Do you ever catch yourself saying, “I hate buying fresh food because it always goes bad before I can use it all”?
Well, you won’t have to worry about that any more with your fruit! Last summer I was on a mission to waste not a single bit of seasonally ripened fruit that came into my home and now I’m going to share with you exactly how to do it!
How to Freeze Berries
I absolutely refuse to waste any berries because they are expensive and their shelf life can be shorter than I need it to be. When berries are super-duper ripe and just about ready to get moldy, I’ll remove any stems and such (including any soft or bad spots), rinse them well and then freeze them on a waxpaper-lined baking sheet. Once frozen, place them in a freezer ziplog bag. They’ll stay just fine for up to 6 months!
One tip regarding fresh mulberries — When I rinsed my first batch, a bunch of tiny whitish worm-ish things came out from between the sections of the berries. I found from doing some internet research that this was typical with this type of berry and that you had to rinse them very well, multiple times until you no longer saw any of these little guys moving about. Then you can freeze them as I described above.
Use them in smoothies, baked desserts or anything else that you’d need berries in. They’re just awesome!
How to Freeze Bananas
I don’t generally buy bananas very often. Sometimes my husband likes to have them around, but he’ll let some over-ripen to the point that he’ll no longer eat them. Instead of throwing them away, I’ll peel them, put them into a freezer bag and pop the bag into the freezer. These bananas will freeze perfectly and stay fine for a few months.
Perfect for smoothies (be mindful of how much you use as they are rather high in sugar) or for making ‘ice cream’ in your food processor.
How to Freeze Peaches, Pears & other Fruit
Wash fruit and cut it with a knife into your desired sizes. Line a baking sheet with waxed paper and place fruit pieces so that they are not touching each other. Place sheet in the freezer until the fruit is frozen and then move fruit to a freezer bag. Just like you would do with the berries!
Easy, right???
Do you have any other tips that you use to save your fruit that you can share?