Freezing Fruit and Vegetables to Save Money over the Winter

[betsu63]

Hi, just want to encourage anyone with a freezer and a little extra money to freeze fruits and vegetables. I haven't done it in a long while and decided to do it more as a way to ensure that I don't have to eat fruit from China. UGH!!  It will save money though because vegetables especially are very cheap now as compared to winter. Google how to do it on line, but for vegetables basically cut them up, put in boiling water for 2-3 minutes, put in ice cold water for 4-6 minutes. Put in freezer bags and you're done!!!   I grew up eating from the freezer and got away from it. I am wasting money and I don't like the feeling even though I am fortunate to be able to "do it". I don't know why I haven't been doing it before this-no reason why not other than not really thinking about it.

[philomom]

I've got several pints of blackberries frozen for winter now. I love cobblers in the winter.

[Ramzubo]

Yes, this is great to do. We went blueberry picking and froze enough to last until next summer. We paid a ridiculously low price at a local farm. I wish we'd gone early enough to get blackberries and raspberries too.

[Ragana]

Wish we had gone blueberry picking this year! Last year we froze 20 lbs. and ate them all winter. Maybe I'll look around for some tomatoes to freeze. Would I blanch them and remove the skins to freeze? Or puree? I would be using them in sauces.

[betsu63]

From what i have read on US Agricultural sites is that it is not necessary to blanch tomatoes. It is a way to remove the skins though. I guess how you freeze them basically boils down to when you have more time available. You do the work now or later either way. -:)   Sometimes people get a bunch of tomatoes and it is a time crunch to get them processed before they spoil.

[Caneel]

I get the best results by freezing whatever it is on a cookie sheet first (after blanching) before putting into the freezer container.  Spread everything out in a single layer.  It keeps the produce from freezing into a solid mass

[kitchensqueen]

Originally Posted by Caneel 

I get the best results by freezing whatever it is on a cookie sheet first (after blanching) before putting into the freezer container.  Spread everything out in a single layer.  It keeps the produce from freezing into a solid mass

I do it this way too. For berries, I don't even blanch them first and I still get excellent results. We didn't purchase our chest freezer until the end of August (one of the best purchasing decisions we've made) so we missed a lot of great summer produce, but we were still able to freeze two dozen ears of corn, a gallon of hot pepper rings, several pints of blueberries, a small batch of apple pie filling, and a small batch of pesto so far. We're getting 3 pounds of sweet peppers from the farmers market tomorrow to freeze as well, and I'm hoping to get some more late-season berries for the freezer as well, though I might be out of luck this year. 

We've also been able to stock up on meats, freeze some stock (unfortunately not home made yet, but when I open up a big container of beef stock I usually don't use it up before it goes bad, so I freeze the excess in half-cup portions in a muffin tin) and do some freezer dinners. 

Love the freezer. Next summer we plan to do you pick for strawberries, blueberries and cherries and do a lot more corn and veggies - I want to make up my own stir fry mixes - scallions, broccoli, carrot matchsticks and sweet peppers.