Our Nutrition and Wellness educator, Donna Falconnier, gave this advice: "A chest freezer will keep food a little longer/better than an upright because you lose more cold air every time you open the door of an upright. Self defrosting will also take slightly less time than manual defrosting because of the ups and down temperatures of the cycles. How much I am not sure there is adequate research data to determine but I would put a guess at maybe 10-20% less. The most important factor in keeping quality is that the freezer be held at 0 degrees F. Other factors that also determine food quality/keeping time is the quality of the food at the time of freezing and proper packaging. Unless you will be using the frozen food in a month or two, packages should be wrapped using airtight heavy-duty foil, (freezer) plastic wrap or freezer paper, or rigid freezer containers. Food with higher fat content will become rancid much quicker than lower fat items example: sausage vs. whole turkey. Overall for longer, higher quality storage a chest freezer is the better option. Whether it is manual or self defrosting should more than likely be decided on cost and convenience."
