I am getting down to the end of things I froze last summer. My 3 best and most used veggies that I froze last fall are:
#1 tons of slow roasted tomatoes (peel off skins after roasting, freeze pieces on sheet pans then pack in containers. Wonderful to have and I never bought even one can of tomatoes all winter. Can’t have too many of these.
#2 corn - cooked and off the cob into ziplocks - still have 2 pkgs left (out of about 20)
and #3 - roasted, peeled poblanos, laid flat to freeze then packed in layers.
What didn’t get used - froze too many strawberries. Prob bc they are easy to freeze but the texture after freezing isn’t great. Good for smoothies only.
And parsley, chopped and rolled in ziplocks. Very handy and I used it all up too quickly. So easy to grab that already chopped and cleaned parsley.
What are your fav things to freeze for those long winter months?
(Apologies for format. Can’t seem to correct bold and large font in the middle?)
I haven’t had gardening space in many years. I freeze all colors of diced bell peppers (freeze on a cookie sheet then bag) when they are inexpensive. They do great in chili and creole sauce in the winter. I freeze the cobs of corn for winter chowder stock. Blackberries and raspberries are frozen for pies and cobblers.
I freeze tons of my produce, but find myself now with more than a dozen ziplocs of tomato purée from last year. Somehow I just do not use it. I like fresh tomatoes but rarely make anything that requires canned tomatoes.
Green beans, kale/chard/spinach, blueberries, and peppers are the things I find myself freezing most commonly. Everything else pretty much gets eaten right away, except the cucumbers that end up as pickles. The parsley and other herbs ideas are good–it drives me nuts to have to buy herbs in the winter.
I froze uncooked corn off the cob one year and it just did not work, tossed it all.
I microwave 3 ears at a time (in their husks) then cut off the kernals and freeze. We just had some the other night so it’s at the end of its freezer span & it was delicious! I think freezing uncooked vegetables can be a problem.
Odd that freezing uncooked corn doesn’t work for you - it is great for us.
I freeze chopped herbs in ice cube trays, mixed with a little water. I do the same with pesto (minus the water, of course). That gives me “single serving” amounts to add to sauce or pasta.
The only thing I do is fresh beans and peas.
Specifically pinto beans, and black-eyes, purple hulls and cream peas.
I love them all winter long.
Green beans, blanched and shocked. Chard same. Found out that cooked, sliced beets actually turn out nicely after being frozen. Roasted sweet peppers, sliced hot peppers. Cooked b-nut squash. Tomatoes in many forms: ketchup, roasted, whole, sauce. Chili sauce.
Same here. My favorite item to freeze. Last year I froze corn on the cob and it worked out. We used them quickly, though.
It might be that if you use it up quickly, there wouldn’t be any deterioration. I believe it is the ongoing enzyme action which is stopped by a brief cooking.
