I have an old Montgomery Ward upright freezer that I inherited from my parents. They bought it around 1988 I believe so that makes it 33 years old. Yours is just a pup cath!

I bought a 15 cu/ft chest freezer in March 2020 mainly because we were getting ready to have a couple of our cow herd processed and I couldn't fit 2/3 of a beef into my upright and have room for anything else. Like you, I was also worried that the old monkey ward freezer might give up the ghost at any time. So far it's still going strong (knocks on wood).

Do you have space for another small freezer? Prices have increased about 25% since I bought mine last year but you can still buy a 5-7 cu/ft chest freezer in the $200-$250 range. That may give you a little peace of mind as a backup.

Hi Lone Jack........LOL.....Mine is just a pup. YAY! :) Here's hoping it's a healthy pup. :)

My bigger Wood one (not made out of wood, haha). is about 5 and 1/2 tall and 2 and 3/4 wide (can't find the cf info anywhere). I didn't mention that I did buy a small 5.8 cf freezer to squeeze into our utility room. It's full now too! It's only about 2-3 years old. I think it will slowly get better, since I'm learning not to always feel like I need more than I really do need. (But you know how that goes. Once I quit doing that, something bad will happen and I'll run out. haha.......see, I AM neurotic. ;) )

I had thought of buying just a back-up freezer, but I was looking at a big one, but you reminded me I could get a smaller one for an emergency, and that would help a lot if this one died.....at least if it took awhile to get a new bigger one delivered. Not sure where I'd store it though......no garage. We do have a tiny basement and just last week DH and DS hauled up a HUGE old fridge from the basement and we swore we'd never keep one down there again, but a small freezer would be do-able. Or we could keep it in the living room, dining room, bathroom, etc., haha

Anything to save frozen garden stuff!

Sorry for the ramble. But the smaller back-up-plan-freezer is definitely a possibility. Thanks for reminding me of the smaller ones!

Jack, my daughter has an old Kenmore that I passed down to her when she got her own place. I bought that one in 1984 and it's still freezing, but one of these days I know it'll give up the ghost.

Cath, I agree with jack, buy a small one for a back up. Then try not to fill it up unless you need it, LOL, but I guarantee that you will. (grin)

I did have a 5 day power outage several years ago, and I had beef in the freezer and no generator. I lit my gas stove top with a match and started canning beef. (sigh) I live in Michigan and if it had been winter I'd have been all right, packed it up in coolers or stuffed it into a snow bank but no, it had to be the end of May. I managed to save a lot of the beef, and I gave the rest away to neighbors who were mostly cooking on grills. It worked, but was not optimal.

Now we have a generator and since we just had a power outage last week that lasted for three days, it earned its keep. My beef/pork/venison/chicken/produce are all still solidly frozen, thank goodness. Since I have four freezers, I'd never be able to can my way through that now!

Annie

Some info on freezers. Mine was dying last fall and when I went to buy a new one, it was impossible; I lost pretty much everything. I also found out that new freezers cannot be put in an unheated building (mine was in the barn) unless they are rated "garage ready." Standard freezers are now so cheaply made that they won't run if temps drop below freezing.