Freezing the surplus

[Nicos]

I'm with the bean casseroles everytime.
To make them varied and different add other ingredients like courgette, onions, carrots, peppers, cauli,leeks,garli, tinned beans of various types, tomatoes, wine,curry or thai paste, bacon pieces,various meats etc etc and freeze in small portions.

My favourite last year was yellow, green and purple french beans with a tin of butterbeans, toms a glug of red wine and basil, and lots of onions! Yum!!

My OH had these at work for lunch regularly with a big chunk of homemade bread. Apparently the whole office used to drool when they were heating up in the microwave. Saved a fortune too!

[Potstubsdustbins]

SWMBo deals with this but her method for runners is very simple, wash and dry, slice as normal and fast freeze. For use put beans into cold water, as you start to plate your dinner, turn on the heat bring to a rolling simmer and serve, simples.

Courgettes, calabrese, cauli's etc, are mixed and cooked in meals size portions before freezing usually with a creamy cheese sauce, my personal favourite.

Peas like Birdseye, podded and frozen within the 1/2 hour.

Colin

[hamesy]

I always thought it was something I was doing with my french beans that made them go limp.

Most things I chuck into the freezer or store them in a dry place.

[Two_Sheds]

Is there a better way to preserve your gluts

I make a batch up (of curry, soup etc) and freeze in individual portions.

[Rhona]

I've stopped blanching before freezing too. I tend to cook many more 'wet' dishes (curry, roasted veg sauce, chili etc) rather than eating veg on it's own and any loss of texture is disguised. This is the first year I've tried freezing the excess sweetcorn without blanching though, so we'll see how that works out. My method is to open freeze, bag, then 'vacuum pack' it using a straw. We've been looking for a new freezer as we have limited freezer space at the moment, but are now well into our glut and still haven't got around to actually choosing and buying one. It's therefore quite a good exercise, forcing me to use our old stuff so we can fill the drawers with new stuff.

[binley100]

I don't blanch ......my beans come out of the freezer , into a pan , pour over boiling water, bring back to the boil and simmer for about 5 mins , broad beans and peas about 3 mins .
Courgettes, parsnips, squash are cut into slices or chunks (however you usually deal with them) and og straight from freezer into hot oil to be roasted ........
Never had a problem with spoillage or storage ......
Courgettes also get grated and frozen in the correct amount for cakes
Beetroot is cooked, peeled and frozen in cake portion amounts or peeled and grated raw then frozen for beetroot and mint jelly
Squash is also steamed then pureed and frozen in cake amounts......
Onions are sliced and frozen
raspberries are open frozen then bagged
oh and last night I chopped up and froze 8lb of eating apples in usable amounts for apple jelly ......
Anything else? .........just shout

[ladylottie]

I do exactly the same as Binley says ^^^^. I gave up blanching stuff years ago - can't taste any difference and it saves a lot of preparation time.

[binley100]

When I only cook things like beans for as short a time as needed why blanch then cook again ? .....no surprising they taste yuk ......bit like overcooked mushy sprout yeeeeuuuuuukkkkkkk..........

[Alison]

I really don't like most frozen veggies if they've been blanched, just soft and over done tasting / feeling to me so haven't blanched for years, it takes too long and the product isn't as nice. Also almost all frozen veggies are best cooked from frozen rather than defrosted, no idea why but it holds true.

Re salting, beans work surprisingly well, I did loads a few years ago and they were fine over a year later. The colour wasn't quite right but the taste and texture were fab so long as you soaked in water for about an hour, changing every 15 mins or so.

[MyLifeWithAndrew]

Here are a couple of links to salting beans.

Preserving runner beans the old way: salting

Salted Runner Beans | Taste Of Home Recipes

For carrots and other root veg, don't forget about clamping or stoage in sand in boxes.

Thank you, Loudbarker1, as I am trying to save what little space is available in these freezers for other produce.
Question: what is this clamping & storage in sand?

[rustylady]

Question: what is this clamping & storage in sand?

potato clamp and other storing methods- selfsufficientish - potato clamp and other storing methods