Should I take a free chest freezer?

[poundwise]

Some friends of ours are buying a new, upright freezer for their home. They have been using, to this point, a chest freezer (about 48" wide by 30" deep, just a guess). They wanted to know if we wanted it.

Now, on the surface, I'm thinking YES. I have been considering buying a smaller (cube-like) chest freezer for some time. A free one sounds great! However, one problem is that we don't really have room for it. That is just going to be a personal decision on our part. We may can 'make' room.

A second thing I'm concered about has to do with electricity. I've worked very hard to find all the things we could do to reduce our monthly electric bill. I wonder how much difference having this chest freezer in our home will make? Will we be saving enough on meat to make it worthwhile? We already pretty much only buy the grocery stores' special offers each week. And, being as large as it is, I'm also concerned about stocking it full; which is more efficient, when that likely really exceeds our needs.

Anyway, I thought I'd toss the idea out to my fellow SavingAdvice.com'ers for comments and suggestions.

What do you think?

[Ima saver]

Wish I could help you, my husband won't eat frozen food, so it is not an option. I had one when younger, but never had enough in it to justify the cost. I am your neighbor and lives in Blairsville, Ga. Small world!!

[Happily]

I would take it. Mine has changed my life. You can get meat when it's cheap and freeze it (just think of all those free-with-purchase turkeys and hams during the holidays alone). You can make weeks' worth of meals and freeze them. It also helps you make better use of your regular freezer because you can keep just the things you will be using soon in it. Go for it. You can always change your mind later and unplug it.

[kealina]

i would take it and at least try it for awhile... if you don't like it you can always ask your friends if they wanted to give it to someone else or you can pass it on to someone else who can make good use of it... =)

[Tightwad Kitty]

I would take it if you have the room for it! It will charge the way you shop as you can take advantage of meat and frozen good for months ahead. You can keep you your flour etc in the freezer as well. Make up frozen meals for later. All those little things. What extra you pay in your electric bill can be made up by shopping for lower price meat bargains and taking advantage is markdown meats a day or so before use by date and they are ok to use up to around 3 months later. But you will need to Pack in serving size packs and freezing that day. GO FOR IT!

I personally have chest freezer 1/2 that size for one and 2 refrigerator freezers.

[getforfree]

Of couse take it.

Sometimes I miss a good meat sale because my freezer is full already.

[Savin4disney]

I got an older upright for free. Now I was worried about the electric too. So when I got it...I ran in the basement and wrote down what the meter usage number was at. I plugged it in and then checked the number again. I was also at the beginning of my billing cycle. So I compared one month of running the freezer to one month of not having the freezer. The freezer upped my bill by $8.00 which is a lot.

Next I watched my savings at the grocery store. I save a good 50 - 90 dollars a month on food with the freezer. I am able to hit meat sales, buy larger meats ( right now I have 2 hams and a turkey in there - more stuff but I could not have all 3 of those items in my freezer above my fridge).

So it was worth it. In order to make room. I live in a small apartment...I put it in my bedroom.

[lynclarke]

Yes, yes, and yes...especially if you have a food saver. I can not tell you how much money I save with these two items. I buy every good sale item I see. My favorite is a sale item with a end of sale discount on the top. For example, I just found some rib eye steaks at Walmart superstore for $3.13 a pound. I rarely go there, but I just happened to look at the meat counter. Foodsavered meat will last up to two years or so. We also have one or more deer a year plus assorted fish and other game, too. As one poster said, you can store your flour and cake mixes if you haven't filled it yet. You will save far more than the electricity it costs. lynclarke

[shengmei]

If something is free, take it. If you can't use it you can always give it away later.

[Trillian]

I concur!

[Ima saver]

I wouldn't but only because my husband will not eat frozen meat, if he can help it.

[markio26]

we went the upright freezer route for years.. i lost with it.. i was overbuying food...plus paying to keep it...i find that my refrigerator freezer is all we need... we eat fresh if at all possible.. in the end you have to decide.. do you want to store more food, and increase your electric bill by $120 or more a year... i would decline... hth.