Do you save much with a freezer?

[snuggly]

Hi mamas, I curious if any of you have noticed real savings using a freezer for food storage.  The ideas of having a stock of food, preserving food by freezing when I find good deals, and getting shares of quality meats at a discount are really appealing to me right now.  (Probably because I am in crazy nesting/stockpiling mode. DH is perplexed and said to me: "You know, grocery stores will exist after this baby is born...") The realistic part of me thinks that by the time we buy a freezer and pay utilities for it it would take quite a while to break even.  What has been your experience?  Thanks!

[Amys1st]

We have had one for several years, buying the largest one a few years ago. If you buy a side of meat etc, get alarge one. Otherwise yes, get a smllr one and stock it.

[Alyantavid]

I'd say almost everyone saves with a freezer.

In my case, our big chest freezer currently holds most of a steer, some deer, some fish, some chicken and a whole lot of bread, bagels and english muffins we've bought on sale.  We can buy enough at once and have room to store that we never pay full price for those items.  Buying in bulk is typically cheaper and if you can hang on to a large amount of stuff, you can usually end up paying less.

We do preserve lots of fruit and veggies in the summer, but usually this time of year, the pickings are pretty slim in my freezers.  But I also don't buy much in the way of produce during the winter.  It's not as good and it's much more expensive because it's not in season. 

[Caneel]

I resisted a freezer for years.  I grew up with four huge commercial freezers and "freezer management" was always a huge issue. 

Once we decided to get meat from the farm, we got a rather large upright freezer.  Because we buy meat by the half and chickens by the dozen, a freezer does save us money.  An unexpected result of buying meat by the half (of an animal) is that I have learned to cook all sorts of cuts and creative uses for ground beef.

The following might be unique to our household -

I rarely buy sales items at the store to specifically stock the freezer, it is too hard for me to manage rotating stock.  If I would buy bulk packs of sausage, I then need to pack it into nooks and cranies of our freezer and then the stuff gets lost.

I also don't cook for the freezer.  I just don't like how most things taste (and the texture) of thawed and reheated dishes.  The stuff I do like takes too long to thaw/reheat, I can make it from scratch quicker - lasanga falling into this category. 

[LaughingHyena]

We only have a small one so I can't got for huge quantities of things when they are on sale. I would say it saves up wasting a lot of stuff though as I can freeze it before it goes off. Also it saves us eating out as there is usually something in there I can pull out for a quick meal.

I'd guess the biggest saves for me are not having to go to the shops too often, I always end up buying more than I intended. The easiest way to avoid that it not going into the shop in the first place.

[happysmileylady]

yes. Turkey was on sale in November for $0.55 a lb.  Fabulous deal.  I bought 6.  5 of them are still in the freezer.  One will be cooked up this month.  My plan is to roast (or DH likes to smoke in the summer) one every other month.  Then the leftovers get frozen and I use them, usually at the average rate of 1 a week for the next three or four weeks, sometimes more depending on the size of the turkey.   That alone saves me a ton of money.

Also, boneless skinless chicken breasts were on sale a few weeks ago for $1.50 a lb.  Again, because I have the freezer I was able to stock up. 

[BetsyS]

It saves me money, too.  Ours isn't huge, and it was in the $150 range when new.  It doesn't cost all that much to run every month because, again,, it's not that big. 

I stock up on good deals with meat, on fruits and veggies in the summer (last summer, I froze gallons nad gallons of blueberries), and I do a few prepared meals here and there.  I aim for 1-2 meals in there at all times, for times when I don't want to cook.  When I've had my babies, though, I pack that sucker full with 20+ meals, which is great.

[happysmileylady]

Oh, I wanted to mention, my freezer was free.  It happened to be from my parents neighbor, but I have seen them on CL for free as well.  The person giving it away got rid of it because they dropped something heavy on the top and dented it.  It works totally fine, but because of the dent, they got a new one.  Free stuff is always good.

[zinemama]

We save a ton of money on fruit. We go to u-picks and farmer's markets during the summer and stock up on berries, for the most part. (For example, we picked 57 lbs of blueberries last summer at $1.30/lb. A 12 oz package of frozen blueberries at the store is at least $3-4. So we save big time.)

[Arduinna]

The utilities to run it is very small, we have the 20 cu ft kenmore elite chest and it's 40 dollars a year to run. I know we are saving money with it, between stocking up on sales, in season and from the garden and especially now that I have room so dh can go hunting and fishing more often.

[HollyBearsMom]

We have an extra fridge in the basement and the freezer saves me a ton of money, especially because I have one of those vacu-sealer things. I buy large packages of cheese, family packs of meat, etc and freeze them in more manageable sizes. I make my own chicken stock and since I go thru a lot of it I like having a gallon or so on hand. Like a PP poster mentioned I buy a lot of in season fruits and veggies when they are cheap and freeze them for the winter months when the prices go way up.

[tinuviel_k]

Yep, ours saves us lots of money.

I buy 1/4 beef every year, grass fed and organic at $3.50 a pound. That is for everything: ground, roasts, steaks, etc. I can't get organic ground beef for less than $4.50 a pound at the store, and good quality organic grass fed steaks run upwards from $15 a pound!

I also pick andbuy tons of local fruit and freeze it: blueberries, blackberries, raspberries, strawberries, nectarines... the summer bulk prices are sometime 75% less than winter prices. Since I freeze about 80 lbs of fruit this makes for a big savings.

