Chest or Stand Up Freezer

[AZbywayofWI]

Hey Guys! Quick Question, do you prefer a chest or stand up freezer for big game meat? I am trying to decide on which to go with for my garage. Ideally I would love to have a freezer that could hold at least one elk and a deer, so I guess I am also not sure on the size I would need. Any suggestions?

Thanks!

 

[manitou1]

I imagine a 12 c.f. chest freezer will hold a deer and elk easily, with room to spare for other things.
We have a 24 c.f. and some winters I put five big game animals in there with lots of room left.
Chest freezers hold more and you don't have stuff sliding off the rack like in an upright. Upright is more organized with better visibility, IMO. They both have pros and cons.
Of course, a lot depends on how you organize.

 

[Deleted member 28227]

Pros and cons to both.

As far as energy efficiency and storage efficiency a chest is better, organizationally a stand up wins hands down.

I have a chest freezer in my apartment, and a stand up in my mom's garage in CO.

 

[Nick87]

We have one of each. If I had to pick just one I guess I'd go with the chest freezer simply because you have more storage room.

 

[buckbull]

If you can't find what you are looking for you might as well not have it in the freezer. I've had both. Upright hands down. Not only for organization but for a smaller footprint.

 

[WyoDoug]

If you do your own butchering, I recommend a stand up because you have that air circulation. I bought two stand ups and bought a trashed one cheap to recover the extra shelves. Once the meat is frozen, it can be put in a chest freezer fine. However, if you put fresh butchered meat into a chest freezer the middle will stay warm a long time and actually rot. If you have your meat commercially processed, a chest freezer would do you fine. Get one of the bigger ones if you hunt like I do.

 

[Jc2020]

My self I prefer the stand up I think it’s easier to get stuff out of and not have to pull everything to get to something in the back

 

[Slm864]

I have one of each but prefer the stand up better. My wife can easily reach everything inside and it’s better organized than the chest. I easily fit 1/4 beef, several deer, turkey, chicken, fish and plenty of others in it each year.

 

[Carl 9.3x62]

I vote for a chest freezer. They are handy to put heads and capes in for later taxidermization.

 

[alwayshunting]

I grew up with a large chest freezer. Later in had two small chest freezers of my own. Currently I have one small chest and one standup. Definitely prefer the standup for the organization it offers. Having the other small chest freezer gives me the added volume for items I dont access often. Usually by midway between hunting seasons everything fits in the upright and I unplug the chest.

 

[belshawelk]

Stand up freezer as big as you can fit. I have 2 6' in my garage. What I like is multiple racks. Unlike the chest freezer had growing where we had to dig through stuff and then always end up throwing stuff away after years of being buried. Mine have 5 or 6 racks. I have a rack for Elk, deer or other, fish, beef, pork and then have a couple racks for other freezer store bought items. Easy to see old and new and what you have

 

[Wildabeest]

One way to mitigate the organizational / access issues of a chest freezer is by using scrap pieces of cardboard as separators and arranging things in separated columns by year, species and type of meat.

A benefit of a stand up freezer is that it takes less floor space and you can store other things on top of it. I find that with a chest freezer thing tend to accumulate on top iof it, which then have to be moved to get into it.

All in all, though, I prefer a chest freezer because you can pack it full and don’t need to worry about stuff sliding out of it.

 

[Shangobango]

They both have there place. For organization the stand up is great. The chest type shines if you want to freeze bulky items like heads and capes, pelts laid out flat, milk jugs of water for block ice, etc.

Good luck finding either right now. I just ordered a new 15.7 cubic ft from Lowe's. Expected to be delivered to store by Nov. 9th.

 

[longbow51]

The new chest freezers are amazing; well organized, LED lights. Don't forget the freezer alarm, ideally with cell phone notification.

 

[OleRedbeard]

I have both and have to say after a couple of years that I like the stand up substantially more than the chest freezer. Its so much easier to see what you have and rotate stock that way. Im not finding 2 year old packages of meat I had no clue about. Extra shelving is a big plus in the stand up.. as far as the chest freezer goes. I started using those reusable grocery bags to put my different cuts in. Its nice to pull 2 or 3 of them out and everything be together in a bag as you look for what you want. Substantially easier to keep things somewhat organized like that.

 

[Fj605]

I prefer a chest freezer over stand up for volume reasons. As others have said, organization can be difficult in a chest freezer. I solved our issues by using plastic milk/orange crates. It makes getting to the bottom of the pile easier. It's not perfect but works for us.

 

[44hunter45]

We have a stand up. Our next one will be a chest.
We have trouble with the door gaskets and I like that gravity keeps the chest lid closed.

 

[EYJONAS!]

Chest freezer accompanied by a fridge with top freezer. Beers in the fridge to complete

 

[Carl 9.3x62]

One way to mitigate the organizational / access issues of a chest freezer is by using scrap pieces of cardboard as separators and arranging things in separated columns by year, species and type of meat.

A benefit of a stand up freezer is that it takes less floor space and you can store other things on top of it. I find that with a chest freezer thing tend to accumulate on top iof it, which then have to be moved to get into it.

All in all, though, I prefer a chest freezer because you can pack it full and don’t need to worry about stuff sliding out of it.

My chest freezer seconds as a work bench, haha

 

[MtnRambler]

I have both--the chest freezer is currently unplugged. I prefer the stand up for organizational purposes (i.e. ease of finding what I'm looking for on a daily basis). However, after hunting season, both are usually running.