does your health department require you to have nsf certified refrigeration?

NO they don’t

Thanks for the input.

So what you are saying is that my $50 freezer idea will suffer the same issues as a very expensive prep table??

Nice.

The freezer thing is just an experiment. And I still haven’t made it that far to test it yet.

I could “possibly” line the outer edges of the pans with some solid pink insulation.

That might help with the freezer burn.

A small circulation fan on the inside would be helpful as well.

Because I was not really using it so much as a freezer.

Someone mentioned putting either ice packs or water filled bottles to take up some mass and help regulate the temps.

Up here in the great white north, used equipment is hard to come by for a good price.

Small market, high shipping costs….

10 year old 4 ft prep table STILL fetch $1000 – $1500.  NO joke.

New ones are 4000.

This is why I shop across the boarder when ever I can.

Auctions are even worse.

I keep going to them, but people are SO STUPID.

Seriously…

They all think they are celebrates.

 Half of them are walking around a noisy busy auction yakking on the phone like this…

Jerks.

You don’t get to test anything before you buy it.

And they usually pay about the same – and often more – than you can buy it for in the local used market.

Plus you pay, sales tax, AND auctioneers fees.

The last auction I was at they had a food warmer.

I wanted one.

New ones here start at $400, at the local wholesaler.

Or $600 if you go to the restaurant supply store.

The one at the auction was clearly old, dented beat up, dirty as f—.

Not tested or plugged in.

And it still sold for $160, plus 14% taxes, plus 5% auctioneers fee.  WTF?

These people are so stupid.

I  found them on amazon. for under $100. Ordered 2.

Delivered to my depot and picked up on a USA trip.

If and when, I get a prep table, it will probably be out of the USA.

Unless I get super lucky.

I am always looking.

Thanks guys.

I’m pretty sure the freezer I have there does have a thermostat.

This was just a test unit to see if I could make this happen.

Until I actually had the freezer in front of me, I was not sure how I might do it.

I first had the thought that I may have to cut the top or something.

But it actually worked out really good.

I will continue to mock it up and then test.

Assuming that the unit does work like the guy said it does.

If it all works in the end, then I would purchase a brand new unit.

Costco has them for $200.  

No doubt the new ones have better insulation and more efficient cooling systems than this 30 year old thing.

Almost positive I saw a thermostat on the new one.

I have to make sure that the support strips in between the pans are strong enough to hold the weight of full pans as well.

This is my experiment.

I got a hold of this small freezer the other day for free.

I want to see if it can be used as a sort of poor man’s prep table.

A real prep table would be great.

But they are over 2 grand even for a used one around these parts.

A new one is around 5 ish.

I’m hoping that by putting pans in the the top that it will work in the same way a prep table does.

I mean, I’m going to test it.

But I’m just curious …. Is this insane or what?

Try using a few jugs of frozen water. The closer to the bottom of the pans, the better (wire basket??).   This should help keep the pans colder and reduce recovery time; as well as keeping the temperature below required maximum.  And keep food cold during transport when the freezer might be (could be) off.

For during transport, I will keep cold stuff in the fridge.

Possibly wiring in an inverter to keep the fridge going on if there are longer trips.

I was kind of thinking along the same lines as far as keeping it colder longer.

I was thinking that layer one should be a deep pan.

Then a layer of ice packs.  I have a TON of these.

Then the pan with the stuff I am serving. And a lid.

I might have to set it all down a little lower.

This will be determined once I get some more pans to play with.

I could also keep water jugs in the bottom of the freezer.

This way maybe I can keep the freezer turned off for a while and converse some power.

I guess that will be a trial and error thing.

Check out this, it works. I turned my chest freezers into coolers.

https://www.amazon.com/Inkbird-Itc-308-Temperature-Controller-Thermostat/dp/B011296704/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?ie=UTF8&qid=1508899544&sr=8-1-spons&keywords=inkbird+itc-308&psc=1 https://www.amazon.com/Inkbird-Itc-308-Temperature-Controller-Thermostat/dp/B011296704/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?ie=UTF8&qid=1508899544&sr=8-1-spons&keywords=inkbird+itc-308&psc=1

Nice, will have to get one of these!