Freezing Fruit and Vegetables

This is kind of a cop-out, but when researching methods for freezing vegetables, I came across a link that had everything you need to know about it. Basically, most things can be blanched (quickly boiled for 3 minutes, then immersed in an ice bath to immediately stop the cooking and set the color) and then packed in freezer bags/containers and frozen (after being cooled - which will mostly take place in the ice bath).

I would use this method to take advantage of this week's produce sales on asparagus (Whole Foods) and Zucchini and Mushrooms (Stop and Shop and Shaw's).

Fruit can also be frozen...here's an article on it. Basically, most things are well frozen in a container, and things that go brown are dipped in lemon juice and then frozen. I love using frozen berries and bananas in smoothies. I usually buy my berries frozen, but if they ever go on a sale that's too good to be true, you can bet I'll be stocking up and stocking my freezer with these babies. I break bananas up into 3 pieces, then I put them in a freezer bag. I always re-use this bag and keep it stocked with frozen banana pieces for smoothies or baking.

Frozen veggies and fruits are usually almost always cheaper than fresh, but when fresh occasionally goes on sale cheaper than frozen, I will buy a bunch of fresh and freeze it myself. This is also a great technique for when you just happen to buy too much produce and won't get a chance to use it all up. Ooh, and if you have a garden, and just have way too much (you could give it away to friends - like generous people do - but screw that, I grew it, and I'm keepin' it!) you could use these freezing techniques to have garden fresh veggies all year long. Just freeze it, and take your time using it! Voila!

Frozen Veggies are great: added to soups, stirfries, fritattas and omelets (just steam them quickly - don't add them frozen), stews, and rice/other grains as a side dish.

Frozen Fruit is great for making: fresh ice cream and pancake toppings, muffins, pies, ice cream, smoothies, and snacking on. I love to take a cup of frozen mangoes or cherries and eat them for dessert. Since they're frozen, they take forever to eat, and since it's fruit, it's filling and low calorie.

I hope you find the above 2 links helpful. I will work on developing recipes that use frozen fruit and veggies to share with you!

Ooh, and in case you're wondering about the nutrition of frozen versus fresh, I found this from Elaine Magee, a WebMD Weightloss Clinic:

"Nutritionally speaking, frozen veggies are similar to -- and sometimes better than -- fresh ones. This makes sense, considering that these veggies are usually flash-frozen (which suspends their "aging" and nutrient losses) immediately after being harvested. Frozen veggies were often picked in the peak of their season, too.

I ran a nutritional comparison on both fresh and frozen broccoli florets (uncooked), and the frozen broccoli contained a bit more vitamin A, vitamin B2, vitamin C, and folic acid. A recent government study found no change in amounts of folic acid found in veggies after 12 months of freezing. So don't let nutrition stop you from buying frozen!"

Ooh, and I'll leave you with a recipe I just got in my inbox: Turkey and Spinach Manicotti (you could also use shells and stuff them with this filling). This is a pantry-friendly meal, and contains ingredients on sale in Boston this week. If you're crunched for time and have no sauce, just use 1 1/2 c. pureed canned tomatoes. The flavor won't be exactly the same, but it's just as good in a different way.

7/9 ingredients in this recipe are already in my pantry (stay tuned for my upcoming posts on building your pantries):

-pasta
-romano cheese (that I substitute for parmesan in all recipes - you can too!)
-frozen spinach
-tomatoes (for sauce)
-garlic
-onions
-italian seasoning (make your own with mix of 1 part dried oregano + 2 parts dried basil + 2 parts dried parsley)

*Sorrento ricotta is also on sale $3.49/2 lb. That's a great deal. 1 lb is usually $2.49 at TJs (which would put TJs at $5 for 2 lbs...if the prices beats TJs it's usually a steal. Ricotta can be frozen, too!)

*Turkey (on sale this week at Shaw's - their natural brand is $4.29/lb and S & S - $2.99/lb...it may even be on sale at Whole Foods, but I'm not in the city so I can't check. If anyone knows, please leave it as a comment!)

If you stock up on sale meat, turkey may already be in your freezer pantry, too.

This meal is freezer-friendly, as well.


Goodnight :D