freezing the garden bounty

[flowerseverywhere]

I was reading about dehydrating and I don't think I am going to go that route due to the cost of electricity and the unit itself. I already have a freezer that I run from Sept until June when my produce is used up.

My peppers were pretty soggy when defrosted, but I used them after I fried them. I have never frozen Zukes or yellow squash unless in a recipe. How do you do them? Do you peel and deseed your tomatoes? I normally strain them and make sauce that I freeze.

My berries are doing well, any hints on freezing them?

My garden had tripled in size this year so I am getting ready.

[CathyA]

I've never frozen zuchinni or yellow squash since I think they would be just too mushy.
For tomatoes.........I wash them, dip them in boiling water for 45-60 seconds, then put them in cold water and peel them, core them, cut them into sections and put into freezer containers. Before I put them into containers, I put them all in a big pan/pot and smash them up a bit, so I have enough juice to cover them in the freezer containers. I used to think I had to heat them up before freezing them, but I've heard from alot of people that I don't have to do that step.
Its very easy! And they are great in chili, vegetable soups, stews, etc.

[Simpler at Fifty]

I grate peeled and seeded summer squash and use it in breads or cakes. I drain the water off after it thaws. I freeze 3 cups in a freezer bag and use 2 bags for a recipe of bread (2 loaves). It lays very flat and does not take up much room. I am sure you could do the same with zukes.

[Merski]

I also grated raw zucchini but I salted it and let it drain out a lot of excess water, shaped it into 2 cup rounds and froze them. I was delighted with it! I also froze grated cooked beets and made some salads with them in a lemony vinaigrette. Will try freezing more kale this year...

[iris lily]

DH who is the big veggie gardener here and who likes to put it all up, shreds zuchiinni n the food processer, squeezes moisture out, and then freezes. He later uses it for zuchinni bread. He cans tomatoes, does not freeze them ALTHOUGH we do freeze cherry tomatoes, they are SO EASY to freeze. We use bags and bags of green peppers cut from strips and while they are not firm they are fine in stir fries.

[Merski]

I'm hoping to also buy a pressure canner and can some stuff. With power outages, I'm thinking we'd lose a lot of stuff in the freezer so we won't put all our tomatoes in one basket.

[razz]

i stew fresh tomatoes into meat or salsa sauces then freeze or pressure-can, grate raw zucchini for breads, freeze strawberries, blueberries and raspberries as-is after washing, black cherries without pitting after washing thaw out almost like fresh-picked, beans are both canned and blanched then frozen, squash is steamed, cooled and frozen, sauerkraut is made in late fall and frozen, peppers are slivered and fresh frozen for sauteing and sauces, corn/cauliflower/broccoli are blanched and frozen. We also do dry a fair amount for making delightful sauces and soups later.

[puglogic]

My favorite thing to freeze is the abundance of fresh greens we have each summer (collards, black kale, etc.) We blanch them for about 2 minutes, then squeeze the extra water out and freeze them in 2-cup baggies. Just perfect to thaw out for adding to stir-fries, pasta sauces, soups, etc.

[Gina]

I freeze several things. I grow lots of anahiem type chiles (Numex Joe E. Parker), and fire-roast those - usually at the hottest time of the year- then de-seed, and peel, put into baggies, and freeze. Just love these.

If I have some extra red chiles, I"ll just chop them up in a 1/2" dice and freeze them, unscalded, in plastic bags. Then just shake out what I want into stirfries, sauces, etc.

I also freeze tomatoes. You can just pop whole ones, unpeeled, into plastic bags. These can be tossed into soups and suaces when you need a bit of tomato flavor. But there are skins, which can be fished out. This works well, but the downside is the whole, round tomatoes take up a lot of space. I'm not sure it's worth it.

What I prefer to do with tomatoes is to cut them in half, squeeze out the juice and seeds, toss them into a roasting pan, and roast down at a low temp. When it reaches the desired consistency and is slightly browned, cool, and put into baggies. This tastes absolutely wonderful.

When I've had extra onions, I'll slice, then carmelize them, cool, and bag, and freeze. Excellent in many dishes, and saves time down the road.

[flowerseverywhere]

thanks for all your suggestions. My garden is just starting to produce but I have been experimenting with vegetarian recipes and freezing the meals and it has worked out great. I have made a killer chili, stuffed peppers, veggie lasagna, and several soups which have frozen very well and DH loves too. I have a couple of small containers of beans, rice, onions, onions, tomatoes and peppers that I use for Quesedillas with a little cheese. I find if I get busy nothing is better than pulling something all prepared out of the freezer. And I had a huge strawberry harvest so have some containers of strawberries put up. Blueberries are not far behind.

I love all your ideas too. I never thought of freezing carmelized onions. I like them tossed with pasta and vegetables for a nice light meal. I could freeze the onions and veggies then cook the pasta and toss together. And roasted vegetables I never thought of. They would be great as well. Again tossed with pasta would make a great pasta dish. Of course, my next thing is to make my own pasta as I make more and more of our food from basic ingredients instead of buying it prepared.

I need to figure out freezing pizza, or maybe freezing the veggie toppings and just making fresh crust and sprinkling cheese on top would work the best. I guess if I roasted some peppers, onions, mushrooms and tomatoes and bagged them together that would make a great pizza topping. I'll have to experiment before my huge gardens are in full swing.

Do you think it would work if I made stuffed zucchini, cooked then froze them? I am not sure of the texture but I think I am going to give it a try.

[Merski]

Ugh! Don't freeze cooked stuffed zucchini-I tried it and IMHO it was a watery mess!