Freezer or Freezer/Fridge Combo?

[Mynyel]

I am looking to get a used fridge or freezer, it will be an additional one. Does anyone else have one? Are they worth it? I am looking to get one so I don't have to go shopping every week. I would like to only go every 10 days or so. 2 weeks would be optimum but don't know if I could go that long!

 

Reading the grocery thread got me thinking :) I don't spend much on food....maybe $550 a month (more during the holidays, I love to bake for everyone!) but I still feel like I spend too much. I am hoping by "stocking up" I can eliminate spending so much!

 

:grouphug::grouphug:

[RoughCollie]

I bought an upright freezer instead of a combo. I make a lot of food ahead of time and freeze it, and I buy meats (and other frozen foods) in bulk when they are on sale.

 

If I were using it to store food which was being replenished every two weeks, and I did not cook and bake a lot, or store a lot of meat, I would buy a refrigerator/freezer.

 

Milk and orange juice take up most of the space in my refrigerator. My family drinks about 7 gallons of milk and 4 gallons of orange juice every week. I don't buy it all at one time because it will not all fit in the fridge, and DH picks up what we need on the way home from work.

 

So that is another consideration -- whether you will need extra refrigerator space over the span of time between shopping trips.

[LauraGB]

Freezer for sure! All the stuff that goes in my fridge has an expiration date, so it needs to be replaced regularly regardless of storage. Our upright freezer is awesome. (except for all the energy it sucks - if you are buying used, do yourself a favor and see if you can find the energy star rating online before a final purchase. Ours is ancient and needs to be replaced just because it is an energy hog).

[jenL]

We love our extra upright freezer. I store meats, bread, veggies, cheeses, pizzas, and assorted items (guacamole, french fries) in ours. My fridge has things that rotate through more, so we don't need the extra fridge space here. You would just need to assess your needs and determine where they fall.

[gardening momma]

We have an extra upright freezer too--a small one. It's less than 5 ft high. I keep extra meat, frozen veggies, dh's frozen meals for work (Hungry Man, Hot Pockets, etc), extra bags of shredded cheese, and misc. things that I freeze (extra spaghetti sauce, cooked black beans, & so on). I have a turkey in there right now, from a good sale at Thanksgiving.

 

I like to get garlic Texas toast for when we have spaghetti, and I've found it's a space saver to take the bag out of the box before putting the bread in the freezer (recycle the box).

 

I go shopping once a month, usually at 2 stores. I do pick up milk & bread during the month, but we try not to buy anything else between our monthly shopping trips. This keeps us from the impulse shopping that we (I) used to do. The only problem is that sometimes it really fills up the freezers and fridge to the extent that it can be hard to fit it all in. I decided that now I'm going to split my budget in half and go twice a month instead (spending half of the month's budget each trip).

Edited February 6, 2010 by gardening momma

[6packofun]

I just bought a new chest freezer and brought it home tonight. We are a family of 8 and shop Sam's Club, etc. so I've really needed to replace the freezer that died on us...BUT we bought one about half the size of the monster we had. (We got a 13cu ft.) I think it's a good, moderate size that won't encourage me to splurge just to fill it but not so small that it will be too jam-packed. :)

Edited February 6, 2010 by 6packofun
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[Peek a Boo]

:iagree:

 

I picked up a used freezer [upright] 15 years ago when we first got married in an attempt to work on saving money. It absolutely more than paid for itself!

 

when we finally replaced it a couple years ago we got the biggest upright that dh would let me buy. It is full and I wouldn't look back. :-)

 

I get to count it to my emergency food storage too: even if power went out for several days or none of us could get out, we have plenty to share and it will still keep for awhile if you cover it well w/ blankets/etc.