[puttster]

I have inherited a 5 cuft chest freezer, works fine. Got no real need for it except for LT preps, so what should I put in there? I want to use it for foods that do not store well in mylar bags but heck, five cubic feet of meat will break the bank. Suggestions?

 

[Potawami II]

If you hunt or fish then you have one for game and one for store bought meat with a list you use to keep track of things on top of each (always a list).

If you don't then you have one for beef/pork and one for poultry.

As to other suggestions if you want to use the freezer, and I don't know if you have a family or not, so not all may apply to you.

How you sitting on milk? It freezes well and when we can get it cheap we load up.

Oils? From a prepper standpoint they are very important.

Water? Jugs of water frozen, or even cases, are important especially if you lose water when you lose power.

Do you drink a lot of fruit juice like apple or grape? They could be bought on sale and then the freezer packed full.

Ok I'm starting to run low on ideas, but I'm sure you'll get a few more.

 

[Nomad 2nd]

Oil "freezes" the countdown clock while it's frozen.
I'd put a couple gal in there.

Some comfort foods (very important)

Full the Rest with 2 liter bottles of water as it'll run more efficiently, and they are useful.

Thought the year pick up things that don't. Can or dry well.
Berries (bought or picked)
Meat sales, so you can take advantage of $2/lb bacon etc

And you can use it for garden or farmers market produce, to give you time to can or process. (I put tomatoes in the freezer till I have enough, or feel like doing a big batch of sauce.)

$0.02

 

[IamZeke]

Oil "freezes" the countdown clock while it's frozen.

Only saturated oils. It doesn't do much for grain or nut oils.

 

[Aerindel]

Butter freezes well and is nice to have a lot of.

Meat, on sale. Everytime your local store has a 50% sale or something clean them up. You can fill up a freezer in no time that way.

Just make sure to stock enough jars to can everything you have frozen when SHTF happens.

 

[Jojo]

Just start watching sales and you will be surprised how quick you can fill it up.
Make triple batches of stew, chili, beans, soups, freeze in 2/4 serving containers. Easy dinner when you're busy or sick.
Be sure to label well and don't forget to rotate - just like the pantry.

 

[puttster]

Some good ideas here! Those cannisters of oil for frying turkeys is pretty cheap.Is there a way to freeze meat that keeps freezer burn away?

 

[IamZeke]

Some good ideas here! Those cannisters of oil for frying turkeys is pretty cheap.Is there a way to freeze meat that keeps freezer burn away?

Turkey frying oil is peanut oil. Don't waste your time.

Freezer burn? Finally you have a reason to use your vacuum packer.

 

[kokosmom2]

Turkey frying oil is peanut oil. Don't waste your time.

Freezer burn? Finally you have a reason to use your vacuum packer.

First wrap in Saran/Glad wrap, then Reynolds wrap, then the vacuum sealer. (per Alton Brown for the first 2 and Zeke for the 3rd) I've taken out meat that was 2-3 yrs old and no freezer burn. (I was experimenting with the saran wrap/tin foil/vacuum sealer idea to see if it worked...it does)

 

[Aerindel]

Ice glaze works well too if you don't want to vacuum seal. Deep freeze the meat on a baking sheet until frozen, then dip in cold water and put in a bag. The water freezes instantly on the meat and leaves a coating of ice that prevents freezer burn pretty effectively.

 

[Aceoky]

Until you have it filled with food(s) , freeze water jugs ,they'll help to keep it frozen in case of power outages and also keep it from cycling as often

 

[puttster]

Interesting, ice glaze. I think that's what they do to orange trees in Florida when there's a killing freeze coming. I was thinking about blow-drying the outside to get the water off, then freezing. I have nothing official to back me up though.

 

[IamZeke]

I have nothing official to back me up though.

You never do.

 

[woozy]

Pretend that the grid goes down next week.

Everything is lost except for what you can get canned or dehydrated by next week, or when you need to stop using valuable generator fuel for the freezer.

This leaves you with "ticking clock" preps. Mostly saturated fats, and possibly flour, yeast, baking powder, cornmeal products, and anything that is shelf stable for a year or 2 after thawing.

What's the point of a freezer full of soups and meat when almost any real disaster will be followed by a grid collapse?

 

[puttster]

Good point.
I could turn the meat into beef jerky, which I do often. I would love to have a freezer full of jerky. But when I freeze BJ it gets covered in frost and I wonder if that's a precursor to freezer burn.

 

[Copymutt]

How about $3.99# grass fed custom cut T bones and the vacuum packed veggies from the green house. Have had three filled in one season.

 

[Aerindel]

What's the point of a freezer full of soups and meat when almost any real disaster will be followed by a a grid collapse?

They make life easier until a real disaster...which gives you more time and money for prepping.

And then in a real disaster, you preserve them using alternative methods. Pressure canning, smoking/drying etc.

This leaves you with "ticking clock" preps. Mostly saturated fats, and possibly flour, yeast, baking powder, cornmeal products, and anything that is shelf stable for a year or 2 after thawing.

Which is irrelevant unless you have more than a couple years worth of that food stocked, for most people when the clock starts ticking (faster) they will run out of the food long before they run out of time.

 

[puttster]

Whar are some items I can buy now that will be useful after SHTF but will only survive until then by being frozen. Oil (yes), coffee, yeast?

 

[Nomad 2nd]

Pretend that the grid goes down next week.

Everything is lost except for what you can get canned or dehydrated by next week, or when you need to stop using valuable generator fuel for the freezer.

This leaves you with "ticking clock" preps. Mostly saturated fats, and possibly flour, yeast, baking powder, cornmeal products, and anything that is shelf stable for a year or 2 after thawing.

What's the point of a freezer full of soups and meat when almost any real disaster will be followed by a a grid collapse?

my freezer has never been connected to the grid.

 

[ForestBeekeeper]

We have ended up with four chest freezers.

My wife tries to manage them so right before we butcher a pig, there is an empty freezer.

When we process poultry they first go into a freezer. Then over the course of the next winter. All of that frozen poultry will slowly work it's way out and it will be further processed into canned food.

When we harvest bulk from gardening or foraging, much of that goes into freezers, first.