Chest Freezers

Chest freezers have always been in my memories. One of the first appliances I remember in our home when I was little boy was the old chest freezer we had out on the back porch. I don't remember what brand it was; I just remember that it was old. Much of the paint on the old freezer had given way to rust, but it did something most things did back then; it lasted and lasted. I remember only one time we had to have it worked on, and that time, a family friend who did that kind of work for a living just had to recharge the Freon in it, and the old machine, went right back to working like it always had.

There are advantages of both chest type and upright freezers. A chest type freezer will hold more than an upright, and because of the way they are compartmentalized, are easy to store the different types of foods together. You do have to be careful though, because it is easy to let stuff on the bottom be forgotten until it has freezer burned and lost. I was raised on a ranch, and it was a big day when we went to the locker plant to pick up the meat from a butchered calf or hog. While daddy went to pick up the meat, momma would rearrange the freezer to make sure there was room to store it all just the way she wanted. During the summer, my siblings and I sat on the back porch snapping or shelling beans or peas while momma was busy getting the ready to put in the freezer. That brings back some good memories of working together and listening to country music on radio over KTON "The Heart of Texas."

Some other advantages of a chest type freezer is that the cold air stays inside better than an upright when the unit is opened. We have had both chest and upright freezers in our home, and it seems like the chest type is cheaper operate. Not only is that true , but sometimes when you open an upright freezer that is really full, something falls out in the floor when it is opened. That doesn't happen with a chest type. Of course, there are advantages to an upright freezer, and you can check out my lens on uprights to get a few ideas there.