A chest freezer buys you extra space and is better at handling longer-term storage. Whether a chest freezer is right for your needs depends on how big your fridge’s freezer compartment is and how much freezer space you realistically need for your family.

Having a big freezer means you can freeze more food for later use, including fruits, vegetables, meats, poultry, fish and baked goods. Whether you have garden full of fruit and veggies, backyard fruit trees or you want to stock up on sale items, warehouse packs of meats or you are making big batches of soups and stews to save time on future dinners, freezing is a quick and easy choice for storing food.