Here are the questions asked by community members. Read on to see the answers provided by the ThriftyFun community.
I want to vacuum pack vegetables without cooking them. Can you freeze vegetables without cooking them?
By Joan
Except for veggies like peppers and onions they need to be blanched. The reason is to keep their fresh color but, most importantly, to stop the enzymes that break down the quality and nutrients of the food. Here's some info I shared a few weeks ago:
Vegetable Water Blanching Timetable
There have been a lot of requests for blanching veggies as of late so here's an easy timetable to follow. Be sure to check tenderness part way into the blanching guide times because freshness and size of vegetables vary and can affect how long they truly need to blanch.
Be sure to give the veggies an immediate ice water bath after the blanching to stop the cooking process. Pat veggies dry if you are going to be freezing them and remove as much air from the freezer bag as possible because both help to reduce freezer burn.
Artichoke Hearts, Globe: 7 minutes
Artichoke Whole, Globe: 10 minutes
Artichoke Whole, Jerusalem: 3 to 5 minutes
Asparagus: Small Stalk - 2 minutes, Medium Stalk - 3 minutes, Large Stalk - 4 minutes
Beans: Snap, Green or Wax - 3 minutes
Beans: Lima, Butter, or Pinto - Small - 2 minutes, Medium - 3 minutes, Large - 4 minutes
Beets: Cook until tender
Broccoli, Florets and Stems: 1 1/2 inch pieces - 3 Minutes
Brussels Sprouts, Heads: Small - 3 minutes, Medium - 4 minutes, Large - 5 minutes
Cabbage or Chinese Cabbage: Coarsely Shredded, thin wedges or leaves separated - 1 1/2 minutes
Carrots: Whole - 5 to 6 minutes, Diced or Sliced - 2 to 3 minutes
Cauliflower, Florets and stems: 1 to 1 1/2 inches - 3 to 4 minutes
Celery: Diced - 3 minutes
Corn-on-the-cob: Small - 8 minutes, Medium - 10 minutes, Large - 12 minutes, kernels - 5 minutes
Eggplant: 1 1/2 inch slices - 4 to 5 minutes
Greens, All Varieties: Tough Stems Removed - 2 1/2 to 4 minutes
How do I to freeze vegetables?
By surelock from Lapeer, MI
If you can pick up a Ball Blue Book of preserving this will be a great help. I got mine at Wal-mart years ago and its a book that's worth it if you do canning or freezing of vegetables. Blanching is very important and must be done properly to destroy microorganisms that could destroy your food.
Do I need to do anything (like blanch) veggies to use later as stirfry? Any other helpful hints? Thanks.
By Mary from Henderson, NC
Yes, you should blanch most of the veggies that you save for stirfry (squash, broccoli, green beans, etc). Green and red peppers, onions, celery, mushrooms don't have to be blanched, however.
I was considering lightly microwaving my home grown yellow squash and green beans instead of par boiling them which can make a lot of water, and then vacuum sealing is difficult.
Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.
By Daphna Ariel from Alachua, FL
I microwaved 2 years ago and they got that funny taste after 6 months. I then tried the steam method, instead of microwave. Leave them whole, and when you get them hot all the way through dunk them in ice water to cool at once like corn on the cob, dry with a towel and cut up and freeze that way.
Can you freeze some vegetables when they have been in a jar?
Yes, however, the quality and taste may be affected and the veggies may be somewhat "mushy" after thawing.
Thank you for answering my question. But I was mainly interested in Artichoke Hearts!
How do you freeze raw cauliflower and broccoli? Is it possible to freeze raw zucchini squash?
By Shirley Chartrand-Prebor from Tequesta, FL
I've only tried freezing broccoli, not cauliflower or zucchini. I parboiled the broccoli, let it cool, and packaged in zip lock style bags. It was pretty good after a few months for stir-fry meals, but that was all I experimented with.
Here's all the info you should need. :-)
www.uga.edu/
I have had a good crop of capsicums, how would I prepare the capsicums for freezing?
Thank you so much, I did google it but you gave me more information than I found
After you freeze vegetables can you thaw them and eat them as a raw vegetables?
By Dawn
Probably not. When they thaw, the water will come out of them. They will be fine for soup, but they will be soft and a little soggy, not crunchy like they were when fresh.
Can you mix and freeze together onions, green peppers, garlic, oil, salt, and culantro/recao (also known as Mexican coriander)?
By Jessica
I have always frozen onion and green peppers together. I have never added anything else, other than occasionally some red peppers.
Can I freeze raw vegetables to use in soup later?
By Sally
It is handy to chop up such items as celery, onions, peppers and peeled garlic and store them in small plastic bags in the door of your freezer. I save some to use fresh, but a lot of the time I don't use them up, and they can go bad before we eat them.
ThriftyFun is one of the longest running frugal living communities on the Internet. These are archives of older discussions.
How do I go about freezing these veggies altogether (cauliflower, broccoli, carrots, leeks, and capsicum (red and green)?
Freezing Fresh Vegetables. Why should you not freeze fresh vegetables?
I planted my first garden this year and a lot of the veggies I planted are becoming ready to pick.
