Rule of thumb for estimating freezer size?

[Wayne02]

Is there some sort of rule of thumb for estimating the freezer size needed for X amount of beef?

Say a person has 450 lbs of take-home beef, what size freezer?

Looking online at the various sizes I see they have this figure in the specifications but I wonder how accurate it is? What has your experience been on sizing? Once I get the size down I can look for the other stuff - reviews, energy star, sales etc.

For example, chest freezers:

13 cuf. $382.49, "This 13 cu. ft. chest freezer holds up to 448 lbs. of frozen food" (energy star)

14.8 cuf. 424.99, "This 15 cu. ft. chest freezer holds up to 518 lbs. of frozen food" (energy star)

or uprights (none energy star):

13.7 cuf. $450.49, "this 13.7 cu. ft. freezer holds up to 480 lbs. of frozen food"

14.1 cuf. $424.99, "This 14.1 cu. ft. freezer holds up to 494 lbs. of frozen food"

16.7 cuf. $518.49, "This 16.7 cu. ft. freezer holds up to 599 lbs. of frozen food"

Thanks

[Macybaby]

My experience (chest freezers only) has been that if you have it more than 75 - 80% full it is difficult to find what you want - unless you take what ever is at the top and go from there.

I have two 15 cu ft freezers and one 7 cu ft freezer. The 7 is the oldest and I have the other two because a larger freezer won't fit down the basement steps. I like having all three - one has veggies, one has meat and the small one has staples in bulk.

I have no idea how accurate the capacity is. I did get a quarter beef (about 250 lbs home) and that filled my 15 cu about half, so that seems reasonable.

[TurnerHill]

Accurate sizing can be difficult. Check with your wife. Generally, men tend to overestimate size, and their wives can offer a more realistic assessment.

[Ross]

We just put 750 pounds of beef into a 20 cu foot freezer and it fit with 3 inches of space from the top of the chest

[Jennifer L.]

I put around 400# of beef in an upright 13 cubic foot one several years ago.
It was definitely full, but I think I could have put a little more in.

Jennifer

[Pink_Carnation]

This year we got a side of beef and a side of pork...both fit in a 14cubic foot chest freezer with a little bit of room to spare. The beef was about 350Lb. and the pork 90lbs. We started with the freezer empty.

[truckdriverx72]

So, you could put about 30# in 1 cu.ft?

[IndyGardenGal]

If you're putting the freezer in a spot that gets cold I would go with a chest freezer. I think I read somewhere that upright freezers, if they get too cold from outside temps, will go in to auto defrost mode--even if there's no ice in the actual freezer, which would hurt the food.

Maybe someone here can shed some light on the truth in this.

[7thswan]

Indy is right about auto defrost. Tell the sales person where you are going to keep it. Or just tell them you do not want auto defrost.