The freezer wasn't too bad! There's a lb of chicken liver in there, but that's all the goodies for the dogs at the moment, tomorrow will be good again. And I'll finish off the last of the kibble tonight

True, I'm a little hesitant about the hydro a big freezer would use. I'd prefer an extra small freezer, ideally.

(if I can go off-topic, but funny, Teagan is dragging a lead right now in the house and Neb just grabbed it and tried to make off with her! )

Geoff, did you get that type that's counter-height, about half the size of a chest-type deep freezer?

That's what I want. It seems like the perfect size to keep full (most economical to run, I think) and also to stay frozen if there's a power failure (empty-ish freezers thawing much faster).

Plus it gives extra counter space!

I just googled "small freezer" and found them under $150 for brand new!

that's the kind i want too. home depot has them for $248 the cheapest one at sears is $299.

 Quote: jennifer mullen

that's the kind i want too. home depot has them for $248 the cheapest one at sears is $299.

I went here:
http://www.shopping.com/xPP-freezers-cheap_chest_freezer~S-213~OR-0#stt

On the top it has "sort by" and I sorted by price.

Click on the "4 stores" -- I saw that the $144 one says "free shipping" from the vendor, PC Richard & Son, who have 20 customer reviews that average 4 1/2 stars.

http://www.shopping.com/xMR-p+c+richard+son~MRD-419556~S-1

This is exactly what I want. I think I have room for it! It's skinny!

I have to measure.

I was thinking "off topic," but I guess that Costco and freezers kind of go together.

 Quote: connie sutherland

Geoff, did you get that type that's counter-height, about half the size of a chest-type deep freezer?

That's what I want. It seems like the perfect size to keep full (most economical to run, I think) and also to stay frozen if there's a power failure (empty-ish freezers thawing much faster).

Plus it gives extra counter space!

I just googled "small freezer" and found them under $150 for brand new!

I still have my upright 21 cu.ft one it is a dinosaur. The small chests are the way to go. Something around 5-8 cu.ft is easy to rotate stock and don't use as much hydro. Should hold easily 40-50 lbs if carefully packed and depending on what it cut of meat it is.

Also some food for thought. A new appliance uses less energy than a equivalent sized appliance even from 10 years ago. The money you save buying something used could be swallowed up with the extra costs to run it.

My wife writes for the office of energy efficiency up here and they have a cool interactive site called energuide that tells you efficiency ratings for all appliances sold up here. I'm not sure if your feds have something similar but it is a great resource especially using the interactive energy calculator. I think in the US the same type of program is called Energy Star.

You basically find out how much your appliance uses in KWH per year and times that number to get your yearly cost to run the appliance. Example here .. http://oee.nrcan.gc.ca/Equipment/english/page25.cfm?text=N&printview=N

This is an example of the EnerGuide/Energy Star label .. http://oee.nrcan.gc.ca/equipment/english/page3.cfm?PrintView=N&Text=N

Here is efficiency ratings of most freezers sold in North America so you can do your own calculations based on your local hydro rate ..
http://oee.nrcan.gc.ca/energystar/english/consumers/freezer-search.cfm?text=N&printview=N

Excellent links!

The cheap one with free delivery is only 2.1 cubic feet, but that's really all I have room for, and I'm thinking that what they call a 59-liter space added to the 'fridge-top freezer will be perfect for me.

I will have to read up on the reviews because one person thought it was too noisy.

The manual defrost doesn't bother me for such a small unit and such a small price.

(Also, manual defrost appears to be considerably less expensive to run.)

 Quote: Geoff Empey

I'm not sure if your feds have something similar but it is a great resource especially using the interactive energy calculator. I think in the US the same type of program is called Energy Star.

Yes. You make a GREAT point about using an older model (used) that is not energy-efficient. The savings on the initial purchase could be wiped out very fast!

 Quote: Mike Armstrong

I also buy at Costco (.99/lb.) because I think overall the quality is probably consistently better.

I think so too, compared to Walmart's Tyson:

This bit of text
Among Tyson Foods products on sale in Northwest Arkansas, the sodium content ranged from 40 milligrams to 180 milligrams in a 4 oz. serving of the exact same breast cuts sold in different stores. Both packages tout the 100 percent all-natural label. The low-salt package contained less than 3 percent of retained water while the higher sodium packaging contained up to 15 percent chicken broth.
was an eye-opener.