Finally got a upright freezer suggestions for filling it? - Page 1

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[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Finally got a upright freezer suggestions for filling it?

Posted: 8/9/2022 12:10:54 PM EDT

A friend of the family asked if I wanted a upright freezer in good shape. Super clean no weird smells. I now have it in my house plugged in and cooling down. Assuming it works well... What should I fill it with? I keep a fair amount of beef in my fridge freezer but I'm curious what items I should start stocking when I find sales for long term storage.

I have a food saver so I can portion and vacuum seal no problem.

What items have worked out well for lts for y'all?

Posted: 8/9/2022 12:24:45 PM EDT

[#1]

Ribeye, chicken, shrimp, beef hot dags, 3 pounders of frozen ground turkey, butter, bacon.

That should get you started.

Look at the sale ads of your local grocer and get going.

Posted: 8/9/2022 12:25:15 PM EDT

[#2]

I usually have a cow processed annually, and freeze whatever grouper / snapper fillets don't get eaten the night of the trip. Having your freezer well organized helps when going to select from a variety of meats in there.

Posted: 8/9/2022 12:32:52 PM EDT

[#3]

Freezer meals. Every time Mrs. C get knocked up, she makes a bunch of these in anticipation of not being able to move about post c-section/being exhausted. It's pretty handy, and from her perspective, it beats eating my cooking.

Posted: 8/9/2022 12:46:32 PM EDT

[#4]

Have a sous vide?

I’m always buying bulk meats, preparing (season, etc), vacuum sealed then freezing in portions to go straight into the sous vide.

Most meats will last a year when properly sealed and frozen.

Posted: 8/9/2022 1:02:19 PM EDT

[#5]

My upright freezer is stuffed with elk, the last of a deer, some bacon belly's which will eventually go on the smoker, some Kokanee and other misc. foodstuffs

Posted: 8/9/2022 1:18:00 PM EDT

[#6]

With an empty freezer it would be a good time to see about purchasing a half of beef then maybe a hog if there's room. Butter and cooking oil would be good too. Watch the grocery ads and keep it topped off with sale items. I'm afraid it's going to get a lot worse before it gets better.

Posted: 8/9/2022 1:28:38 PM EDT

[#7]

Quote History

Quoted:
Have a sous vide?

View Quote

If the answer is no, go get one right away. I prep in vac sealed bags, so basically throw a ribeye right into the water and then cook for 5 minutes at the end. It's no work and we went from occasional steak to now it's no trouble on a week day.

We bought a half cow to stuff ours with, and it's so nice when chicken or something goes on sale. We bought out a Target for $2/pound organic chicken breast a while back and have been enjoying it for months.

Another life pro tip is to go to trader joes or sams and buy a dozen+ of their $4-5 frozen pizzas. having them on hand has stopped us from ordering out (easy $75 now) more than enough to pay off the cost of the freezer. We also buy burgers in bulk from Sams and it works out to like $4/pound or $2 a burger once you factor in the other stuff, so haven't had fast food in months.

Posted: 8/9/2022 1:45:03 PM EDT

[#8]

Quote History

Quoted:
With an empty freezer it would be a good time to see about purchasing a half of beef then maybe a hog if there's room. Butter and cooking oil would be good too. Watch the grocery ads and keep it topped off with sale items. I'm afraid it's going to get a lot worse before it gets better.

View Quote

Find a local farmer/butcher and get a 1/2 cow and 1/2 pig. Grass feed local butchered.

Buy bulk veggies and buy turkeys during Thanksgiving deals and pastrami right after St Patty’s day, etc.

Posted: 8/9/2022 3:30:49 PM EDT

[#9]

I wouldn't go the half-calf route unless it is a great price and has the cuts you want. It has never mathed out for me anywhere I have resided.

I like being able to pick the cuts I want when they are on sale around $5 a pound. Mostly porterhouse and ribeye.

We also have top round/london broil go on sale with great cuts and extremely cheap.

Don't waste freezer space on pizza. Walmart has pretty damn good quality fresh pizza. Its kinda nice being a couple blocks away. Delivery pizza is bidenflated now.

Posted: 8/9/2022 3:42:17 PM EDT

[#10]

Whatever YOU will eat. It doesn't matter what the rest of the world likes. I'm not meaning to sound like a jerk, I do that without trying at times.

But really, keep what you will eat in it. It does no good to by 50 lbs. of ribs on sale if you won't cook them. On the other hand, if you do like them and find them cheap, stock up while you can. My neighbors and I get a steer butchered when it's needed and each take half. That works for us, and I have some fresh steaks coming in about 2 weeks

.

