Stocking up on staples is a great way to stretch a budget and minimize waste, so a good chest freezer is a boon to the budget-minded home cook. Sadly, common misconceptions about their energy usage and footprint size discourage the folks who would benefit the most from a chest freezer—apartment-dwellers with decrepit, barely-functional appliances—from buying one.
Chest freezers are more affordable than you think
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Even if you’re cash-strapped and live in a shoebox, you can almost certainly fit a chest freezer into your life. For one thing, their reputation for being pricey power-guzzlers is thoroughly undeserved. Upfront costs are pretty minimal—the list price on a brand-new, five cubic foot freezer is about $200, less than a stand mixer or food processor, and with a little legwork, you can find a really good deal.
Find the right chest freezer for you:
New chest freezers go on sale in the spring and summer months, and used ones frequently pop up on Craigslist for less than fifty dollars. Operating costs are low, too. For example, it’s not uncommon for a chest freezer to use roughly 216 kilowatt hours (kWh) per year. In Hawaii, the state with the most expensive electricity, that works out to about $70. If your electricity costs closer to the national average of thirteen cents per kilowatt hour, you’re looking at maybe thirty bucks in annual electricity costs. (Here’s a great breakdown on how to estimate energy costs from your power usage if you want to run the numbers yourself.) Just don’t forget that a full freezer runs more efficiently than an empty one: if you can’t fill up your chest freezer right off the bat, use freezer-safe containers full of water—or ice blocks—as temporary placeholders.
Chest freezers contribute usable prep space
Apartment kitchens aren’t exactly known for thoughtful, spacious layouts, so physical size is an equally important consideration. While it’s true they’re not exactly small, I think chest freezers more than earn their space, especially if the fridge that came with your apartment is both small and old. Most models are around 33 inches tall and 22 inches deep; width varies with capacity. A 3 1/2 cubic foot chest freezer—the smallest you can get from most consumer goods retailers—is approximately the same size as a 30-gallon trash can, but it contributes a little bit of usable prep space. If you have room for an IKEA kitchen cart, you have room for a chest freezer.
All of this, of course, also holds true for homeowners, but I wanted to explicitly encourage renters to rethink their assumptions about chest freezers. If you’re feeding a family on a budget, or just want the freedom that comes with ample, functional freezer space, buying one will markedly improve your quality of life. Run the numbers and do your research first, of course—but chances are you won’t regret it.