Buying a deep freezer (Phoenix, Tucson: fit in, apartment, how much)

[SoCal2AZ]

Hi!

We are moving June 1st from SoCal to the Phoenix area. We're still searching, so we don't have an exact city yet.

We are moving from an apartment to a house and we are planning to purchase a deep freezer. I've been told by friends(they don't live in AZ, Just giving their opinions) that keeping the deep freezer in the garage is not a good idea because of the heat.

We were wondering if there was anyone here, that owns a deep freezer. Where do you keep it? And, is the garage really a bad idea for it to go?

Also, what brand/size do you have or suggest? We are a family of 4, soon to be 5. We want to start saving more money by freezing bulks of food and doing 'once a month cooking'.

If anyone has any ideas, we would love to hear them.

Thanks!! :-)

Sarah & Jeff B.

[nightnurse613]

Garages are typically not insulated very well and can get pretty warm. Since warm is contrary to freezer (which is also not typically insulated too well); storing a freezer in the garage is generally not a good idea however, if your garage has a north-south orientation and the placement wall is not on the southern exposure; no reason why it shouldn't work (although it may cut down on your compressor life or raise your electricity bill significantly). Lots of places to buy freezers: our last one came from Sears; Home Depot before that - ours are located inside - in fact, the chest freezer is right next to the upright freezer!!

[ReadyFreddy]

In the late 90s I called SRP and asked about how much it cost to run a frig outdoors. If I recall right, they estimated around $30/month. I imagine a freezer would cost more. And those rates are also much higher now.

If you want to save money on food, I think there are many ways. Dried foods like rice and beans and pasta are very cheap and shelf stable. A trip to Costco twice a month shouldn't overload a normal frig/freezer combo. But if you decide a second freezer is needed, maybe a locking chest freezer tucked into a corner of the house somewhere. Put a tablecloth on it.

[christiner81]

we keep ours in the laundry room for this reason. our garage doesn't get too hot, but i didn't want to mess with it.

[observer53]

I would get one that would fit in the house as well. And remember, frozen food doesn't last for months, even in a good freezer. I wouldn't overdo the idea of stocking up on frozen-- unless you are buying a side of beef or something, you can fit a lot into the freezer side of a good-sized side by side.

[Zippyman]

Definitely don't put it in the garage- even with n/s orientation, your garage will be over 100 degrees all summer. Builders don't insulate garages here.

[SoCal2AZ]

Thank you everyone!!! I'm so glad I posted on here about this, cause I would hate to either waste a bunch of food that went bad cause of the heat, break the freezer cause of it working so hard to stay cold or racking up a high bill because of the heat.

We will just find a spot for it in the house. I like the tablecloth idea, thank you!

[Bummer]

I'm going to disagree a little, SoCal2AZ . . .

Although I'm in Tucson (a little cooler but not major), I've had a Kenmore 14 Cubic Foot Chest Freezer in my garage for 13 plus years now . . . no problems. When I purchased it, I was strongly advised to stick with a chest type freezer, not an upright, because of the garage placement. Also, non auto defrost was recommended.

Possibly it runs a little more in the Summer months but probably runs lots less in the Winter months so it could be a wash. When this one croaks, I'll definitely replace it with a similar make and model.

Good Luck

[autism360]

I keep mine in the kitchen,it is nice to be able to quickly move things from the fridge freezer to the deep freezer and visa versa

[jimj]

I have 2 chest freezers in the garage, one from Costco and one commercial NSF unit.
We've had the Costco one for many years now and it's always been in a garage, first up in Montana where the inside of the garage went from -20 to +90 yearly. Now here in AZ they're still in the garage and working fine (crossed fingers). Properly packaged frozen foods will last for months and we also store 30-70 gallons of ice cream at any given time for our business.
Do they run more in the summer? Of course. We have a north/south house and they're on the back wall closest to the interior so never get sun exposure.