Freezer Space Makes Raw Feeding Affordable

Freezer space makes raw feeding affordable!

The more of it, the better, and my new freezer holds even more raw dog food than its predecessor!

That’s the good news.

The bad news is that my previous chest freezer stopped working the other day, and I had a minor meltdown.

After all, it’s my favorite raw dog food accessory and the secret to effective raw feeding.

AND I had just stored a 55 lb order of raw dog food from Raw Feeding Miami in it that required freezing temperatures.

At first I was bummed out, but then I decided to make the best of the situation.

I had to act quickly too if I didn’t want Wally’s raw dog food to spoil.

That’s why my boyfriend and I immediately looked for chest freezers on a few different online sites.

Chest Freezer Details: Cost, Capacity, & More

Until now I wasn’t a big Ebay user, but I’m beginning to appreciate it more and more. Especially because that’s where I ended up finding Wally’s new freezer! 

Just FYI, I had found the previous 5.1 cu ft one on Amazon for $205 in early 2019.

Of course that means that it only lasted a year and a half! Not impressive, but maybe it got damaged during my move this year, who knows.

I checked Amazon for prime chest freezers while my boyfriend browsed Ebay for buy now listings – we chose those filters to get a new chest freezer ASAP.

The new freezer is a white 7 cu ft chest freezer

It came with a removable storage basket. My old chest freezer had one as well which I kept, so now I have 2 baskets. 

The best part about Wally’s new appliance is that it didn’t break the bank.

It was $340 ($324.99 + $15.44 tax), and shipping was free and IMMEDIATE!

I definitely didn’t expect that, nor that it was delivered only 3 days later. 

I noticed that the old freezer wasn’t working anymore on a Friday, bought the new one that same afternoon, saw that it was shipped on Saturday and then it was delivered the following Monday!

Definitely way before the delivery time frame the Ebay seller gave me.

By the way, none of Wally’s recent raw dog food order spoiled because I was able to store everything in our human freezer and also in our fridge.

It definitely helped that the new freezer arrived as quickly as it did or I would have lost the food that I stored in the fridge.

Chest freezer specifics:

• 7 cu ft (= 200 liters) food storage capacity
• Dimensions (L x W x H): 22.1 x 35 x 33.9 inches
• Comes with 1 removable storage basket
• Energy efficient ($29/year in electricity costs)
• Brand: Plastic Development Group
• Mechanical thermostat
• Manual defrost
• Weight: 68 pounds
• Color: White
• 1 door

How much of Wally’s raw dog food does the chest freezer hold?

1 cu ft of freezer space holds 40 lb of packaged meat, so technically this one can hold around 280 lb (7 cu ft x 40 lb) of packaged meat. 

However, since the cuts of meat that I buy for Wally come in somewhat odd shapes and don’t consist of just 1 lb ground meat packages, its actual capacity is lower and probably somewhere around 240 lb.

That amount lasts Wally a good 8 months. That’s assuming that he eats a little less than 1 lb in meat every day.

Why freezer space makes raw feeding affordable

When you compare raw dog food to kibble, the main downside is that raw doesn’t last nearly as long as kibble does.

That’s because it’s not filled with preservatives and needs to be frozen or refrigerated.

So if you don’t have decent freezer space, you can only buy so much (or little, ha!) of raw meat at a time. 

Keeps raw dog food costs down

Here’s the deal though – if you want to keep your raw dog food costs down, you’ll have to stock up on different cuts of meat when you find them on sale.

So it’s essentially a small investment up front in order to be able to save big on your raw dog food journey.

For example, I pick up ground lamb from my local grocery store whenever it’s on sale, which happens about once per month.

The price is then marked down from around $7 to $4 or $5 – that’s a big difference when you add it up, and I do.

I buy at least 5 lb of it, which saves me a minimum of $10.

Over time, this adds up!

They also have chicken leg quarters on sale once a month.

When they do, you can either get 2 bags for the price of 1 or one bag is marked down by $2.

I used to take advantage of that deal with my previous Boxer mix pups, but since Wally does poorly on chicken, I no longer do.

Tip: With chicken leg quarters from the grocery store, you’ll want to remove most of the skin before you feed it. It’s too fatty and can not only cause weight gain but also diarrhea and pancreatitis.

Even when you’re not feeding raw dog food on a budget, you’ll need freezer space if you’re feeding more than one dog, especially if they’re larger pups. 

What’s better for raw dog food: An upright freezer or a chest freezer?

So yes, freezer space makes raw feeding affordable, but does a certain type of freezer work better than another?

There’s really no right answer because it depends on your personal preference, space, and budget. 

If you DIY your raw dog food and store the meals in individual containers, it’ll be easier and more neat looking to store the meals in an upright freezer.

Raw dog food from Darwin’s Natural Pet also comes in easily stackable pouches.

However, an upright freezer isn’t very practical when it comes to storing those oddly shaped bags of cuts of meat that I mentioned earlier.

Upright freezers are also more expensive than chest freezers.

To me, the ideal solution would be to have both. A chest freezer to hold the bags of meat, and an upright freezer to hold the meals after meal prep. 

I currently don’t have the space for an upright freezer, so I’m sticking with a chest freezer. It works out nicely especially because I’m only feeding one 40 lb pup these days.

Update 2023: When I moved to Germany in 2021, I switched things around, meaning I ditched the chest freezer and got an upright freezer instead.

Do you have any questions or comments? Please leave them in the comment section below this article!

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