Five Reasons Why I Don’t Have a Deep Freezer

Posted on : 15-08-2010 | By : Allison Thompson | In : Business Directory

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Buying food in bulk and freezing for later is a common piece of money saving advice. In fact, I assumed that once we moved out of our tiny townhouse into our much larger house that I would be buying a huge freezer and fill it up with all kinds of goodies. After all we have a family of seven and would surely need that kind of food storage.

However, we’ve been in this house for two years now and we still haven’t bought that freezer. Our reasons are simple…

I prefer to shop when needed because we go through perishables like produce, milk, eggs and bread so quickly with five children. We live in a dense, urban area and there are grocery stores, produce market and a discount bakery all located conveniently near my children’s schools so it’s not a problem to just pop in and grab what I need. Going to the specialty shops lets me avoid the temptation of a grocery store when all I need is fruit for lunch boxes or a couple of loaves of bread. I also work from home so I can easily shop during off-peak hours.
We don’t hunt or buy meat in bulk. I looked into buying a half steer for our family but decided it made more sense for us to buy meat every week. Instead, I plan our meals by what’s on special that week at the grocery store. I do take advantage of meat that’s reduced for quick sale and freeze that for the following week, but the quantities are limited and there will always be another deal so I don’t feel the need to stock up for months at a time.
We don’t have a vegetable garden and thus have no need to freeze all the leftovers. Again, we live in a city where lots are small and our property gets very little sunlight because of all the trees so we don’t grow any of our own food. We prefer to use the space we do have for the children to play. I also don’t have the knowledge or time to put into making it work, so it makes sense for me to buy as much local produce as we can from the farmer’s markets and produce stores.
I am not the most organized person. While frozen food should say safe to eat for quite some time, the quality can suffer if you don’t regularly rotate the foods and eat the older stuff first. Again, as there is always another deal and I do go shopping regularly, I’d just as soon not add that to my plate.
So far the freezer on the top of our refrigerator has been more than adequate. Why spend the money to buy and operate a separate freezer when to date there hasn’t been a need. The only time I’ve wished we had a chest freezer is when we have leftover ice cream cake but it seems easier to just buy much smaller cakes or pies for special occasions and not have to deal with the leftovers at all.

Of course, for many people a separate deep freezer makes a lot of sense and can save them both money and time. The real point is that it’s important to think about your own lifestyle and preferences before making an investment or lifestyle change based on common wisdom.

Whether it’s stocking a freezer, couponing, paying off your mortgage early or how much to put into an emergency fund, you should research and make a decision based on what makes sense for your own situation and what will fit in best with your own lifestyle.

How about you? Does a deep freezer make sense for you?

Photo Credit: mafleen