Before you order
This is the question that stops most people, and most answers to it are guesswork. So here is ours worked out from five real orders off our own books, and an honest account of what we do when the freezer is too small.
Where these numbers come from. The chart is ours, off our own order forms, and it is what a Food Planner works from on a call. It is a guide rather than a guarantee. How you pack it, and whether you are storing flat one-pound packs or whole turkeys, moves it either way. Nobody should buy a freezer off a web page: tell us what you already have and we will size the order to it.
This is our own chart, the one that has been on the back of our paper order forms for years. It comes from four decades of actually loading these orders into freezers, not from a formula.
| Household | Taken in two deliveries | All at once |
|---|---|---|
| 1–2 people | 7–10 cu ft | |
| 2–4 people | 7 cu ft | 12 cu ft |
| 3–5 people | 10–12 cu ft | 15+ cu ft |
| 4–6 people | 15 cu ft | 20–22 cu ft, or a 15 and a 7 |
| 5+ people | 22 cu ft, or a 15 and a 7 | |
Read the two columns before you go freezer shopping. Splitting a 4–6 person order across two deliveries drops what you need from about 21 cubic feet to 15. For a household of 2–4 it is the difference between 12 and 7. Taking the order in two parts costs nothing extra, and for a lot of families it is the whole answer.
Our orders come in two shapes: frozen only, or a combination that adds brand-name pantry items. Soups, pasta, cereal, baking staples, foil and freezer bags, the things you already buy.
The two shapes are paired. A combination order carries the same frozen list as the frozen-only order of the same size, with the pantry goods on top. So the freezer requirement in the table above is the same either way. Dry goods go in the cupboard, not the freezer. If you assumed the bigger combination order needs a bigger freezer, it does not.
If you would rather think in pounds than cubic feet, here are the same five orders we publish item by item, with the meat added up.
| Weekly | Meat | Deliveries |
|---|---|---|
| $30.82 | 98 lb | One |
| $62.46 | 187 lb | One |
| $117.70 | 299 lb | Two |
| $88.57 | 389 lb | Two |
| $158.45 | 457 lb | Two |
The three largest are all split across two deliveries, which is how those households manage them without a warehouse.
The freezer on top of a standard fridge is usually somewhere around 4 to 6 cubic feet, and it is never empty when you start. That is the honest reason a large family order and a fridge-freezer do not go together, and why nobody should promise you otherwise.
A 10 cubic foot chest freezer is about the size of a small chest of drawers laid on its side. An upright of around 20 cubic feet takes roughly the footprint of a narrow fridge. Both go in a basement, a garage or a utility room, and both hold a full family order with room left.
All three are normal, and your Food Planner will ask before the order is finalized rather than after.
Tell us the size and roughly what is already in it, and the plan is built around that number. A smaller order is not a lesser order. The $30.82 example above is a real household on a real twelve-month plan.
You take part of the order now and the rest on a later run, off the same order at the same locked pricing. Both of our largest examples do exactly this. It is the most common answer.
We sell chest and upright freezers at what we pay for them and deliver them on the same trip as the food. There is no markup on it. It is not a profit line for us, it is how we make the order fit.
Flat and stacked beats loose every time. Ground beef in one-pound packs lies flat and stacks like bricks, which is a large part of why it is the single biggest line on most orders. Keep what you reach for weekly at the top or in the basket, and put roasts and turkeys at the bottom where they will sit for months.
We package with stacking in mind, and pack sizes are yours to choose. If two-pound packs suit your household better than one, say so and that is how it is cut.
It depends on the size of the order and whether you take it in one delivery or two. Our own chart runs from 7 to 10 cubic feet for a one or two person household up to 22 cubic feet for a household of five or more taken all at once. Splitting the order across two deliveries cuts that a long way: a four to six person order needs about 21 cubic feet at once, or 15 if it comes in two parts. A typical fridge-freezer holds around 4 to 6 cubic feet in total and is never empty, so most orders need more than that.
There are three answers and all of them are normal. We build the order to the freezer you already own. Or we split it into two deliveries, which for most household sizes cuts the space needed by a third or more and costs nothing extra. Or we supply a chest or upright freezer at our cost, delivered with your order. Tell your Food Planner what you are working with before the order is finalized.
No. A combination order carries the same frozen list as the frozen-only order of the same size, and adds brand-name pantry items on top. Those go in the cupboard, not the freezer, so the freezer requirement is the same either way.
No. We sell chest and upright freezers at what we pay for them, and deliver them on the same trip as your food. It is not a profit line for us, it is how we make sure the order fits.
Flat and stacked beats loose every time. Ground beef in one pound packs lies flat and stacks like bricks. Keep what you use weekly at the top or in the basket, and put roasts and turkeys at the bottom. We package with stacking in mind, and you can tell your Food Planner the pack sizes that suit how you cook.
Take the two-minute survey and we will draft a plan, or book a free consult and we will size it around your freezer before anything is ordered. No obligation, no payment information.
Take the 2-Minute Survey What happens at a consult