Economics of a standalone freezer?

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tehgerbil

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#1817253 9-Jul-2017 13:57

It's easy to work it out the cost, multiple the kWh x your hourly kWh price (average around 20c) so if something uses 300kWh/year then it's going to cost around $60 a year in energy.

So put it this wayYou only have to buy 1kg of meat with a $4 discount just 15 times, and you've equaled your energy cost.

neb

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#1817513 9-Jul-2017 22:03

By coincidence Consumer have just reviewed freezers, the best-performing one was an upright, a Westinghouse WFM1810WC, it used just over half the energy of the next best, another Westinghouse but a chest one. So the "chest is better" isn't necessarily valid any more, In addition chest freezers are an incredible pain to deal with since to get the one thing you want you inevitably have to remove half the freezer's contents to find it. Another issue is that defrosting one is pretty much an all-day affair, pull everything out, store it somewhere else, defrost, pack everything back in. I'd never get a chest freezer, they're just to much of a pain.

Dolts

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#1818854 10-Jul-2017 14:02

neb: By coincidence Consumer have just reviewed freezers, the best-performing one was an upright, a Westinghouse WFM1810WC, it used just over half the energy of the next best, another Westinghouse but a chest one. So the "chest is better" isn't necessarily valid any more, In addition chest freezers are an incredible pain to deal with since to get the one thing you want you inevitably have to remove half the freezer's contents to find it. Another issue is that defrosting one is pretty much an all-day affair, pull everything out, store it somewhere else, defrost, pack everything back in. I'd never get a chest freezer, they're just to much of a pain.

If we didn't need to store home kill we probably would have gotten an upright.

Our flatmates had one and the drawers were nice for organisation.

But, home kill mmmm..

MikeAqua

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#1818874 10-Jul-2017 14:27

Can be economical if you are a DIY food sort of person. A vacuum sealer helps too.

For example if you: -

- Fish ,hunt or farm your own animal protein - or buy it on the hoof.

- Make your own soups stocks etc in bulk and freeze them - better and cheaper than pre-packaged.

- DIY baby food if applicable (I used to freeze in silicon muffin trays then bag it free-flow).

- Freeze surplus fruit and veges from the garden - feijoa crumble all year!

- Take advantage of seasonal specials on produce like - tomatoes, pumpkins, galangal, lemongrass.

- Freeze pre-made meals - if you get home late/tired you can nuke something rather than buy takeaways.

- Make and freeze sauce bases that can be turned into a range of dishes quickly. "I will have the penne all'arrabbiata"

Mike

richms

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#1818882 10-Jul-2017 14:35

I will add to that, the lack of frost free means your icecream doesnt get ruined like in a normal freezer as quickly, so having many flavours on hand and scooping from the freezer is a great thing with the top opening ones.

Richard rich.ms

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