How Mini Freezers Can Save You Money

Though many people haven’t thought about them much, mini freezers can actually be a great money saving appliance in the home or apartment.  People with big houses and garages often have upright or chest freezers in the garage or storage room, but when you live in a small house or apartment, there often just isn’t room for one of these giant beasts.  One solution is to get a mini freezer, which takes up a lot less room than their giant chest freezer counterparts.
Here are some of the ways that a mini compact freezer can save you money.

1. You can grow vegetables in the summer and freeze them for eating all winter long.  This also works for fruits as well.  Apples, cherries, pears, and all kinds of other fruits last a long time in the freezer, and if you have a place to store them, you will save lots of money on fruit.  If you don’t have a garden, a fun thing to do is to go to you-pick farms to load up on berries and other fruits for freezing.
2. Buy produce when it is in-season for hefty savings.  Fruits and vegetables nearly always cost a lot less when they are harvested nearby.  These days supermarkets provide produce all year round, but it likely gets shipped from the other side of the world in the off season.
3. When cooking something special, make extra and freeze some of it for later use.  If you are going through all the trouble to cook, it doesn’t take much time to cook a bit more of the same thing.  The savings come later on days when you don’t have the time or inclination to cook, and you can just pull some great food out of the mini freezer and heat it up.

What is a mini freezer?

Many people get the little fridges and freezers confused.  A mini fridge freezer is a small appliance that has a larger refrigerator compartment and a smaller freezer.  Most of these units have a small flap for the door, but some of them have a separate compartment for the freezer.  The problem with the majority of these mini fridge with freezer combos is that while the refrigerator part works quite well, the freezer often doesn’t.  If you want an appliance that has both of these and actually works, I would recommend getting one with separate compartments for the fridge part and the freezer.  This type will most likely cost you a bit more than the little cheapies, but it is worth it to be able to put frozen items in the freezer and actually keep them frozen.  Otherwise, you will invariably find yourself throwing away food that thawed and spoiled.
There are two basic types of these compact freezers.  The first kind is the mini chest freezer.  This type lays on its side and the top lifts off.  The second type is the mini upright freezer.  This kind stands up like a small refrigerator, and the door opens from the front.  Many reviews say that the upright freezers work a bit better because they allow for better air circulation than the chest freezers.  Upright freezers are easier to access as well, since they come with shelves to separate items.

Tags: Appliances, Freezers, Refrigerators // Add Comment »