[lmonter]

Yes.  I have the fridge/freezer in the kitchen.  Another fridge/freezer in the garage.  An upright freezer in the laundry room, and we're going to be getting another little chest freezer this summer for part of a cow and possibly chickens if we raise some for meat this year.

I only buy meats when they're on sale (or it's butchering time).  I have frozen blueberries and huckleberries to last the year.  I have frozen jams to last the year.  I have frozen apple cider for the year.  I can have a few dozen freezer meals I've pre-made (breakfast, lunch and dinners!) that are ready to go and easy for me to thaw and bake/cook on our more hectic days.

Oh, and I have four growing children, we homeschool (i.e. no break from them going off to school to prep dinner!), perpetually have guests over, and when friends have had a baby, are having a rough time/recovering from surgery, plus I'm typically the friend who drops buy and stuffs a few goodies into their freezer for when they need it.  I use my freezers an awful lot (in addition to my dry goods pantry and canning downstairs, but that's a whole 'nother ball of wax).

[Amys1st]

I really need to have you as a IRL friend...

 

Originally Posted by lmonter 

Yes.  I have the fridge/freezer in the kitchen.  Another fridge/freezer in the garage.  An upright freezer in the laundry room, and we're going to be getting another little chest freezer this summer for part of a cow and possibly chickens if we raise some for meat this year.

I only buy meats when they're on sale (or it's butchering time).  I have frozen blueberries and huckleberries to last the year.  I have frozen jams to last the year.  I have frozen apple cider for the year.  I can have a few dozen freezer meals I've pre-made (breakfast, lunch and dinners!) that are ready to go and easy for me to thaw and bake/cook on our more hectic days.

Oh, and I have four growing children, we homeschool (i.e. no break from them going off to school to prep dinner!), perpetually have guests over, and when friends have had a baby, are having a rough time/recovering from surgery, plus I'm typically the friend who drops buy and stuffs a few goodies into their freezer for when they need it.  I use my freezers an awful lot (in addition to my dry goods pantry and canning downstairs, but that's a whole 'nother ball of wax).

[enkmom]

I use my freezer so that I am always using food bought at the best price.  When baking supplies go on sale before the holidays, I always stock up on flour and butter and freeze them.  When I find a good deal on the coffee my husband likes, we load up the freezer and then drink coffee purchased at $6.99 rather than $10.99.  Turkeys and hams are always cheaper before holidays, so I buy several.

When I cook I usually package the leftovers as single servings, then anyone can have a frozen dinner with much less salt/preservatives than commercial frozen meals.  Our favorite butcher shop is an hour away making it impractical to go regularly, but our freezer makes it possible to load up when we do go.  I am also able to take advantage of the free produce that my parents and other friends grow in their gardens and are desperate to find a place for.

[frugalmum]

I am not a freezer saver... we are all picky eaters and can taste the difference between frozen & fresh.  Also I've had a few bad experiences where the fridge/ freezer died and I lost everything in it.  The only thing I'll stock up on are on-sale frozen veggies that will be cooked anyway, but not more than I'd use in a couple months.

The previous owners of this house had a large freezer in the basement.  It took us a while to clean out/ defrost it/ leave it unplugged and once we did we noticed a $30 decrease in our utility bill!!!

[Denvergirlie]

Additional freezer is a huge money saver for us.

Like others have mentioned, buying stuff on sale prices, plus always having something to pull out for dinner. Not to mention the gas on driving back and forth to the grocery store for stuff.

We have bough sides of beef, sale items, etc.

I have a normal fridge. freezer in kitchen and another small half sized upright freezer (think dorm sized fridge) in the kitchen as well. Also have 2 chest freezers in the garage, but neither are in use at this moment.

Butter savings alone make it worth it.... stock up during winter baking time, I have pounds and pounds of butter that I bought for $1 a pound (Challenge butter - no growth horomones in it). I can't match that butter price any other time during the year, so it's well worth it.

We also enjoy Boca and Morningstar products, but will not buy it at $5 a box which is normal retail price. But when coupons come out in the Sunday paper, I get on eBay and buy 20 more coupons then wait for a sale and stock up. I end up paying $1.50 - $2.50 a box, so a huge savings there as well. Between Boca/ Morning star and butter savings, it more than pays for the cost to run the freezers. Well worth it for us.

[sarah10998]

I hve the largest non-commercial freezer I could get.  I have a ton of food allergies (wheat, soy, eggs and dairy) and I stock up on the things I can eat when theey are at the lowest price possible.  I also stock up with 1/2 py a lork and beef.  I got free-range whole chickens cheaply a little while ago too.  I freeze pre-prepared meals, baked goods and garden stuff.  I have been really sick and this was a life-saver. HTH Sarah

[karne]

My freezer is definitely a valued member of the family, especially with gas prices starting to get high.  I absolutely hate to go to the grocery store, so when I do, I'm hitting BJ's Trader Joes, and my local market, and stocking up.  Because we live rurally, it's a drive to the store, and I'd rather stock up on my one trip, than make several.  I know the staples we use, so I'm pretty decisive about it.  We also buy our meat by the half or full animal, so a big freezer is necessary. 

[lmonter]

Originally Posted by Amys1st 

I really need to have you as a IRL friend...

I need a friend like me IRL, too.  ;)  Would've been nice last year.  Sigh.