I have to use a big stock pot on the stove top when making chili, soups, stews or gumbo. I usually make a 12 quart pot full, sometimes, even larger. I think things like that are much better the second day, and flavor improves aver the next several days. It is wonderful and easy to come home from work, ladle some into a pan and heat it on low. Instant goodness! I also simmer my goods on the stove top all day. I use the crock pot, and love it, but more for things like roasts. I have one soup recipe that I like, that cooks in the crock-pot, and that is a taco soup.
I much prefer the old freezers to the new "energy efficient" models. Old ones would get your ice cream cold and keep it frozen. The newer models don't do that. I have an older chest type, as well as an old upright. I too defrost them, usually twice a year, before adding a hog in the Spring, and the beef in the late Fall. That way, I can inventory what is there, and store the garden harvest. Whatever i have extra on the veggie dept. of, going into late winter, is what goes into the soups that I make! I use the freezer on the side by side for things like over ripe bananas, or dog food that has already been cooked and put up. Those things won't be in there long enough to go through very many defrost cycles. I use the bananas to make Banana Nut Bread.
And you know, if you make a big pot of soup or chili, it can stretch the food budget like some would never believe! I can eat like royalty, including cooking prime rib for Thanksgiving, and still don't spend $50/month, on groceries, on average! Try eating out on less than $50/mo! (I know. Apologies to the purists, but I really don't like turkey, and so it goes to the dogs, and I eat prime rib!)
jinman; Texas chili doesn't have beans! We have meat, so don't need the filler! I like beans, just a bowl of them and some cornbread, but like you, not in my chili!
