We have a chest freezer, can't remember what size it is but I can't reach the bottom. We use it mostly for meat as we buy in bulk, then I divvy it all up and freeze in portions with a vac sealer. Also use it for meals when I am organised enough! Finding things isn't an issue as we got extra baskets so I can just lift out a level so to speak to get to what I want. Again when I'm organised enough I have a little sheet with what is in there and on what level.
I was looking at chest freezers not long ago but decided to spend the extra and buy an upright because they are so much easier to find stuff in and don't take up as much space. Also, it's very hard to find frost free chest freezers, which means you'd have to defrost it every few months.
We have two chest freezers now, after an upright. You just need to keep a list of what goes in, and then cross it off when it comes out. Also the list makes it super easy to see what is actually in there, without having to ferret through a freezer load (same goes for upright), and also to know when you're due to do big cook-ups.
My Mum has a chest freezer (it's older than me!), and she has only just 'discovered' list keeping, and wishes she had done it thirty years ago. She keeps things in baskets of like foods; just like the plastic shopping baskets you get at coles/woolies, and she says the trick with any freezer, is to go through it regularly. And by regularly, she's talking at least once a week, but I know I don't have time for that, and with the list, you don't need to so often anyway.
Our chest freezers haven't frosted at all yet, probably because the weight of the lid keeps them sealed so well (our upright was horrendous for frosting up!). I also like them, because they give me that little bit more workspace in my kitchen (which I so dearly need where we are atm). Both of our freezers are Fisher & Paykell, and are exactly the same size (about a metre square, just over a metre high, I couldn't tell you what litrege they are though, sorry), and both came from ebay for average $100 each. They are only a couple of years old. I also find it easier (by far) to put large trays of things to freeze in them (which I then bag up once frozen), whereas the upright, I had to use much smaller trays, therefore more trays. Also, we have unplugged one, as we found one to be sufficient space at the moment. After we move, and I do more cooking and we stock up again, we'll probably turn the other one back on.
I will ask the Man on what size (litres) the freezers are and post back. After we had the first upright freezer and were looking to replace it, I only wanted another upright. But, I replaced it with a cheap chest freezer, and loved that immediately. It didn't work very well, so I got my money back, and we replaced it with the two F&P's.
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