thing it only had 3-4 deer, some elk, some pig, turkeys and other assorted stuff. Sarcasm insert here.

Time to go kill shit to fill the new, unpurchased one soon.

 

[WaterDog]

I’ve had freezers for 40 years dedicated to wild game and fish. I’ve had both chest and upright freezers. My recommendation is a frost free upright. I like uprights because it’s easier to stock them and find stuff. With chest freezers it seems things just get piled in there and its a hassle finding stuff. I’m sure some people are much more organized with chest freezers but I haven’t known any. Also be sure to get frost free. I had one that wasn’t frost free and several times a year I had to spend hours defrosting it. A real pain in the A.

 

[CAL'NDN]

I’ve had freezers for 40 years dedicated to wild game and fish. I’ve had both chest and upright freezers. My recommendation is a frost free upright. I like uprights because it’s easier to stock them and find stuff. With chest freezers it seems things just get piled in there and its a hassle finding stuff. I’m sure some people are much more organized with chest freezers but I haven’t known any. Also be sure to get frost free. I had one that wasn’t frost free and several times a year I had to spend hours defrosting it. A real pain in the A.

Your showing your age right now lol I remember those freezers growing up haven't seen one in many years now. Do they still make non frost free freezers?

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[WaterDog]

Ya got me there Chris. I am older than dirt. Actually the non frost free was my first freezer and that was a long time ago. It was a real piece of crap. I just remember what a pita it was to defrost.

 

[CAL'NDN]

Lol yea I remember those

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[CAL'NDN]

I'm looking to buy one myself haven't made up my mind. I would try a chest never had one but the wife for some reason won't let me get one but she already made it clear it will be for all our game meat and in the garage.

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[Mud Pigeon]

Non frost free is the way to go for a dedicated freezer IMO. I can put game or beef from the steers we buy in mine for a year without vacuum sealing and probably infinitely when vacuum sealed, although I haven't tried more than 3 years. Ice cream sits in there forever without frost too. The fan that keeps the freezer ice free is what causes freezer burn and frost. I've defrosted mine once in many years, break off a chunk of ice once a blue moon. I think keeping it close to capacity helps.
Also, heard from 2 friends in the market they are hard to find right now like many things in the Covid economy.

 

[WaterDog]

I vacuum seal everything and have no problems with freezer burn. Also 18 months is the longest I allow anything to be in the freezer.

 

[Creeping Death]

I'm not really sure what frost free vs non frost free debate derived from but my question is chest vs upright and thoughts on make. Size was just to see what you all have.

I've had chest freezers all my life, literally there's been one in the garage my entire life. I'm thinking upright this go just because of the losing stuff in the bottom that seems to happen no matter how organized it is.

 

[Mud Pigeon]

The one I've had for 12 years is a Holiday brand chest freezer, 7CF I think. It was cheap, works great. An upright with shelfs would be much more convenient but I keep a lot of stuff separated in big reusable cloth grocery bags with handles so if I need to get to something on the bottom I'm just lifting a couple bags out.

 

[Creeping Death]

Good idea on the bags.

 

[Cali Ridge Runner]

I have a chest freezer....... like it better than an upright but the down fall is it gets used as a
table ( random stuff ) by the wife and can be a pain when I need to get in there.

 

[Papagreg]

Not sure anymore with the new models, but chest freezers used to be more efficient. I have an upright and a chest model and the upright is definitely easier to stock and grab from. Like someone mentioned above, they are in short supply right now, had a clerk tell me most appliances come from China, go figure

 

[The joel]

Upright for sure. Chest makes it more difficult to see what all is in them. My issue is moving all the crap from Costco to make room for game meat!

 

[ilovesprig]

Upright has always been good for me.

 

[MJB]

Upright and non frost free

The frost free shuts down to eliminate the build up of ice.
My beer fridge has a frost free freezer on top and meat doesn't do as well as my non ff.

 

[YETI]

I have an old chest freezer. I'm scared to dig down to the bottom to see what's there. If/when it craps out I'm going to get an upright.

 

[Creeping Death]

Update:
The wife went and bought a GE upright big bastard. Time to move cabinets in the garage to fit it. Comes tomorrow. Thanks for the insight on chest vs upright. That's all for today's episode.

 

[fishingkid]

I had a chest freezer last 6 years that was always full of meat and with another baby on the way and breast feeding momma we decided to upgrade to a larger stand up freezer mid Covid times. I was unable to find one anywhere brand new. Eventually had Lowe’s order me one estimated delivery date was 3 weeks to 3 1/2 months I paid in full and was told I was back ordered number 297 for this item. I was told call back every week for updates ended up getting it delivered 2 weeks from order date. I used the bag method Mud pigeon described to organize my chest freezer it worked out great I actually felt like I stored more stuff in my 7 cubic ft chest freezer compared to my 21 cubic ft stand up.