Freeze fresh fruit/veg?

black-saturn

My dad grows a lot of vegetables and fruit which they freeze so it lasts all year. My mum just chops them up, puts them in a plastic bag and freezes them. She used to blanche them all for 1 minute but doesn't bother with that anymore.

Curry_Queen

Ooooh that's interesting! Do they still come out ok? I've never understood this blanching business, and I'm sure my mum never bothered when she froze home grown veggies but every site I've looked at, as well as past advice on the forum, says you should blanch them first

I wouldn't be freezing them long term anyway and they'd probably be used up within a week or two, but I don't want to just leave them in the fridge and find they've gone off or are past their best have to throw 'em out :eek:

The problem is that we're going to struggle to eat the "leafy" stuff fast enough - i.e. chard, landcress, pak choi etc - as I assume none of these are freezable, although I could make a pesto with the landcress so that's ok, and I already had plans to use the pak choi in a salmon dish, but that won't be until Monday/Tuesday at the earliest, and I don't have a clue what to do with the chard LOL!

If I hadn't been struck down with this damned flu bug I'd have been far more organised

black-saturn

Curry_Queen wrote:

The problem is that we're going to struggle to eat the "leafy" stuff fast enough - i.e. chard, landcress, pak choi etc - as I assume none of these are freezable (

My mum freezes all those kind of things by just rinsing them, cutting them up and putting them in a freezer bag. I eat their frozen veges and they always taste OK to me.

Curry_Queen

That's really useful to know, thanks! I've fed some to my dragons but even they can only eat so much LOL!

I'll give it a go then as there's no way we can eat it all within the next few days, and they're only likely to get added to stir-frys or whatever so I'm sure they'll be just fine

I'd rather freeze them fresh while they have all their vitamins in them than leave them to wilt and go yellow

squeaky

Curry_Queen wrote:

..and taken off the big leaves and hairy bits from the corn cobs - they arrived cut straight from the field by the looks of it! Am I right in thinking they will last a week or so still wrapped in their sheaths? Although I do know the sugars can turn to starch if you store them too long

I don't think I've ever had mine for more than a week uneaten They came attached to chunky stalks and in all their greenery too. I certainly never noticed any change in them in a week - very yummy and a big favourite.

Curry_Queen

squeaky wrote:

I don't think I've ever had mine for more than a week uneaten They came attached to chunky stalks and in all their greenery too. I certainly never noticed any change in them in a week - very yummy and a big favourite.

Well we only just had corn cobs for dinner the other night and I wasn't expecting these so hadn't planned for them so soon again! ... this is the beauty of organic boxes as you never know what you'll get LOL!

The latter were ready trimmed Tesco efforts though (albeit "organic") so I had great delight in showing DS what they look like from the field when these arrived

Unfortunately he's too young to remember our days on the farm where I used to keep my horses, where we had an abundance of fresh sweetcorn amongst other crops, not to mention the freshly caught rabbits etc

vickym

Hello can anyone please help me - I am relatively new to freezing items - and have just been reading on this forum about freezing bananas - Wow What a great idea - shall be doing this today.

But can anyone tell me - can you freeze other vegetables - onions, brocolli, carrots, cabbage, - and if you can freeze them ( which I suppose you can as Birds eye do) - then before freezing do I need to cook them or just freeze them raw.

I already have started freezing my half boiled potatoes - and find these great for just popping out of the freezer and into the oven for roast potatoes.

Any help with the other vegetables would be most appreciated
Thanks

comping_cat

I normally freeze my potatoes, and hard veggies like carrots or swede cooked (or half cooked) but things like broccoli or cauliflower, i wash and freeze raw. I have frozen it cooked as well, but find the softer veg goes very soggy if it has been cooked before hand, although it is still edible!

ladygrey_2

there are some great tips on freezing veggies here

vickym

thanks catowen and ladygrey - I will give freexzing my cauli's etc raw - the link in your message ladygrey - comes up with page not found - thanks anyway