Chest or tall freezer?

[WornDownTired]

I am looking to buy an extra freezer as struggled with food storage during this pandemic. Family of 4 including 2 very hungry, growing, teenage boys.

I have 2 built in fridges with 2 freezer drawers underneath that barely hold anything. I am thinking of buying.an extra freezer, especially as I want to be prepared for flu/ corona this winter.

I would want to freeze a couple of legs of lamb, batched cooking, bottles of milk and frozen loaves in this whilst I leave smaller stuff in my other mini freezers. I can't decide whether to get a medium sized chest or a tall freezer. Tall ones look better, but I need to look at this from a practical POV. It will be kept in a store room, in our garage.

Can't decide. Need opinions please.

[LynnThese4reSEXPEOPLE]

Definitely a chest freezer. Great capacity for big items (leg of lamb), less vulnerable to sudden defrosting if you have a power cut and can fill with as many loaves of bread as you like. We bought ours for 50 quid from a neighbour and it's one of the best deals I'be made!

[Carolamc]

Agree, chest is best. A hint here, from one who has spent far too much of her life rummaging through a chest freezer to find the thing I want - get a few bags for life, one for veg, one for meat, one for bread,one for sweeties etc etc. Makes it much easier to find anything...

[MotherForkinShirtBalls]

Of it's not for every day use, I'd go for a chest.

[LaurieSchafferIsAllBitterNow]

chest freezer for sure...you can get sooooo much more in one

Check the one you buy is suitable for "outside" not all of them function properly at low store room'garage temperatures.

And be completely ruthless about labelling things, NO, you won't remember what the brown stuff is, and even though it looks the same as the other brown stuff, it won't be, and someone will be haign gravy for lunch (ask dh...it happened!)

I would kick my fridge freezer into the middle of next week if I could...I loathe and detest its stupid little door and its infuriating plastic drawers full of nothing except fucking peas and icecream that never wants to go in or out at any time.

[happytoday73]

Chest... My husband was adamant wanted tall in garage..
He now complains about space needed for door to open and fact can't put as much wanted in...
I just mutter under my breath...

[AdalindMeisner]

I agree a chest freezer. I regret getting rid of ours - we got an american side by side which apparently had the same capacity as the chest and freezer section of fridge freezer and it is a nightmare for fitting anything other than boxes with perfect edges, so much wasted space.

[womaninatightspot]

I have both ( the joys of living rurally) I actually use the tall freezer more often as it's v. organised. Drawer for ready meals/ preprepped stuff one for seafood/ one for potato stuff. That said any excess gets bopped in the chest freezer. Also for chunky things, lambs legs, cartons of milk if you don't like uht. I'd love to know how people organise theirs as I just have a rummage and am pretty sure it got popped in there notion. More than once I've admitted defeat only to find what I was looking for a week later when looking for something else.

[Tartyflette]

We bought a big chest freezer (it sits in the garage) and also several Plastic coated wire baskets to go in it so that it wouldn't be just a big jumble of unidentifiable lumps of stuff. (And the thing you want always seems to fall to the bottom.)
So meat in one basket, veg in another... you get the picture.
I also have a fridge freezer in the kitchen but the chest freezer is great for joints of meat and gluts of fruit from the garden. We have quite a few fruit trees and bushes and i have to deal with the Excess produce every summer.

[Quornflakegirl]

Tall freezer as things don't disappear to the bottom never to be found again.

[PorpentiaScamander]

I hate chest freezers. I cant reach the bottom without practically climbing inside.

[cushioncovers]

I have both and day to day I much prefer the tall one. I can't ever find anything in the chest freezer and smaller items just drop to the bottom.

[oneoffname]

Chest freezer. We have the main one, in the garage and a small one in the understairs cupboard. We decided to have a large larder fridge instead of a fridge freezer, hence the small chest freezer indoors. We fit so much more into it because you don't lose space to drawers etc. You do have to keep on top of labelling and dating stuff and sometimes it's like a giant game of tetris to get everything in. Bit I wouldn't be without them.