The Pros and Cons of Having an Upright Freezer

A few months ago, a sweet neighbor stopped by and asked if we wanted their old upright freezer. Of course, we said we would love it and soon had it set up in our garage as an extra place to store our frozen food. As mentioned before, we have enjoyed making freezer meals to pack our new freezer with.

If you have never had a freezer but are considering buying one, here are a few of the pros and cons that have come up as we have used ours.

Pros of Having an Upright Freezer

1. You have a ton of space! It is mind-blowing when you open your freezer for the first time and start imagining everything that you can store in it.
2. It is easy to get to everything. I have never had a chest freezer but have been at a friend’s home where I had to remove half of the frozen food to get to anything. It was a little bit of a nightmare! It is as if you are trying to reach the bottom grain of sand at the beach and then putting all of the sand back. It wasn’t my cup of tea. With an upright freezer, you have everything laid out in front of you.
3. The world of freezing and storing is open to you. It is hard to fit much in the small freezer attached to your fridge. Now you can buy 20 quarts of ice cream. Then you have the comforting reminder that most food stays good frozen for a long time. Yay! Not as much waste!
4. Leftovers become exciting again. If we have a large portion of food leftover, I freeze it and pull it out in a month and it feels like a brand new meal.
5. I forget about some frozen treats because they are in the big freezer. If I do not see the ice cream in the small freezer every day, I am less likely to eat it all of the time. In the big freezer, I only remember we have treats every couple of days when I go out to get something. What a great way to diet!

Cons of Having an Upright Freezer

1. Any freezer can have a bad lingering smell. If this is the case, a lot of cleaning and a box of baking soda will usually do the trick. It is just one more thing to keep up on.
2. It is easy to forget about what you have in your freezer. I know of so many people with freezers that have a million of one item in their freezer because they can’t remember if they have run out or not. How many cans of orange juice does someone need before they, remember they have 25 other cans?
3. Up-right freezers seem to be a lot bigger than a chest freezer. This could be a pro as long as you have the space and manpower to lift it.
4. If for, some reason, the power goes out for a long time. Or the freezer door doesn’t get shut, goodbye hundreds of dollars of food. Which, unfortunately, happened to my parents more than once. I remember my mom and dad trying to save all of the food they could, but a lot of it had gone to waste. I still feel sick when I think of all the money they lost. They must have been stressed and overwhelmed!
5. Things get freezer burned. Have you ever had freezer-burned meat? Nasty! Haha, if you stay up with rotating food, this won’t be a problem.
6. It will add to your utility bill. It costs money to keep a big box that cold!