We have two freezers. An upright and a chest freezer. The chest freezer was $65 and the upright was free when my parents downsized to an apartment.

We use the chest freezer when we buy in on a cow or other big windfall of food. Otherwise we cram everything in the upright because it is easier to find what your looking for.

We buy basic ingredients in bulk like ham, butter, vegies meat etc. This really saves on last minute trips to the store because we are out of something. Gas savings alone makes up for the electricity used by the freezer since the trip to the store takes a gallon of gas at $3 plus.

I monitor the grocery store flyers and know the average price for things we use all the time so when something actually goes on sale we can stock up. Frozen veggies, frozen pizzas and other things go on sale on a routine basis. IE: pizzas go on sale every 6 weeks. We grab the overstock meat sales also.

Where we really see savings is when nobody wants to cook. Getting pizza delivered runs about $42 for 4 people. Going out costs anywhere from $40 to $100 depending on where you go. So we keep a stack of better frozen pizzas and a bag of bulk chicken wings on hand. Buffalo wings and pizza costs far less at home and no gas costs.