Posted: 8/9/2022 4:29:17 PM EDT

[#11]

Quote History

Quoted:
I wouldn't go the half-calf route unless it is a great price and has the cuts you want. It has never mathed out for me anywhere I have resided.

I like being able to pick the cuts I want when they are on sale around $5 a pound. Mostly porterhouse and ribeye.

We also have top round/london broil go on sale with great cuts and extremely cheap.

Don't waste freezer space on pizza. Walmart has pretty damn good quality fresh pizza. Its kinda nice being a couple blocks away. Delivery pizza is bidenflated now.

View Quote

Walmart and sams are a half hour from me, so it makes sense to stock up. Plus I have a 3.5 and 6.5 so sometimes we’re just too damn tired to cook and they eat it. Well worth the space

Posted: 8/9/2022 4:33:49 PM EDT

[#12]

Great suggestions thanks all!

Posted: 8/9/2022 5:22:37 PM EDT

[#13]

If I can make a recommendation… until you get it filled to the brim keep every ice pack you get and throw them in there. Helps keep things cold for awhile if the power goes out until you can fill it up with food. If you need space throw them out.

Posted: 8/9/2022 6:44:56 PM EDT

[#14]

Quote History

Quoted:
If I can make a recommendation… until you get it filled to the brim keep every ice pack you get and throw them in there. Helps keep things cold for awhile if the power goes out until you can fill it up with food. If you need space throw them out.

View Quote

Or water bottles. A freezer after the power goes out is still a cooler

Posted: 8/9/2022 6:51:29 PM EDT

[#15]

Thanks. I plan on filling the bottom shelf with frozen water bottles to help if there is a power outage

Posted: 8/9/2022 7:11:16 PM EDT

[#16]

I have two uprights, and two large house fridge/freezers. Had a friend do the same and offer me a chest freezer he didn't use. Said it worked great. I didn't really need it but thought I could use it for a bait freezer in the garage, so we filled it up tight last fall with bait (salmon and Halibut carcasses) for spring shrimp and crab. I had no reason to open it from about October to April. It must have had a really good seal on it though. Finally it was time to gear up and I opened it for the first time in months only to find it had quit working quite some time before. Probably the single most disgusting thing I have had to deal with in my life. I guess all I am saying is, be careful with a used freezer and check on it often!

Posted: 8/9/2022 7:27:06 PM EDT

[#17]

Lots more of whatever you regularly eat.

And cookie dough. Gotta start the soccermom harem somehow.

Posted: 8/9/2022 9:35:30 PM EDT

[#18]

Quote History

Quoted:

If the answer is no, go get one right away. I prep in vac sealed bags, so basically throw a ribeye right into the water and then cook for 5 minutes at the end. It's no work and we went from occasional steak to now it's no trouble on a week day.

We bought a half cow to stuff ours with, and it's so nice when chicken or something goes on sale. We bought out a Target for $2/pound organic chicken breast a while back and have been enjoying it for months.

Another life pro tip is to go to trader joes or sams and buy a dozen+ of their $4-5 frozen pizzas. having them on hand has stopped us from ordering out (easy $75 now) more than enough to pay off the cost of the freezer. We also buy burgers in bulk from Sams and it works out to like $4/pound or $2 a burger once you factor in the other stuff, so haven't had fast food in months.

View Quote

Sounds exactly like my workflow!

Posted: 8/10/2022 1:19:09 AM EDT

[#19]

Oh man

Posted: 8/10/2022 10:38:41 AM EDT

[#20]

Quote History

Quoted:
Thanks. I plan on filling the bottom shelf with frozen water bottles to help if there is a power outage

View Quote

It's better to distribute them throughout.

Also, keep in mind that meats and other products generally thaw before water. Plain frozen water will keep the contents cool but not frozen.

If you want something to keep it frozen 19.7 parts potassium chloride to 80.3 parts pure water (by weight) makes a solution that freezes/thaws around 10 degrees. We've used this solution in Gatorade bottles to keep breastmilk frozen in a cooler for 36 hrs on a roadtrip. I used to have a thread here but it got archived and I can't locate it in the archives anymore so I guess it got deleted permanently. These bottles are pretty much our go-to ice packs for coolers now unless the contents are sensitive to freezing, it will freeze things that aren't frozen...

Oh, ETA, the way I fill my freezer. Buy land, buy fence, buy cows, breed cows, finish the steers and sell (or keep) the heifers. When the freezer gets low the finished steer goes in the freezer. Profit!