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[reubenray]

When I woke up yesterday I went to get some breakfast sausage out of the freezer.  It was not working, but most of it was still frozen.  We worked frantically to move what we could into my other freezer until I got another freezer about two hours later.  Two things that I could not move was two ham's, so we put them in the frig.  I figured I would smoke them today, but today it is storming.  I am looking for suggestions on different ways to cook these two huge hams.  It is only two of us and my wife figured she would have to freeze a lot of it after cooking them.  One is a plain ham and the other one is a honey glazed ham.  Also will they be able to stay in the frig for a few days until the stormy weather clears out?

[Bar-B-Lew]

They should be fine in the fridge for a few days.  It may take them that long to thaw.  You can slice up the honey baked and vac seal into portion sizes for easy future meals.  Worst case scenario, give some of the food to friends and family to clear some space in the freezer.

[02ebz06]

Why not just put them back in the new freezer ?

From Spruce Eats:

"Have lots of leftover holiday ham, and wondering if you can freeze some of it to enjoy later? What if the ham hasn't been cooked yet? Can it go back in the freezer? The answer to both is yes. It's perfectly safe to refreeze ham (both cooked or uncooked), as long as it was thawed in the refrigerator (Other methods of thawing aren't recommended). Here's what you need to know to get good results.

Freeze and Refreeze
For safety purposes, ham should be refrozen within three days of thawing. There may be a slight change in quality due to the moisture lost during thawing, which can affect the texture of your defrosted meat. Do not refreeze ham that's been left outside the refrigerator longer than two hours. Make sure the meat is packaged properly, so it doesn't get freezer-burned.

If you have a lot of ham to freeze, think about dividing it into smaller portions before you stick it in the freezer. It will allow you to pull out individual packages, without having to thaw out the whole ham."

[ICIdaho]

I have had a freezer on order since April of 2020.  I want an upright, manual defrost, garage rated freezer.  I cannot find one anywhere.  Everything is frost free or a chest freezer if they are manual defrost.  So far, my 50 year old freezer is still chugging along.

[reubenray]

I have had a freezer on order since April of 2020.  I want an upright, manual defrost, garage rated freezer.  I cannot find one anywhere.  Everything is frost free or a chest freezer if they are manual defrost.  So far, my 50 year old freezer is still chugging along.

Luckily the freezer that went out was the oldest (5 years) and smaller (7 cf) chest freezer.  It has been flaky for the last few years especially if I had a power outage.  I got a 16 cf Whirlpool upright from Lowe's (last one).  It is not manual defrost or garage rated, but I did not have much of a choice.  I had about $1,000 of custom cut beef in the old freezer.

[Bar-B-Lew]

Help me understand the need for manual defrost and garage rated.

[ICIdaho]

Help me understand the need for manual defrost and garage rated.

Frost free freezers are not good for the long term storage of meat because they heat up to melt the ice crystals.  It freezer burns food after a while. 

The garage rated has to do with the freezers performance in extreme heat, cold and humidity that occurs in garages, and will cause problems with standard freezers, that are designed to work within a particular temperature range that occurs inside a house.  They are designed and built differently and have more insulation.   

[02ebz06]

I have two freezers in my garage, both are auto defrost.
95% of what is in them is vacuum sealed or cryovac.  No freezer burn, no ice crystals.
The things that aren't vacuum sealed (primarily bread) aren't in there long enough to get freezer burn, some ice crystals, but no burn.
Guess it depends on the item and how it is sealed.

[pmillen]

+1

I agree with that assessment.

[Bar-B-Lew]

I have two freezers in my garage, both are auto defrost.
95% of what is in them is vacuum sealed or cryovac.  No freezer burn, no ice crystals.
The things that aren't vacuum sealed (primarily bread) aren't in there long enough to get freezer burn, some ice crystals, but no burn.
Guess it depends on the item and how it is sealed.

Me too.  I have those types of freezers in my garages in Colorado, California, Illinois, and Pennsylvania.  All of them have heat or cold extremes at certain times of the year.  I have had no issues with most of the freezers lasting 10-15 years in the garage.  Seems like an unwarranted concern in my opinion.  I will continue to by what I have been buying the next time I need to replace one of them.

[BigDave83]

If they are thawed under refrigeration you should be good to go just putting them back int he freezer, if you don't want to cook them.

[ICIdaho]

I have two freezers in my garage, both are auto defrost.
95% of what is in them is vacuum sealed or cryovac.  No freezer burn, no ice crystals.
The things that aren't vacuum sealed (primarily bread) aren't in there long enough to get freezer burn, some ice crystals, but no burn.
Guess it depends on the item and how it is sealed.

Me too.  I have those types of freezers in my garages in Colorado, California, Illinois, and Pennsylvania.  All of them have heat or cold extremes at certain times of the year.  I have had no issues with most of the freezers lasting 10-15 years in the garage.  Seems like an unwarranted concern in my opinion.  I will continue to by what I have been buying the next time I need to replace one of them.

Frost free does not mean a freezer is not garage rated, that is just my personal preference.  When you do purchase a new one, most warranties are voided if they are put in a garage without being garage rated.  There is a lot of info on why a garage rating mean on the internet.  This is a relatively new issue with energy efficient freezers and different coolants used and how it all functions in the extremes.   A big part is how much the compressors cycles and wears out in those extreme temps.

[02ebz06]

Garage-Rated is not something I have ever though about, or knew about for that matter.
Been putting freezers in garage for quite a few years with no problems.
Maybe more of an issue with garages that aren't insulated (studs and sheathing showing) than insulated ones.
I've always had insulated garages.
Probably high 40's to low 50's in winter and 80-85 in summer.

I'm pretty sure that is where most freezers end up.  Some in basements I guess.

When I win the lottery, and have a house built, I will have a pantry big enough to have freezers and refrigerators in it.   

[reubenray]

I put up one of the ham's and will smoke the other tomorrow.

This past winter the refrigerator/freezer that is in the garage the freezer would not work when the temperatures got into the 20's.  I moved the food from it to the chest freezer that just went bad.  My other upright freezer had no issues.

[02ebz06]

I put up one of the ham's and will smoke the other tomorrow.

This past winter the refrigerator/freezer that is in the garage the freezer would not work when the temperatures got into the 20's.  I moved the food from it to the chest freezer that just went bad.  My other upright freezer had no issues.

Are you talking garage or outside in the 20's  ?
That is really cold outside for Arkansas isn't it ?
We get down in the 20's only a few days in New Mexico, but garage is still high 40's to low 50's.