Freezer

[Joss]

Hi,

I'm in the market for a new freezer. This will be in addition to the small freezer attached to the fridge and will be used mostly for fairly long time storage (1 year?) of things like prepared meals and various meats (like buying 1/2 a pig directly from the producer, etc).

I'm curious about the drawbacks of self-defrosting vs. manual, and other long term usage accumulated experience. I've read a few articles, so I'm not looking for the basic stuff (more useable volume for chests, easier to reach in for upright, etc, etc).

I'm also looking for any recommendation on an exceptionally quiet freezer (it's going to be in a room next door to my bedroom.

Thanks,

Joss

 

[mete]

If the freezer is in the garage where it will see low temperatures [less than 70 F]- only some units are available that are designed for that use ! ...Dropping the temperature 10 F will double the storage life of the food , so for long term storage keep the freezer at it's lowest possible temperature ! Learn which foods have a shorter life .Typically organ meats have half the life of other cuts .That would also include bacon . Pay particular care to sealing the package carefully as to prevent oxidation [freezer burn]. For something frequently opened an upright is more convenient. Always date the packages and rotate ,avoid having three year old food !

 

[B Finnigan]

Chest freezers are more efficient then uprights. Most certainly get a frost free one. Defrosting them is a royal pain in the ass. The only drawback to the frost free is you have to package everything better to keep it from drying out.

Our chest freezer has an alarm if it gets unplugged witch has come in handy twice allready.

 

[Guntotin_fool]

check efficiency ratings. there are some which are just plain juice hogs. There are also some models that run on very very little power. we added a layer of 2 inch rigid isulation to ours and that has reduced energy use by a half.