6 Ways Having a Chest Freezer Has Improved My Life by Maxine Taylor

Below is a guest blog post by Maxine Taylor, the author of There’s a Cow in My Freezer: The Complete Guide to Buying, Storing, and Enjoying Pasture-Raised Meat in Bulk. It’s an excellent and super important and informative book. We really appreciate Maxine writing this guest blog post, and we can’t recommend her book highly enough. Order your copy today!

When I began buying local, grass-fed meat by the quarter/half/whole animal back in 2011, I knew I

needed a chest freezer. All that meat had to go somewhere. As I started considering my options — what

size I’d need, where I could put it in my small apartment, how I would organize it — the process of

buying a freezer became almost as exciting as buying my first quarter beef. (I love research. I’m weird

like that.) Years later, when I sat down to write There’s a Cow in My Freezer: The Complete Guide to

Buying, Storing, and Enjoying Pasture-Raised Meat in Bulk, I realized just how much easier things were

with this humble little appliance in my life.

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I Have More Options … But Also Fewer Decisions

Obviously, a lot of freezer space means you can store a lot of food. My 8.8 cubic foot freezer is home to

an eighth of a steer, half a hog, a whole lamb, gallons of homemade stock, and a random assortment of

poultry, and seafood. Combined with a pantry full of starchy staples and a weekly CSA delivery of fresh

produce, my freezer allows me to make a huge variety of delicious, nutritious meals at home.

But, paradoxically, having a freezer full of meat also means fewer decisions to make, which means less

decision fatigue and less stress. Since I don’t buy meat on a weekly basis anymore, I no longer have to

wrestle with my morals when I see that the factory-farmed ribeyes are on sale. And since I choose to

almost exclusively shop my freezer when it comes to animal protein, I’m inherently limited to what’s

there. This probably has some trickle-down effects, since it prevents me from going through a package

of bacon every week.

I Get to Go on More Culinary Adventures

Having a freezer and buying meat by the animal has allowed me to get more familiar with cuts of meat I

wouldn’t normally buy in a grocery store. Initially I was intimidated by the prospect of cooking cuts I’d

never even heard of, let alone eaten, but I’ve leaned into the excitement of trying new things. Thanks to

this spirit of experimentation, I now know how delicious Moroccan beef heart stew is and how to air fry

pig skin into crispy pork rinds. I’ve rendered fat into lard and I can turn unflavored ground meat into five

types of amazing sausage. When you buy meat piecemeal at the grocery store, it’s natural to reach for

the cuts you know and love, but buying in bulk encourages you to break out of your food rut and blaze

new (usually delicious, occasionally comically disastrous) culinary trails.

I’ve Become a Rockstar at Meal Planning

At this point, everyone knows that weekly meal planning saves time and money. But knowing and doing

are two very separate things, and, despite having the best intentions, many people end up winging their

daily menus. This means more expensive and unhealthy takeout, more frantic trips to the grocery store,

and more impulsive purchases and subsequent food waste. But when you have a freezer full of meat, a

certain amount of meal planning becomes a necessity.

Chest freezers keep their contents very cold, so packages can take one to three days to thaw in the

fridge. If I want burgers on Saturday, I need to move the ground beef from freezer to fridge Friday

morning. I now make a weekly meal plan every Monday, noting when I’ll need to take each package out

of the freezer so it’s defrosted in time. This means my trips to the grocery store are more directed and

infrequent and I never find myself starving at dinnertime without a clue what to make. And, contrary to

what you might expect, having my meals “locked in” for the week doesn’t feel restrictive — if anything it

gives me a few days of anticipation looking forward to a particular meal. And if something comes up and

plans change, I simply adapt my meal plan.

(If you’re truly averse to meal planning, don’t worry: you can always quickly defrost a package of meat

by immersing it in cool water. If you’re truly pressed for time you can use the microwave or cook from

frozen, though I don’t recommend it.)

I’ve Got a Place to Store All. The. Things.

When I bought my freezer, I was really only intending to store meat in it. But let me tell you: once you

get a chest freezer and start buying meat in bulk, you’ll find all sorts of non-meat things to fill it with.

When my balcony bell pepper plants went nuts a couple summers ago, I sliced and froze my bumper

crop. When my parents came up to visit and I mooched off their Costco membership, I had a place to

put three huge bags of scallops. When my favorite ice cream company closed down (RIP Three Twins), I

stockpiled all the pints I could find. Honestly, the only regret I have about buying my freezer is that I

didn’t get a slightly larger one.

I’m Saving Money

Buying meat in bulk is a big upfront cost, but it’s much cheaper than buying the same quality of meat

piecemeal. And, as I mentioned above, I also meal plan now, which means I eat out less and make far

fewer impromptu purchases at the store. I set a little money aside each month in a special “meat fund”

so that when it’s time to reorder my whole lamb or half hog my wallet doesn’t take a huge hit. And if

you’re worried that running a chest freezer will drive up your energy bill, don’t be. Chest freezers are

incredibly energy efficient. Since buying my freezer, my electricity bill has only gone up about $2 a

month.

I’ve Gained Peace of Mind

It may sound a little doomsday prepper-ish, but there’s something very comforting about having a

freezer full of high-quality protein at the ready. This was especially true last year during those first few

terrifying months of the pandemic. Having a chest freezer meant I didn’t have to go to the grocery store

as often. As the industrial food supply chain broke down, I didn’t have to worry about restrictions on the

number of packages of meat customers could buy or sky-high prices. And when I was furloughed, it was

a relief to know that an important (and relatively more expensive) component of my diet was already

covered. Having a freezer meant one less thing to worry about during an already very stressful time.

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Maybe it’s weird to be emotionally attached to an appliance, but I’ve got a lot of love for my freezer. It’s

allowed me to eat in a way that feels both more “right,” more sustainable, and more fun. If you’re ready

to take the plunge and buy a freezer of your own, I encourage you to check out There’s a Cow in My

Freezer, where I discuss everything from figuring out what size you need to suggestions for where to put

it to maintenance tips. The book also walks you step-by-step through the process of finding, buying, and

enjoying amazing grass-fed and pasture-raised meat.