Freezers have become indispensable in many households for storing frozen food. This requires temperatures below -18 °C, i.e., a so-called 3- or 4-star freezer compartment (each star represents a lower temperature of 6 K). Under these conditions, food can be stored for many weeks.

The energy consumption of freezers is determined in a similar way to refrigerators in the laboratory. In addition, it is measured how much mass of food can be frozen within 12 h. The freezing time should be as short as possible in order to preserve the quality of the food (see also blast freezing).