Freezing fresh veg?

Marlowes_mum

This is my first ever post :-) - long time lurker though.

I know it's been covered before, but I can't find anything (typical!)

I bought veg at the weekend as Dad was supposed to be down tomorrow for ten days. He's now not coming, so I've got loads of veg that I'm unlikely to use, but keen not to waste. Can I cook it and freeze? Do I cook it as normal (boil in pan, with salt) then just cool, portion and freeze? Do I cook it until I'd normally eat it or "under"? When it comes to eating it, do I just defrost and heat (in pan with water again?)

I've got a bag of sprouts, a medium cauli, some leeks, and carrots.

Sorry for the questions....thank you for any advice!

worn_out_mum

I've never frozen sprouts but I have frozen carrots leeks and cauliflower, I just chop them up and freeze them raw. Then I cook them from frozen, it just takes a bit longer. My cauliflower seems to take on a bit of a brownish grey tinge when frozen but it's white again by the time it's cooked. A lot of my old school cookbooks (1960's books my grandmother has given me) give different blanching times for freezing veg but I've never tried it personally. I'm sure someone will be along shortly with better advice.

Farway

You could just bung it all in as a soup, whizzed up and then frozen in portions

But all the veg mentioned will keep for ages if kept cool, so no need to panic

Marlowes_mum

Thanks both, I might just experiment with a bit of each and see what happens! Any disasters can be fed to the dogs, they eat anything.

Farway I hate soup unfortunately, so not an option....I'll go for the keeping cool and not panicking advice though, thank you....shouldn't need to buy veg for a good month!

:-)

Linda32

Cut all of them into peices as you would for cooking. Then put them all in seperate bags and pop in the freezer. Then you will have bags of veg as if you had bought them from the shop. Just cook however you would normally.

jackyann

In principle, you 'blanche' fresh veg (cook briefly in boiling water) to stop the enzymes that cause deterioration, then freeze. You can look up the times on any decent cookery website. This tends to be done by people who grow a lot of their own, or buy in bulk.

Most domestic cooks, freezing smallish portions just prepare, bung in the freezer and eat within a month or so.

I might, if I had time, make a veggie curry, leek soup or something instead.

Blackbeard_of_Perranporth

Blanche them in boiling water, drain in a colander, cool. Then freeze. Simple.

System

Ive got a bag of sprouts in my freezer that i bought fresh a couple of weeks ago. I bought the bag but no one else will eat them so i just cook a few at a time. I dont blanch them as they will probably be gone within a month and they taste fine.

Obviously i prepare them first. Just pop a handful in small bags.