What Freezer For Meat Storage?
 

Well, I'm soon going to be up to my eyeballs in chickens, so many will end up going into a freezer. I know some of you guys buy sides and beef and such and freeze them for long periods of time, I was wondering if there are any prefered freezers for this purpose? I've looked at local stores and most of their freezers don't get too cold, the coldest was -9F. I've found a few online that go for over $1,000 for 7 cubic feet that will hit -22F but I think those are made for storing scientific samples. Any good consumer models out there?

Longterm I will be experimenting with the icy ball technology, but I need something to use while I iron out the details.

Re: What Freezer For Meat Storage?
 

If you can find one that does not have automatic defrost cycle go with that kind, the auto ones are the reason for most freezer burn in long term storage of meats and other foods, if your technically inclined you can bypass the auto defrost cycle and avoid the freezer burn making the food last much longer quality wise.

Re: What Freezer For Meat Storage?
 

Rev,

We have 2 uprights, about 14-15cuft each, and a smaller chest, about 9 cuft.

A chest will do better in terms of energy, and Kas said, the non-self defrost models are better in terms of energy use, and keeping your foods......you just have to empty them every so often and jackhammer the ice out.....ahahahaa.....nah, we just let them melt out, then I roll it to the edge of the driveway and hose it out.....another advantage of smaller units.

Also, as we use up frozen, we can shut down a freezer for a while.

Also, the best thing you can do to extend the life of your frozen goods is buy a GOOD vaccum sealer and seal anything you want to store for a long time in the bags. By GOOD, I mean stay away from the Seal-a-meal and brands like that you find in Walmart......I've found those types seem to seal, but have about a 30% failure rate in the seal after being in the freezer a while. I bought a light commercial one ( dont remember the brand ) and it does much better.

You might also want to look at canning some of your chicken, and making soup.....although only takes a few chickens to make a HECK of a lot of soup ! We put up 35 pints of soup the other day and it only took about 1 1/2 chickens worth of meat ( 4-5lb birds ) for that.

Now a question for you: You plan to hand pluck the birds or do you have a mechanical de-featherer ? I've never raised chickens and plan to try to get into it this coming year.

Re: What Freezer For Meat Storage?
 

For storing a lot of the same thing such as chickens,
use a large chest freezer. For daily rummaging through
a large assortment of stuff use an upright freezer.
Separating the chicken packages with food service
sandwich-wrap/deli-paper/basket-liner etc. paper might
help prevent them from sticking together.

A refrigeration repairperson :rolleyes: can adjust/tweak a
freezer to attain much lower temps. At least that is what
I have been told, .... never actually had it done.

As I posted in another thread, use a remote-display
thermometer so you can check the freezer temp without
having to open it.

Re: What Freezer For Meat Storage?
 

32deg below freezing? Don't you mean 0deg C as in the freezing point of water?

Re: What Freezer For Meat Storage?
 

Now I know :smile: thanks for the link. Am not a freezer kind of person but that and a standby generator is on my preps list of things to get.

Re: What Freezer For Meat Storage?
 

Anyone know anything about the kerosene and propane freezers/refrigerators sold by places like Lehman's? I'm not in the market for one right now, but I like the idea of a freezer than doesn't rely on a functioning power grid (at least, I assume they don't).

Re: What Freezer For Meat Storage?
 

Sorry I haven't responded for a while, I'm always blindsided by all the social mess surrounding the year end holidays... actually they've put me a couple weeks behind schedule in building chicken tractors to accomedate my growing flock, never mind prepping my gardens and fields.

I used to work at a grocery store and we kept our meat in walk-in freezers maintained at below zero temperatures. It was a bit of a novelty to be living in a subtropical climate and step into the freezer, icicles would instantly form on your nose and eyebrows just like in the old Looney Tunes cartoons. I was told the freezer had to be that cold to preserve the flavor and texture of the food. Anyway, I'll definately be on the lookout for a chest-style freezer with no autodefrost.

Andy, I haven't slaughtered any of my birds yet but I've done a bit of hunting and decided long ago that plucking feathers just isn't any fun... I plan on skinning my chickens. The only problem I foresee here is fried chicken, it just isn't quite the same thing without the skin. I've seen a few mechanical pluckers in action, but nothing that really impressed me. One only did half the job and you still had to do manual plucking, the other badly abused the chicken.

Re: What Freezer For Meat Storage?
 

I've seen people use the propane freezers on sailboats, and they seemed to do the job. They aren't quite off grid enough for my taste, though. Here's a link to what I intend to use once I have some practical experience with the technology.

http://www.ggw.org/~cac/IcyBall/crosley_icyball.html

I've downloaded all the info there and later this year when my current projects settle down I'll work on building some prototypes. They're dead simple if you can weld.