Cheap blueberries? What would you do?

[eloise24]

So I found blueberries for 99 cents a pint today. To me that seems like a HUGE steal, as in the "big stores" they are usually never cheaper than $2.50.

Do you consider that cheap and if you do, how much would you buy? And then what to do with them? Just freeze them all for future use? Anyone ever tried dehydrating them?

Thanks!

[Alyantavid]

That is cheap! I would buy a large amount and freeze them.

[zonapellucida]

Freezing seems the best (easiest ) route

[kirstenb]

I usually just freeze them because DS loves to eat them right from the freezer.

I make pancakes a lot to freeze for later- you could always make and freeze blueberry pancakes.

[mamadelbosque]

I goto Pick Your Own places for blueberries & strawberries, and I freeze TONS of them. I just rinse them off and freeze on cookie sheets then stick them in quart ziplock bags so I can pull them out to make muffins, pies, smoothies, or just to munch on

[cristeen]

Blueberries are SOOOO easy to freeze! I'd definitely buy them. I just pop them in the freezer still in the clamshells. Wait until they're frozen, and then pop open the containers and pour into a bag.

I freeze blueberries every summer - for yogurt, custards, muffins, pancakes, or even eating still frozen.

[delicious]

yeah, i would buy a ton and freeze em. we eat them frozen, and also use frozen ones when making pancakes or muffins or in ds1's oatmeal. he loves blueberries and would probably eat them exclusively if they were in season all year!

[eloise24]

So would I be crazy to buy $10 worth?

[vulnerable]

I just found a similar deal and bought 15 pints worth. I made them into muffins, pancakes, blueberry sauce for ice cream and over top of pancakes. I froze the rest. In fact I just pulled a few pints out yesterday to make a cobbler. So easy to freeze, I don't even wash them until I am ready to use them, otherwise they stick together. They are even great frozen.

[ZanZansMommy]

Originally Posted by mamadelbosque

I goto Pick Your Own places for blueberries & strawberries, and I freeze TONS of them. I just rinse them off and freeze on cookie sheets then stick them in quart ziplock bags so I can pull them out to make muffins, pies, smoothies, or just to munch on

Ditto!

[Llyra]

I'm envious. I just found them at the Farmer's market for $1.25 a pint and I thought I was getting a bargain. I bought 12 pints, and I would have bought twice that but I couldn't carry any more and still have a hand for DD1 crossing the street.

I agree that freezing them is a cinch. If you're ambitious, too, you could attempt jam. I love blueberry jam.

[JustVanessa]

I just bought them the other day for $3 for 2lb (I don't know what that is in pints). We ate them straight, with whipped cream, I made muffins, pancakes, granola bars, and jam.

[MsVyky]

I just bought a 4 pound clamshell for 10 dollars- I'm freezing them for pancakes, sauces, smoothies, etc.

I might try my hand at canning this year, so maybe even jam?

[SunshineJ]

I was telling DH that there must have been a fantastic bumper crop of blueberries this year. Our family is in heaven! We've been finding them for around $3.50 per 2lb container. I got some into the freezer (maybe 2-3 lbs) before they were eaten, and just picked up 4 more containers this week when they went on sale again. We're down to 2.5 containers.

I keep them frozen for waffles. I was also thinking about making several jars of pie filling to keep on hand for blueberry pies, cobblers, ice cream toppings, etc. I make jams every year and am trying to find out if I could safely use the same process for the filling, but haven't found any reason why not.

[Ellp]

We have blueberry farms all over where I am. The ready picked ones go for $15 for a 10lb flat. They're less if you go and pick them yourself but currently we're in a heat wave of 35C+ for the past week, so you'd have to be pretty desperate to try to save a few dimes.

This year I bought 10lbs worth to freeze. I would get more but I only have the freezer thats attached to my fridge. A few friends of ours who have chest freezers buy over 100lbs and 200lbs each year.

[Jyotsna]

My sweet daughter just brought me 6 - 8 QUARTS of fresh picked blueberries (last week) and I froze about 5 lbs (we love them in smoothies, muffins and pancakes) and I made blueberry peach jam with the rest! The jam is like a slice of heaven, really the best blueberry jam I have tasted. We shared some of the blueberries with friends and they couldn't believe the aroma and flavor. Yes, definately a bumper crop on all the berries (don't forget blackberries...make great wine). I'd buy as much as you have room and money for. Definately will have fond memories this winter when we pop out the jam!

It was very easy to do, and you really don't need much to do water bath canning. I just did figs (I'm picking a ton this Wednesday and will be canning apple fig preserves all week and weekend afterwards!