Freezing Fresh Veggies

 So I always get a little too excited when I buy my produce. I buy way more than we could ever eat in a week or two then the food goes bad and I have to throw it away. And who wants to waste money? That's what I do every time I throw food away and it pisses me off! So I had an epiphany! Why don't I just freeze them? I used to buy frozen veggies all the time. So that is what I did! Here is how to freeze veggies. This is pretty basic for most vegetables. I for the most part I only buy broccoli, spinach, kale, carrots, cauliflower and corn (my husband is a pretty picky eater) and this is what I do to freeze them!

What you will need: Prepped veggies, Pot to Boil water and Blanch, Bowl of Ice water and freezer bags.

First, you will want to wash and cut your veggies like this.

Then you will want to have a  pot of  water boiling. Now we are going to blanch the veggies. The point of blanching is to cook the veggies just a little bit so they will keep their color and last longer. How you will blanch, is to just drop the veggies in the boiling water for just a few seconds. I would say about 5 seconds. 

After blanching the veggies for a few seconds, you want to take a large spoon or  tongs to  take the veggies out of the boiling water and directly into the bowl of cold water. This will help stop the cooking process. You will notice the broccoli looks cooked but if you were to touch them they are still pretty hard. Keep the veggies in the cold water for about 2 or 3 minutes. Until the veggies aren't warm anymore.



I didn't take a picture of this but after the veggies are cooled, you will want to drain the water from the bowl. Now you will we need to dry them. I just lay them out on the cutting board, take a paper towel and just towel dry them. You want to try and have the least amount of moisture as possible. 

Now that your veggies are dry we will put them in the bags! Depending on the size of your family  will determine the size of bags you will want to use. I use the smallest freezer bag size (like a sandwich size, whatever that size is lol) since there is just two of us. Make sure to label your bags with the date so you know how old they are. You should try to use these with in 6 months. After you have filled your bags with the amount you want and labeled your bags it's time to seal them! If you have a vacuum sealer that is great, but I don't. If you have one of those, use it now. You want to get the air out of the bag to prevent freezer burn. How I get all the air out of them is I stick a plastic straw down to the level of the veggies, seal the bag at the top except for where the straw is, then SUCK! Once I have all the air out I just pull the straw out with my mouth and have my fingers ready to seal the bag shut. It works great! And its so cheap! Ha Ha
(The picture above is before I used the straw to get the air out)

There you have it! Super easy to do and good for multiple reasons. If you are like me and buy more than can possibly   be eaten before it goes bad, or if you want to buy seasonal veggies that wont be out in a few months. You can freeze them and have them months from now and they still taste delicious!

Hope this helps! Have a good day!