5 Easy Tips For Freezing Summer's Bounty.
Summer is the time of abundance: so much variety and quantity, it can almost be overwhelming… and, if you're like me, wasting food weighs heavy on the conscience.
One way to preserve summer's bounty is to employ the use of the trusty freezer - here are some tips and tricks for successful freezing and future enjoyment:
1. Prepare your vegetables:
Freezing often changes the texture of produce: upon freezing, the water in the plant cells expands and bursts the cell wall, leading to squishy, moist vegetables once thawed, which are hard to process.
Chopping, slicing or grating the veggies, blanching for 2-3 minutes, then freezing is a great way to save your future self some effort, plus it avoids the aforementioned mess!
Top tip: courgettes are best when grated and frozen - they have an unappealing spongy, moist texture if chopped/ sliced, frozen and thawed; grating courgette avoids this disappointing consistency.
2. Packaging
Before freezing, divide the produce into portions: trying to grab a handful of frozen tomato is nigh on impossible once it has frozen into a solid block.
However, if you've already packed the vegetables into meal-worthy portions, you're all set to go!
Top tip: use biodegradable resealable bags or zip lock bags to package the produce - this means you don't lose all your containers to the freezer, plus they can be rinsed and reused afterwards!
3. Freezing herbs
Fresh herbs make any dish SO much better… but they can go bad quickly, and if you don't have a dehydrator it can be tricky to preserve them.
Chopping coriander, parsley, dill, and any other herb and freezing them in ice cube trays is the perfect way to have “fresh” herbs, already portioned out, for your winter meals.
Top tip: basil, upon freezing and thawing, turns black and slimy - all in all, it's rather unpleasant!
To make the most out of freezing basil, one should instead make a bulk lot of fresh pesto to freeze in ice cube trays, thus avoiding the disagreeable texture!
4. Avoiding frozen veggie clumps
If you've tried to freeze whole cherry tomatoes or chopped cauliflower florets, you'll know that they bond together once frozen, making it hard to pry apart.
For these kinds of veggies, spreading them out on a baking tray lined with baking paper and popping in the freezer will avoid this.
Once the veggies are frozen, they can be transferred into a zip lock bag, and will remain as individual pieces.
Top tip: write the date on a label or piece of masking tape to stick on the bag/ container, so that future you knows when the produce was frozen.
It's recommended that frozen veggies are consumed within 12 months; over time, the quality will begin to deteriorate.
5. Freezing leftover meals
What better way to save your future self effort than by freezing leftovers - perfect for when you just can't be bothered cooking! Any soup, stew, curry, quiche or casserole is perfect.
Once again, freezing and thawing will change the texture of food to some degree, so don't freeze anything with a strong textural component!
Top tip: you can freeze the meal (where appropriate obviously!) in a zip-lock bag inside a container. Once solid, leave the bag and its contents in the freezer, but now you have your container back!
This also means your meal is frozen in a convenient block, meaning it shouldn't take up an awkward amount of freezer space.