During this time of year its hard to get produce without breaking the bank. One thing that we have done to help keep us on budget is buy produce during prime seasons and freezing. We do this with fiddle heads (that hubby picks), squash, blueberries, strawberries, and apples. Another thing that I do is when I go grocery shopping early in the morning I find lots of produce on the 50% off rack. I stock my chart up with green peppers, red peppers, mushrooms, and any other fruits that are not too rotten. When I come home I wash them up, cut into chunks, and freeze in a single layer on a cookie sheet.
Once these are frozen 3-4 hours after wards I bag them up in freezer bags and place them in the pizza topping basket in the freezer.
I love to have frozen produce in the freezer. Although you can't use this stuff for salads or veggie sticks its great cut up in chili, spaghetti sauce, casseroles and fried up on pizza.
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I do that to. I also chop up onion & celery. Ready to cook with.
ReplyDeleteI plan to do more of this this summer
ReplyDeleteI do this too. Bananas, green peppers and apples are what I find marked down the most. I freeze whatever we can't use right away. We've eaten a lot of grapefruit in the last few weeks since I was able to get it marked down.Yum! Some was even organic!
ReplyDeleteFrozen peppers and onions sure came in handy last week when I wanted to make sausage and peppers for dinner! Not only that, but red peppers are ridiculously expensive, so it's a great idea to stock up when they are cheap.
ReplyDeleteDid you know you can freeze avocadoes? The way it works for me is to peel/seed and mush up 2 of them, add some lime juice (to prevent browning) and put it in a baggie. I label it 'two avocadoes,' and when we're in the mood for guacamole, I've got some on hand--another vegetable/fruit that is usually overpriced!
Apples, though, that's new to me. How do you freeze apples?
i have several soup recipes that call for peppers - this is a great idea! :)
ReplyDeleteThis is a great way to not only preserve the harvest during the summer months, but also prevent waste at other times of the year. I like to freeze extra diced onions and bell peppers for chili. I also freeze lemon juice, rather than letting lemons sit forgotten in the fridge.
ReplyDeleteThis saves us so much money each year. More people should really try it. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteDoes it really work to freeze mushrooms??? Out here in the middle of nowhere, it's rare that there are good fresh ones in the store unless they're on sale. Then, I want to buy a ton and take advantage, but I have trouble getting them used up before they get icky. Do you do anything different to thaw and prepare for use? I'm thinking pizza, mainly. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteI love the pizza topping basket idea! That's a great idea too for the little bits of veggies or meats that are left and not enough for something on their own.
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