Choosing the right freezer for your grass-fed meats

written by

posted on

April 10, 2021

Buying a half of cow sounds cool right? .....But wait a minute.... how am I going to store all that meat? I mean 250 lbs of meat is a lot right? Now I need to go shopping for a freezer and spend time researching for the right freezer. This sure can make the whole process maybe seem daunting, but no worries, we are here to help.

This is such a common question we get from new customers.

How big of a freezer will I need for all my meat?

Maybe you are a seasoned customer that has had a freezer forever, but thinking about upgrading. Should I get an upright or chest freezer?

How long will my meat stay fresh in the freezer?

You will want to watch the video as we breakdown how big of freezer you need, the pros and cons to a chest freezer vs upright freezer, and tips to protect your investment.

Quick Summary

Storage:

Rule of thumb: 25 - 35 lb of meat per cubic ft. of freezer space.
Try to purchase no more than 1 year supplies meat to ensure freshness.
Buy a freezer with no more than 20% bigger than the space you anticipate using. Ideally you want little air space.

Upright Freezers vs Chest Freezers:

Upright Pros - Easy to organize, easy access to different products/meat cuts, and uses less floor space.
Upright Cons - Less useable freezer space compared to a chest, cold air escapes more quickly, and risk of door being left open.
Chest Pros - Door always closes shut with the help of gravity, more useable freezer space, and cold air doesn't escape quickly.
Chest Cons - Difficult to organize, not easy to access different products/cuts, and uses more floor space.

Tips to protect your investment:

If you have the key and lock to your freezer make it a rule to use it, so you are sure the freezer is shut closed and protected from children accidently opening it.
Come up with a creative way to be sure the door stays shut at all times.
Purchase an alarm system to notify you if your freezer temperature is to high. We personally like using this brand: https://wirelesstag.net

If you are thinking about buying a used freezer, we personally have had pretty good success with this. I recommend, just make sure you test it before you buy it. You can usually save a lot of money buying used.

Best of luck as you pick out your new freezer for your half of beef!

Please post with your questions or comments below, we'd love to hear your experiences.

Baby pig farm visit

Howdy there friend, Most weeks this time of year, we are super busy all week, so many of our family Sundays turn into a farm task activity and I try to include the whole family when I can. :)Last Sunday as a family, we enjoyed visiting our hog breeder's farm to pickup a group of weaned pigs for our summer pasture. When we were there, we had the chance to take a short video of all the baby pigs running around his farm and interviewed farmer Brennan to share just how unique his methods are to raising hogs compared to the conventional pork you will find in the grocery store. I hope you enjoy watching the happy little pigs out on pasture. It's truly a fun sight and brings me a sense of satisfaction knowing we support pigs to live a wonderful natural life on pasture vs the conventional factory farm model that the houses 74 million pigs annually in overcrowded concrete barns (Which is 93% of the U.S. pig population). I hope you'll watch the video as we cover 3 key takeaways that make our pasture hog operation unique. 1. Farrowing on pasture, no crates! (farrowing means birthing) When a Momma pigs (Sow or gilt) are ready to have babies, they are moved into a confinement crates where they can only lay down and get up to eat/drink and that's all. They can't turn around or walk in these crates. This is the industrial pork's standards for the sows to prevent them from accidentally laying on their young. However, we feel that only when they are overcrowded this is a potential problem. Thankfully our momma pigs as you see in the video are free to be independent outside to move and lay down where they choose with plenty of room. The 1st week or 2, Brennon gives the momma her own hut and area, so there's no other pig competition. Then she can relax and have a baby moon! ;) With this, the baby pigs are free to run around outside to get exercise, play in the dirt, grass, and be a pig as well! Once our hogs leave our hog breeders farm after weaned from their momma's milk, they continue to enjoy the outside pasture here at Wanda Farm. Unfortunately, pigs in a confinement barn on concrete never get the opportunity to dig with their nose and sometimes never see daylight in their entire lives. Our pigs are truly raised humanely as God intended them to be raised! 2. No tail docking (cutting off the pig tails) We explain in the video how in the industrial hog operations the pigs are confined in the barn all their lives and therefore, they get bored without having dirt to dig, mud holes to play in, and food to hunt for. A bad habit the pigs develop is chewing on their pen mates tails. This usually creates problems of cannibalism in the hog industry. So therefore, the industry has made it a common practice to intentional cut off the pig's tails when young. Thankfully, again because our pigs are outside in a natural environment, they don't get bored and we don't have this problem! 3. Old heritage genetics that keep meat quality like a 100 years ago Today the pork industry has been breeding the pork out of pigs. They want it to be a lean, white meat. The genetics have changed so much since the industrial hog operation started that pork isn't what it used to be. So many don't like pork for this reason. Thankfully our breeder is focused on good quality heritage genetics that perform well on pasture, not a confinement barn. On that note, 93% of hogs today are confined to barns and fed a diet of solely GMO grains. Can you imagine eating only GMO grains that have been sprayed with chemicals and being healthy? Thankfully these old school genetic hogs are made to hunt for their food in the pastures. They eating a diverse diet of acorns, walnuts, roots, grubs, grass, legumes, forbs, and whatever else is edible in our pastures. Of course in addition to support their growth and health, we offer grains, but never feed GMO feed to ensure they never have nasty chemicals apart of their diet. Obviously this unique, natural diet keeps the hogs very healthy and improves the meat quality as well. Our pork is probably the best pork you will ever taste! I mean it. It is a unique flavor and not the other white meat. You certainly will never find comparable pork in the grocery store as pastured pork is very unique and certainly can't be produced in a mass scale as factory farms do. All I can say from experience, is that our pigs are probably some of the happiest pigs and best tasting pigs in northern Illinois! I hope you enjoy the video and learn something new. God bless, Farmer Joe P.S. Are you ready to try some Wanda Farm's pork? While it might cost more than the grocery store pork, I think you can feel better knowing that you supported a pig with a more ethical, natural lifestyle on pasture and can enjoy/taste the difference in quality of flavor, nutrient density, and clean ingredients without chemicals, GMOs, growth hormones, and other pharmaceutical drugs. Try Wanda Farm Pork Here

He Arose

Happy Easter Friend! Today, we are taking it easy on the farm. I just finished morning chores and now have a short moment to write you this email before we bustle off to church. Thankfully we worked pretty hard yesterday to get all the chores done so today we can take some extra family time to celebrate this Easter Sunday.Of course there will be the Easter egg hunt this afternoon as we do everyday ;)However, we look forward to celebrating the magnificent miracle that happened 2,000 years ago. Our Lord, Jesus Christ arose from the death of his crucifixion with our family today. As many of you know we are a faith based family farm. This means we hold very closely our faith in everything we do. That said, I wouldn't be acting out of faith, if I didn't share His story as it reflects who we are and stand for. If you are willing, please watch this really cool poem that I found encouraging!It sent chills up my back! It's such a beautiful poem sharing what Christ accomplished with his death, burial, and then resurrection. We are so thankful for his love and grace to save us. Choosing him as our savior vs our good deeds can uplift anyone from the bondage we face. I hope you enjoyed the poem as well. God bless you on this Easter Sunday. The Wanda Family

How We Scale The Regenerative Farming Model

As a farmer who's been practicing regenerative agriculture for several years now, I firmly believe that it's not only scalable but also essential for the future of sustainable food production. When I look at my own journey and the transformations I've witnessed on my farm, I see immense potential for regenerative practices to be adopted on a larger scale.

Pre-order Bulk Meat Shares - 1/4, 1/2, or whole