Freezer for a steer

[puntabrava]

Would anyone have any recommendations for a chest freezer to put a butchered steer in.

 

[TripleSix]

A reliable one

 

[Northeastfarmer]

A big one

 

[multi power]

Or 2 smaller ones to spread the risk
You need something that can freeze a large amount quickly, not every freezer can do this

 

[delilah]

Upright draws rather than chest, otherwise it's all too easy to let the mince and stewing bits gravitate to the bottom while you just pig out on the steak and joints, and you then chuck the next beast on top leaving bits you have ignored at the bottom. Have a draw full of fore quarter and dip into it regular so you eat him all up.

 

[bobk]

Depends what it died of ....

 

[Timbo]

Would anyone have any recommendations for a chest freezer to put a butchered steer in.

You'll need two at least.

 

[Bill dog]

Get some storage boxes to sub divide your bovine bounty in the freezer. Fillets in 1 , square sausage in another etc !

 

[Mow]

I'm just packing up selling my own beef,will have a couple for sale

 

[Samcowman]

How big is the beast? See if where you are getting it cut up can freeze it down for you. One near here does that and if we were freezing a whole one ourselves would definitely do that.

 

[JD-Kid]

get butcher to cut and pack in to pack sizes. you want and. get them to freeze it
mate few years ago got one done come back. chilled. so tried to freeze it down did not. keep moveing it around alot of meat turned green before it froze

 

[Hesstondriver]

Or 2 smaller ones to spread the risk
You need something that can freeze a large amount quickly, not every freezer can do this

this , we bought a big freezer, and mixed the various cuts up , but we now have a 12" layer of unidentifiable frozen flesh set in an iceberg of blood that requires a hammer and chisel & a game of pot luck to find dinner

 

[Will 1594]

Our freezer

 

[Whitepeak]

When we've done beasts for the freezer we always freeze steaks on baking trays first, then bag up. Makes it so much easier to seperate them when you need one. Same with mince or stewing pieces, freeze in portion sized bags.
And whatever you do, don't just bung it all in at once in one heap! Freeze it in batches if you can, and spread it out- friends and families freezers come in handy for this. If you put all the meat in at once it will take weeks to freeze, and the bits in the middle will go rotten before they freeze!

 

[FIL46]

20 years ago we got a beast back from the butcher, the old volvo 340 was on its arse, you will need a fair freezer, you will have about 280/300kgs of meat to keep,

 

[Coximus]

A good trick is abit of plywood in layers in a chest freezer - stops the tian amorphous meat blobs forming. I'm working my way trhogug a sow at the moment. Thought I'd got a joint but actually today we'll be eating minc and a kidney. Yey

 

[Highland Mule]

Label everything before freezing, and keep it separate. You could use a few sheets plywood but some shoe boxes are probably better.

Think though - how big is your family and how much beef do you normally buy in. If the answer isn’t at leat five people and £100+ a month on beef, then get spreading the word and try and sell about half or three quarters of it. You should have no problems, and what’s left will be enough to keep you going for long enough. If you sell enough, there’s easy justification to put a very low value on the stuff you keep, for the accounts. If not, that steer is going to cost you a bit of cash on your tax computation.

We conplain long enough about the price we get, but you have a perfect opportunity to sell direct at retail prices. If it works, do another one in six months or so, and start to reap the rewards.

First couple of beasts I kept all the fillet, because “it didn’t sell”. Now, I keep whatever I fancy, plus have the most profitable cattle sales ever.

 

[Chasingmytail]

You can pick up cheap chest freezers on FB selling/ebay sites. The only issue is line the sides with thin cardboard to prevent freezer burn. Use the boxes but try to mix the contents nothing worse than having all the mince at the bottom and having frost bite in retrieving it. I do like my home frost free freezer but not sure you can get them in chest freezers. I check the freezers twice a week. Do a check list on the calender. Only takes a blown fuse to have a whole freezer defrost so good habit to get into. Even if it goes off you should have 2 days of food to keep it frozen. You cant chuck it all in one freezer and expect it to freeze. Takes 2-3 days so be careful. If you can temp pop some in home freezer then once the first batch is frozen put rest in. I have pork lamb beef in freezer. Just finished our table birds.

 

[puntabrava]

How big is the beast? See if where you are getting it cut up can freeze it down for you. One near here does that and if we were freezing a whole one ourselves would definitely do that.

I was going to send it to Stiles at Bromham £300 to kill and butcher which I thought was good value.
The one on the left in both pics.

 

[puntabrava]

Some interesting posts here, very glad I asked as could of been a catastrophe.