Will a freezer save you money?

Certainly a freezer purchase may be a slam-dunk for you if any of the following apply:

• You tend a large garden and don't want to abandon the excess on your neighbors' doorsteps.

• You and your family are big meat eaters and want to buy in real bulk, such as a whole butchered hog or one-quarter to one-half of a cow (yes, city kids, country people do such things).

• You hunt large animals and need somewhere to store hundreds of pounds of game.

• Your fridge freezer is overflowing -- and constantly in use.

If your fridge's freezer door is being opened and closed all day long, the food there isn't being kept at a steady zero degrees, which means quality and safety may be compromised.

Do the math

What if you don't fit any of the above categories but are still interested in a freezer as a way to stock up and save money? Then you've got to do some math.

Personal-finance blogger Trent Hamm at partner site The Simple Dollar calculated the cost of owning and operating the upright Frigidaire he purchased last year with his wife at about $11 a month, or 37 cents a day, over its expected eight-year life span. That reflects the cost of the purchase -- $450 -- and the $75 in annual electricity charges.

"It allows me to take advantage of food bulk buying all the time, and I'm also able to freeze the vegetables produced in my garden," Hamm says. "This easily outweighs the cost of running it."

Your mileage, though, may vary.

The Energy Star site has a calculator designed to show you how much you can save by upgrading your fridge or freezer, but even if you don't have a freezer now, you can use the calculator to estimate how much a new one would cost to operate:

• Input the cost of electricity in your area (or use the state averages provided).

• Choose the style and size of freezer you're considering. (Cubic feet refers to the interior size; if it's 2 feet by 2 feet by 4 feet, you've got 16 cubic feet.)

• Then select a model year.

Once the calculation is done, it will show you how much a new Energy Star model would cost in electricity consumption annually.

You'll also want to factor in the cost of purchasing the freezer, divided by its expected lifetime. Hamm's freezer's eight-year life span is on the short side, reflecting the fact that a more efficient model will make an exchange cost-effective by that point. The typical freezer's actual lifespan is closer to 11 years, and many people keep theirs running for 20 years or even more.

The art of freezing

Our freezer was a bargain to buy, which partly offsets the fact that it costs more to run than I expected. We bought our Kenmore upright from a Sears outlet store store we affectionately call the Scratch-n-Dent. A barely noticeable ding on one side dropped the price considerably, to less than $300.

With today's higher energy prices, though, our freezer costs about $14 a month to operate, or nearly 50 cents a day. Though I think the convenience alone is worth that, and while our food savings help justify the cost, it's probably time for us to consider a more energy-efficient model.

When we do, we'll need to:

• Determine the style. Chest-style freezers tend to cost less to buy and operate. They also keep food colder longer, an important consideration if your area is prone to power failures. But you have to manually defrost them about every six months -- no small hassle. Uprights come with or without automatic defrosting, and those with this feature cost more. I'm busy, so an upright with auto-defrost is a given.

• Choose a size. This part is tricky. A small family of gardeners, hunters or Costco shoppers can fill a large freezer, while a large family can leave a sizable freezer half-empty if family members aren't big on frozen food. If you're storing something large -- like a deer, cow or hog -- you should know that each cubic foot can hold about 35 pounds of food, according to Electrolux's O'Gorman. Otherwise, you'll probably just have to guess at how big a freezer to buy, but I'd lean toward a smaller model. The size we bought -- about 16 cubic feet -- turns out to be a little on the large size for our family of three; the next one probably will be 14 or even 12 cubic feet.

• Manage the space. For maximum efficiency, a freezer should be kept full. If yours has temporary open space, fill it with sturdy plastic jugs filled not quite to the top with water. You'll also want to learn how to freeze foods properly to prevent freezer burn and use what's in there before the quality deteriorates. I've found it helpful to post a list outside the fridge indicating everything inside, along with when it was purchased and when it expires. I can cross out items as I use them, which also helps alert me when I need to purchase more.

Liz Pulliam Weston's latest book, "Easy Money: How to Simplify Your Finances and Get What You Want Out of Life," is now available. Columns by Weston, the Web's most-read personal-finance writer and winner of the 2007 Clarion Award for online journalism, appear every Monday and Thursday, exclusively on MSN Money. She also answers reader questions on the Your Money message board.

Published Oct. 6, 2008

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