# How Big of a Chest Freezer Do You Have For Processed Beef?



## Rollochrome

I am going to buy a whole cow and have it processed.

Never done it before.....but since we've been buying grass fed locally raised beef....Im hooked. Totally different taste. 

I will need a deep freeze.....I guess a chest style freezer.....and I see lots of mid size 7 cu.ft. freezers out there....but they sure look small.

What is the "right" size freezer if we want to essentially process and keep all the cuts for the most part?


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## collegeboundgal

we use a 22cu ft one and it's waaaay more than enough room for one steer. but we also use it for everything else.


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## Rollochrome

collegeboundgal said:


> we use a 22cu ft one and it's waaaay more than enough room for one steer. but we also use it for everything else.


thanks melissa


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## gwithrow

a 15 cu ft one will 'fit' the meat from a pretty big steer in it, but not the extras. like the bones to be used later for making broth and any extra liver ....so our solution was to get an additional smaller one for auxillary items...that way as we use the beef down, if we want to we can 'close' out the smaller freezer til we need it...as we use the meat we also fill the freezer with milk jugs of water...gives us emergency water and helps the freezer work efficiently...


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## genebo

I can put a Dexter steer or 1/2 of an Angus steer in a 7 cu ft chest freezer most of the time. Possibly I'll have to stick a few cuts in the refrigerator's freezer.


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## myersfarm

I have three freezers I deer hunt and have a garden
I just had a thought ..on what to buy if my family was growing or the grandkids were I would buy a bigger one...just love frozen peaches...if my family was moving away and it was just wife and me I would get the smaller one

I have always heard to keep the freezers running or the freon will leak out slowly


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## oregon woodsmok

My chest freezer is 26 cubic feet.

If you are going to pay to run a freeze, get enough space so you can store a lot of stuff. A chest freezer costs very little to run and the difference between the power for a 9 cubic foot and a 26 cubic foot is not going to be much.

You might decide to raise some chickens or put a pig in that freezer before the beef is used up.


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## VaFarmer

15 cu range is pretty versatal 550 lbs hanging weight will work out too 5 large coleman coolers. plus a little more. I keep to 9 cft freezers and when things get low just keep the 1 running, I like the upright for finding things and have aquired a bunch of wire racks to better utilize the shelf space, you can get more in a chest freezer, just make a table of contents of what layer and on left or right so you can find those porterhouses when it's grilling time.


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## opportunity

I think mine are 20 cubic feet we have three freezers but we also process a lot of meat, and have to store for customers sometimes. A steer (500-700 weight) usually fills one freezer when we did the bull last year it didn't fit in one had to use two selfs in the second one to get it all in but that was 970 hanging weight he was big.


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## SCRancher

790 hanging weight cull cow did not fit in 16 cf freezer. Cow was probably in the 1200 - 1300 standing weight range.


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## Callieslamb

One of the first things I asked when I joined this forum was this very question. I didn't get good answers so I googled it. I found out that you can judge freezer size needed for a steer - by putting a normal sized husband in it. If he will fit- so will a medium sized steer. I'm not sure what normal-sized is.


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## G. Seddon

Callieslamb said:


> One of the first things I asked when I joined this forum was this very question. I didn't get good answers so I googled it. I found out that you can judge freezer size needed for a steer - by putting a normal sized husband in it. If he will fit- so will a medium sized steer. I'm not sure what normal-sized is.


Ummm, Callieslamb, was that live weight or hanging weight? :happy:


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## Callieslamb

Well, the steer going into the freezer will mostly be boneless....so I don't think it matters. Unfortunately, I titled my thread - "is your husband normal sized?"


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## stifflej

I would not suggest buying one that will "just" fit your beef, I would recommend getting one that will also fit other things, like stuffed peppers (gotta have something to do with all that burger, we make a big roaster full, have a meal that night, then freeze the rest (4 or 5 more meals), do the same with chili, makes for easy meals if you are in a hurry).


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## Rollochrome

Awesome feedback. Thanks!


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## KnowOneSpecial

Get the largest one you can. If you have too much room, then great! Fill up water jugs and put them in the empty spaces. If the power goes out you now have your beef on ice. But if you go too small, what are you going to do with the extra meat?


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## Rollochrome

KnowOneSpecial said:


> Get the largest one you can. If you have too much room, then great! Fill up water jugs and put them in the empty spaces. If the power goes out you now have your beef on ice. But if you go too small, what are you going to do with the extra meat?


Thats a good point. I have been freezing water bottles over the summer for my rabbits.....but having them all over the floor of the deep freeze as a "back up" cooling source if the GFI pops off for some reason is a good idea.

Plus...from what I see....once you get into 17 cuft and up size boxes.....you seem to also see temperature alarms as features whereas smaller boxes seem to not have that.

So having two emergency power loss tools here is a good thing...

I am looking at Lowe's website at a Whirlpool 21.7 cuft. With a 4 year extended warranty and tax, $946 delivered. Thats is a LOT more than I was counting on spending....but I dont want to half-heart the decision and end up with not enough capacity.


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## SpaceCadet12364

It is approx. 27lbs to the cu.ft. for beef. So go from there.


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