Flash freezing fruit and veg is one of those kitchen tips that I cannot believe I have not done sooner. I have been freezing bananas in little bags for over a year now (re-using them a number of times each) and using the bags bothered me. The bags broke after a few washes and dries and sometime I didn’t want the whole bag of banana, but the fruit was stuck together so I had to use it all or get a knife and cut it up.
Flash freezing solves these problems for me. I just love it!
My first flash freezing experience was with Kale. Kale has been a new addition to my smoothies, but I was finding it hard to store it so it would keep fresh over the week.
Kale is one of those veggies that needs a good wash before eating. I give it a little soak and scrub in cold water with vinegar added.
Give it a shake out and let it air dry for a couple of hours on a clean towel.
Once dry, I place some baking paper on a large tray and lightly layer the kale on. You could do single layer, but mine was more like a triple layer.
Place it in the freezer for an hour. Kale freezes and defrosts very quickly. Once you are ready to store the kale, work quickly to transfer it to a freezer safe, air tight container and place it back in the freezer.
Now when making my smoothies, I grab a few handfuls out at a time and it works perfectly.
For my bananas, I cut them up into even pieces.
Place them in single layers, with no touching on a lined tray and freeze for 1.5 hours.
EDIT 2016: After a tip from a reader, I no longer place the cut-up banana onto baking paper, I simply use a cooling rack and freeze them on that!
Then move them to an airtight freezer container to store.
I purchased a number of punnets of strawberries on sale, so gave them a go to. I washed and dried the strawberries, cutting up any strawberries that were big, so they would be roughly all of a similar size. Placed them on a lined tray and froze them for an hour before transferring them to an airtight freezer container to store.
I am now keenly keeping an eye out for any fruit and veg on sale (like mangoes!) that I can apply flash freezing to.
Our Family Menu Plan For This Week
This week I have recycled a menu plan from a few months ago! This is one of the benefits of menu planning, you can reuse them easily to save yourself time when needed. It is taking me a little while to find my feet with all the changes we have had with the start of the school year this year and Mr Is hectic workload.
Day | Week Commencing 26th October 2013 |
|
|---|---|---|
| Sat |  | Homemade Tacos |
| Sun |  Chicken Wings, Baked Potatoes and Corn   | Chicken wings, baked potatoes and steamed corn Left over mince recipe - taco puffs Oat and seed lunchbox slice |
| Mon |  | Slow cooker balsamic beef with pumpkin salad |
| Tue |  | Pumpkin soup |
| Wed | Chicken stir fry | |
| Thu |  | Sausage and veg |
| Fri |  | Easy BLT |
| Shopping List | Weekly menu plan shopping list 26th October 2013 | |