Freezer size and meat quality

I'm considering buying meat in bulk instead of weekly at the grocery store, it's for my family of 4. Does anyone know which size would be best for a quarter of half a beef?

I'm also not sure about the quality of the meat when it's frozen. When buying in bulk it will be frozen and I assume it will be professionally (very fast) frozen. When I freeze meat myself the quality goes down quite a bit after thawing it, even if it has been frozen for only a few weeks. I think this is because my freezer is freezing everything at a slower pace?

My experience has been that buying sides of beef and pork is a gamble.   Sometimes it has been excellent, and other times the dogs have eaten more than I have. I tend to raise my own meat.  When I do buy, I favor a grocery store over bulk when looking for quality ( comparing the two choices you provided). My primary option to growing my own is to go to a butcher I know and trust.

I have an 16 ft chest that appears to be adequate.  I am undecided on frostless ves manual defrost.

It's always best to have a bit more freezer space rather than less, as it can be tricky to fit everything back in together when the freezer is packed full. I have 200 litres (7 cubic feet?) and that is enough for 1/4 of a large beef, plus a few other bits and pieces. This size freezer could fit half a large beef, but it would be a struggle to pack everything back in after rearranging.

A trick I have for better freezing quality is to alternate layers of already frozen stuff with layers of raw stuff that I want to freeze - e.g. if i have some frozen pork roasts in there and am freezing beef, I'll put a layer of beef, then a layer of pork, another layer of beef, and this helps to avoid freezing a massive slab of meat in one piece.

Beef mince/ground beef and sausages seem to be the slowest to freeze, so putting these in a few different places helps them to freeze faster than if they'd been all in one piece.

If you're thinking about meat quality over time, I strongly prefer a manual defrost freezer. Food doesn't go through repeated defrost cycles, so it stays nicer longer. And while doing a manual defrost is a task, it also gives me a chance to find anything that's gotten lost in there.

Thanks for you answers, I'll go do some shopping around. I can't raise my own meat, but I know some people around here that do this and probably will sell to me.

I don't know what difference the rate of freezing makes, but the number one thing I have found for preserving quality when freezing is for the meat (or whatever) to be completely surrounded by water. Most sides of beef here would be sold wrapped in freezer paper. I never use freezer paper for this reason. If the meat is completely encapsulated in ice, it's completely sealed so nothing (especially water) can sublimate while frozen. I've had venison get lost in the freezer for a few years at least that was still as good as the day it was frozen. Often, due to handling the bags will get hit after frozen and a tiny hole will be made. In a piece a year or more old, you will see where the freezer burn happens around the tiny hole if the ice is thin there. The small bit can simply be trimmed off and the rest of the meat will be just fine.

Daniel said, " When I freeze meat myself the quality goes down quite a bit after thawing it, even if it has been frozen for only a few weeks.

I would suggest investing in a Food Saver or a similar product.

I have found that the quality of my frozen meats are so much better than when using freezer paper or zip lock bags.