I have always had a deep freeze over the last 30 years. Mine's large, in the basement, and soooo handy for the 1/2 beef we put in it, the large bags of frozen foods I get at Costco, stuff we blanch and freeze, etc. You will find things to put in it. I could probably put 2 bodies in mine, lol. I freeze bread, mixed power greens (the big bags I get at Costco). I then grab a handful to put in soups, or power shakes. Once cooked you can't tell. Rotate your goods. In the past I even have made little map to post on the wall next to the freezer to tell me where things are stored. Like last years beef, and this years beef. The freezer becomes a little neighborhood!

Having lived in SoCal until three years ago, the mister and I never had a basement until we moved and the idea of a separate freezer never occurred to us (we adopted our two oldest kids and right now we have six year old twins that are foster placements, something we only were able to have a big enough house for doing once we moved to Nebraska - when we move the older two into the 3rd bedroom that is currently set up as my home office, we'll have 4 beds in the bedroom on the main floor open due to the twins going back to their bio family in June...) since we had enough room to keep all the frozen and refrigerated foods we needed back when it was just the mister and I.

Some of the reviews I've been reading for freezers complain about the lid freezing shut or breakdowns that mean throwing away a bunch of food...What is your experience with owning one in general?

If you have a power outage. Keep the Freezer Shut. With a chest freezer the cold air doesn't spill out like an upright, I'm told, so more efficient.

Here is mine, that we will be moving around the corner today, when DH gets back in from chores. I live in an old small house in Central Iowa. This is from the 90's, and Amana. it has worked fine all these years. Don't know what will last that long now.

Click to open full view, if needed.

Home Depot has 22 garage-ready freezers which are able to operate in a wide range of temperatures (e.g., "GE freezers are tested to perform from 0°F to 110°F") with hundreds of customer reviews. Lowes too.

In the central US, the temps can get to -20f. If the garage is attached then maybe it won't get below 0f but if its an unattached garage, it could be very cold out there at least once or twice a year.

Do you have a basement? I'd put it down there.

Most residential freezers are barely functional, if at all, below about 38F. Make sure that yours specifies that it is designed for low ambient temperature operation if it is to be in an unheated garage in Nebraska.