“Whenever you see an item on sale in the produce department that your family enjoys, buy double of that. Bring it home, salt some water, put in the vegetable of choice, count to 30, take it out, cold-shock it, put it in a big plastic food storage bag and throw it in the freezer. You make your own homemade frozen veggies. They are even better than what you get in the store. You can tailor the cut or size when you are putting them away, and, especially if you’re shopping at farm stands, you’re never going to get that flavor of summertime corn unless you’re bringing it home and scraping it off the cob yourself.”

—Rachael Ray, on freezing your own vegetables at ivillage. Not only does freezing vegetables when they’re in season ensure you’ll have a stash months later, but it beats buying bags of off-season frozen veggies that have traveled long distances (and used more fuel in vehicles that give off environmentally un-friendly emissions) to get to the grocery store. Best tip of all: Freeze locally bought vegetables from the Farmers Market! Garden Guides has advice for freezing each type of individual vegetable, from the artichoke to the zucchini. Learn the different pre-freezing techniques required for each plant, such as blanching or boiling in salt water, along with a reminder of how long your self-frozen vegetables will keep.

Photo: PR Photos

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