Anyone have a 3.5 cu ft freezer? Do you like it?

[jsmadge]

We are a family of 3 who have a stocked pantry and are considering an additional freezer. We don't eat a lot of meat, but are buying larger quantities when on sale.

wondered if anyone had a small freezer and if it fit your needs.

thanks!

[Teacher Terry]

I did when I had kids at home. Once it was just the 2 of us we did not use it.

[kally]

we are just 2 of us and use the small freezer all the time. I am vegan dh veggie so it is full of nuts and berries and grains. It is always full, one day I will go to the bottom to discover what is down there.

[rodeosweetheart]

We have a small one, not sure of the size as bought it used. We just bought it this fall and wish we had gotten one sooner! It's full of squash and apples right now, along with on sale butter and coffee and a bunch of other things. We figured we paid for it (40 dollars on Craigslist) the first month we bought it, in savings.

[Float On]

I had a small one but was a bit disappointed that it used more energy than I thought it should. Sold it on CL.

[lessisbest]

I would suggest getting a larger refrigerator/freezer (with more freezer space) instead of adding a free-standing freezer. You may only need to learn how to optimize the freezer space you currently have. For instance, use plastic storage baskets in your freezer to divide the food. Use a FoodSaver to vacuum-seal foods for longer storage. It also helps to remove everything from it's original packaging (especially a bag within a box) and repackage them for better use of space. You can make a "file" for the instructions on the boxes.

When I teach home food storage classes, and from the classes I've taken on the subject, we discourage multiple refrigerators and freezers. The "bargains" we tend to stick in them can quickly be off-set by the amount of utilities it takes to run them (especially if you have to place it in a hot garage). If you don't have back-up power, you can quickly lose the contents during a long power outage, especially for people who store their most expensive food dollars found in meat in their freezer. I would encourage people to expand their freeze-dried foods first.