Post by simplynaturalfarm on Nov 9, 2010 10:24:24 GMT -5
Hmmm, we are running 5 freezers right now and it is insane for our family of 5 - can't count the little girls as much. We eat massive amounts of meat and I have a pork freezer, a beef freezer (okay, make that 2 freezers), an odds and end freezer at the house (veggies, a box of each kind of meat, icecream etc), and a chicken freezer. Our main staple is meat and then I fill it in with veggies. I have taken to lots of canning though in the hopes of not running so many. They are not large freezers though as I have a hard time finding things in huge chest size freezers. I think they are 14 squ feet. The one freezer is now full of extra beef from a friend who had an insane cow he didn't want and we just shipped it and turned it into hamburger. My family is buying it so I guess we don't always run 4.
I can fill a freezer easily with 50 chickens, when we butchered a ciow that filled 2 freezers (we had to run and buy one as we didn't realize how much meat our troublesome cow was going to have), and the pork easily fills one when we butcher 2-3 a year. I went through horror initially at realizing how much meat we eat (I was raised on a family of six sharing 1lb of hamburger and filling up on potatoes or rice/noodles and bread), but I married an avid fat and meat eater (he eats it because of the health benefits not because he simply wants to eat nothing but meat and fat and veggies), but it is something we can easily produce and we are healthier and leaner because of it!
It costs me about $30 extra a month to run those freezers, but compared to running out of pasture or buying more feed to hang onto troublesome animals it was worth it. My plus is that we have an enforced $100 per month electric bill as it was a new meter and the power company requires $100 per month for 5 years to pay for the installation. So I make sure I use that $100 in the form of freezers and water heaters (believe me, I NEVER used to use water heaters for the animals, but as long as I stay under $100 a month I will use them)
Heather
I can fill a freezer easily with 50 chickens, when we butchered a ciow that filled 2 freezers (we had to run and buy one as we didn't realize how much meat our troublesome cow was going to have), and the pork easily fills one when we butcher 2-3 a year. I went through horror initially at realizing how much meat we eat (I was raised on a family of six sharing 1lb of hamburger and filling up on potatoes or rice/noodles and bread), but I married an avid fat and meat eater (he eats it because of the health benefits not because he simply wants to eat nothing but meat and fat and veggies), but it is something we can easily produce and we are healthier and leaner because of it!
It costs me about $30 extra a month to run those freezers, but compared to running out of pasture or buying more feed to hang onto troublesome animals it was worth it. My plus is that we have an enforced $100 per month electric bill as it was a new meter and the power company requires $100 per month for 5 years to pay for the installation. So I make sure I use that $100 in the form of freezers and water heaters (believe me, I NEVER used to use water heaters for the animals, but as long as I stay under $100 a month I will use them)
Heather