Frozen Veggies: How To Freeze Fresh Vegetables

If your household is anything like ours, you’re elbow-deep in vegetables from your garden right about now. And if you have more fresh produce than you know what to do with, it’s important to store them correctly.

WHY FROZEN VEGGIES?

Frozen vegetables help busy families quickly store excess fresh vegetables to use later. These days, many of us feel worried about securing our family’s food supply.

Freezing vegetables from your garden helps make it easy to add a vegetable side dish to a roast chicken, steak, or pork dinner. However, sometimes I freeze vegetables when I just don’t have time to can or preserve them right away. Or I’ll make a quick batch of pickled vegetables to slide into the fridge.

WHICH VEGETABLES AND FRUITS TO FREEZE AS-IS?

Some of the vegetables and fruits to freeze without any special preparation include most varieties of berries. They are some of the easiest fruits to freeze.

Freeze them whole and separate them on cookie sheets. Once completely frozen, store them in one-cup or two-cup portions in freezer bags. And then pour your frozen veggies or fruit out as needed to top oatmeal, make smoothies, or bake a pie.

HOW TO FREEZE BROCCOLI

Several friends have asked me about freezing broccoli. I simply rinse it, chop it, and blanch it. And then I portion the florets separately from the stems. I do keep the stems because we like them in stir-fries.

Yes, you can freeze potatoes if you peel and grate them first. I also freeze cooked mashed potatoes as the topping to my shepherd’s pie recipe.

CAN I FREEZE POTATOES?

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