Cut your Costs with Chest Freezers

Yes, it is a sure known fact that your freezer is helping you to save bucks in food costs; Apart from decreasing your frequent trips to the grocery, freezers also help you stock up on your favourite food items and eat them whenever you feel like munching on them.

Be that as it may, your freezer is helping you to save in food costs but improper use of it can cause you to spend more in your electricity bill because of a lot of wasted energy. A lot of wasted energy will equate to high electricity bill, to put it simply. What we don’t know or realize is that we are not actually cutting the cost of our household expenditures, we are doing the opposite – we are doing a lot of things that causes our electricity bill to rise.

To make sure that you are on the proper path to cutting your cost, make sure that you are doing the following to your freezer:

1. Check the temperature – Using a thermometer, check the temperature of the freezer. Make sure that the thermometer that you are using is the one really intended for checking the temperature of freezers; you wouldn’t want to break an ordinary thermometer for it has mercury content which is harmful to the body if ingested. Going back, make sure that the temperature of your thermometer is close to 0°F. The closer the degrees to 0°F, the better. This can also be converted to Celsius which is -18°C. Foods that are kept at 0°F tend to last for months longer than foods stocked up on 20°F or higher.

2. Remove the air inside the fridge – The air that’s trapped inside freezers cause freezer burn. In order to avoid this, make sure that you have selected the proper containers for the items inside your fridge. Checking that your items are packed tightly can reduce the chance of having air inside the fridge. Besides freezer burns, the air that’s trapped inside your freezer can produce unusual smells. Nobody wants this – use baking soda to clean your freezer and expect the smell to be gone. Additionally, do not forget to check your gasket once in a while. A gasket is the rubber door seal of your freezer. It keeps the cool air trapped inside the fridge and the warm air outside it. A worn gasket requires your freezer to use more energy to do its job.

3. Fill your freezer – For you to be able to keep the temperature of your freezer to 0°F, you must fill your freezer with items and leave no space. It will be a lot easier to maintain the temperature of your freezer by keeping it jam packed instead of leaving a lot of room space. However, as mentioned above, try to pack your items as tightly as you can, leaving no air inside the containers. If you find yourself thinking of how you can fill the spaces of your freezer, you may opt to fill square-shaped water containers with liquids. Rectangular or square shaped containers are easier to stack instead of the rounded ones.

4. List the items inside your freezer and post the note on the freezer door – May it be upright or chest, your freezer will most likely generate higher energy whenever it is opened. To avoid standing in front of your fridge for a long time in search for the food that you need, it’s better to make a list of all the items that you have inside your fridge and just tick off the products that you have already used.

Before buying a freezer, it is important to study your family’s habits. If your family is more into stocking up foods, then you might want to consider getting a freezer that can hold more foods. A chest freezer, for instance is a great storage for a lot of foods. To help you decide whether a chest freezer is good for you, here are additional tips that you can consider before buying one:

• The cost of your electricity bill is related to the style of freezer that you have. Apparently, chest freezers are known to be more cost-effective compared to upright freezers. Chest freezers keep its temperature cold when opened. Upright freezers, on the other hand, get hit with a blast of warm air every time you open it, causing your fridge to double its effort to maintain its temperature. Doubling the effort to maintain the temperature of the storage equates to higher electricity bill.

• Wasted energy can be accumulated to the way you stock your foods and maintain it. When it comes to room space, chest freezers are definitely the best ones to choose for it provides larger space for your foods. Check this blog post to know more about proper stocking for chest freezers.

• Freezers that are frequently defrosted cause your electricity bill to go up. Apparently, chest freezers are usually made for manual defrosting. Defrost a chest freezer once every 6 months or once every 12 months and then it’s already good to go.

Make your freezer work by following the instructions written above and make sure that you are really cutting your household cost!

Effective Ways to Organize Your Chest Freezer

Chest Freezers are surely efficient and cheaper than the upright ones. However, the remarkable dilemma of those people who would like to choose it over the upright ones is its storage. Since its storage size is too large but there are no partitions included when you buy it, people who want to opt for it instead of the upright ones are having second thoughts of purchasing it. The main limitation of a chest freezer is that you are going to be stacking everything together because it has no shelves. However, there are a few tricks on how save through purchasing a chest freezer and organizing your items inside it:

1. Use customizable dividers. You can make use of plastic or wired basket to divide your chest freezer into a number of partitions. In this way, your items will not be jumbled inside your freezing storage.
2. Stack foods according to type. Since you have already bought a number of customizable dividers, you might want to stack your foods according to their type for much easier storing. All meats should be in one place while the vegetables are also in their own respective place. For an even better storing approach, you may opt to sub-divide your foods: meat can be subdivided into pork, beef and chicken while veggies can be sub-divided into leafy ones, yellow ones, etc. Always remember to keep the similar items together so you always know where everything is.
3. Break down larger packages of food into smaller containers. For better storage, you may break down large-sized items into smaller ones by putting them in any of the following: thick plastic bags, tempered glass containers, moisture-resistant papers or foils. Furthermore, these kinds of packaging materials prevent frost from damaging the surface of your foods – causing freezer burns. Additionally, the packaging also allows your food to cool completely as quickly as possible. To maximise the space of your chest freezer, you may want to freeze your items flat until hard.
4. Label everything. Since you have already broken down the large items into smaller ones through the use of the durable packaging mentioned, labelling products will make your food-searching easier. Sometimes, the appearance of the items changes because of the temperature. Labelling them will erase any confusion of what item is inside the packaging. The labels would be more helpful if you would choose to put the date of when you bought it so that you can keep track of its expiration.
5. Place items according to your frequency of use. Keep the products that you will need the most on top. Do this so that you can easily get them. This can also minimise your time and effort in finding your items. Another version of this tip would be putting your older foods first so that you can eat them before they expire. Doing this can help you be practical and not waste food.

People buy chest freezer not because of its appearance but because of its efficiency. You probably bought one to save money. However, finding everything cluttered inside the storage is a challenge. With the mentioned tips on how to organize your chest freezers, you are surely one step away from having a clean-looking yet efficient storage.

Additionally, you can also:

• Make an inventory of the items inside your freezer. You may want to make a list of your items in one paper. To organize your list better, you can put a number on your dividers and list the items under the respective dividers. This way, you can keep track of all the items that you have on hand.
• Think twice before keeping your foods in the freezer. If you don’t really like your leftovers, it would really be a good move if you opt to not stock it up inside the fridge. Stocking up items that you do not want will only make your freezer more crowded.
• Check your food stocks for burned or damaged foods regularly. Keep an eye on the expiration date of your items so that you won’t regret paying for spoiled goods. Be sure to also only shop for the items that you need. Overstocking might hinder you from using other products inside your fridge.

Buying chest freezers is not enough to make the most out of your money – buying cheap chest freezers is! To find the best valued chest freezers in the UK, you may want to check our page. We will make sure that you will get the best bargain while having the best chest freezer that suits your need.