How to Freeze Fruits and Vegetables

Freezing fruits and vegetables is super simple, as long as you take a few steps to make sure you don’t have gray mushy produce.  For both fruits and vegetables, make sure you get heavy duty freezer bags.  It’s an extra cost you won’t regret.  Also, make sure you remove as much of the air as possible when you zip or seal the bags up. Freezing fruits and vegetables now to enjoy later in the year is a great way to cut costs in your grocery budget.

When it comes to freezing, fruits are easiest–and by easiest, I mean quickest.   Wash and dry all of the fruit. For delicate fruits, like raspberries and strawberries, lay them out flat on a cookie sheet and freeze them {I like to do this with most fruits, just because I find they don’t stick in one big clump in the freezer bag that way}.  Then, when they are individually frozen, move them to a freezer bag.

For fruits that brown easily, like peaches or apples, use an ascorbic acid powder.  You can also use crushed up vitamin c tablets or use a water and lemon juice bath.  Just slice the fruit, treat the slices per the instructions on the ascorbic acid, and then go about the freezing process.

Vegetables require a little more effort.  To maintain their color and texture, most veggies need to be blanched first {though you can skip this step on some veggies, see the chart below for which ones}.  Blanching is basically giving them a quick dip in boiling water.  The blanching time for each vegetable is important, because the goal is NOT to cook them.  Cooked, frozen veggies equals mushy paste in your mouth.  After you blanch your vegetables, you want to immediately plunge them into an ice water bath.

Vegetables continue cooking after you remove them from the boiling water, the ice water bath will stop the cooking process.  This whole process is called blanching and shocking.  After the ice bath, lay veggies flat on a kitchen towel and gently pat them dry.  Again, I like to freeze the vegetables on a cookie sheet before I put them in bags to prevent clumpage, but it’s up to you.  Also, it’s best to go ahead and freeze the veggie exactly how you plan to eat it, i.e. sliced, diced, shredded, etc.

Here’s a handy dandy little chart to guide you with your blanching times:

Vegetable	Blanching Time {minutes}	Can Be Frozen Without Blanching
Artichoke Hearts	7	No
Artichoke  – Jerusalem	3-5	No
Asparagus	2-4	No
Beans – Snap, Green, Wax	3	Yes
Beans – Lima, Butter, Pinto	2-4	No
Beets	Cook Completely	No
Broccoli	3	Yes
Brussels Sprouts	3-5	No
Cabbage or Chinese Cabbage {shredded}	1 1/2	Yes
Carrots {diced or sliced}	2	No
Cauliflower	3	No
Celery	3	No
Corn off the Cob	4	No
Corn on the Cob	7-11	Yes
Eggplant	4	No
Greens	2-3	No
Onions {Rings}	10-15 seconds	Yes
Peas – Edible Pod	1 1/2-3	No
Peas – Green	1 1/2	No
Peppers {strips or rings}	2	Yes
Pumpkin	Cook Completely	No
Rutabagas	3	No
Soybeans	5	No
Summer Squash	3	Yes
Winter Squash	Cook Completely	No
Sweet Potatoes	Cook Completely	No
Turnips or Parsnips {cubed}	2	No