How to freeze fruits and vegetables

Freezing your harvest is an ideal way to ensure your crop stays fresh for as long as possible. It not only makes your food last longer, but it is a great way to preserve as many nutrients as possible. Carried out for a few thousand years when the Chinese would store goods in ice cellars, it has massively developed in the last century as a preferred food preservation method.

By freezing food, it delays any spoilage, by creating an environment that is uninhabitable for microorganisms which break food down over time. The necessary water for those microorganisms is frozen, a state which cannot be used by microorganisms. This means your food stays very similar to the state in which you froze it.

The benefits of the amount of nutrients remaining in frozen fruit and vegetables are very compelling. Fresh fruit and green vegetables can lose as much as 15% of their vitamin C content each day they are kept at room temperature.

Freezing, however, can help the food retain as much as possible. Some fruits and vegetables need to be blanched before freezing, which can reduce some of the vitamin content, but not a significant amount.

When it comes to your cropped harvests, there isn’t much you can’t freeze. Plants like lettuce are not ideal, as their high water content means their cells rupture when the water is frozen. This results in a limp texture, and an unpleasant taste. Similarly to lettuce, other fresh greens are best to eat as fresh as possible. However, this is much easier to do with many fresh greens, as they tend to be ‘crop and come again’. Additionally, high water content fruits and vegetables like cucumbers and tomatoes are unlikely to cope well with the freezing process.

Besides these, most other fruits and vegetables you can grow at home will freeze quite well. Some have different steps required to prepare them for freezing, but this is worth the effort for a longer-lasting, fresh crop.

Carrots

These deliciously crunchy root vegetables are one of those best blanched before freezing. This is to counter their high water content, so when you defrost them, they retain their structure better.

Peel and chop your carrots into standard rounds or batons and cook in boiling water for up to five minutes. Drain them and submerge them in ice-cold water to stop them from cooking, and pat dry with a clean kitchen roll.

Spread your rounds or batons on a baking sheet lined with baking paper without touching, and put them in the freezer, lying flat, for a few hours.

Check on them to make sure they’re frozen solid, then store them in a sealed freezer bag and place them back in the freezer until ready to use.

Potatoes

Potatoes are unlikely to freeze well on their own and would benefit from being prepped for their later intended use beforehand.

Mashed potatoes

If you want to use your potatoes for mash, then they need to be cooked and mashed first. This includes butter and seasoning, before quick-cooling and freezing.

Once you’ve made your mash and cooled it, divide it into portions no bigger than two, and put it in a resealable freezer bag. Flatten the mash out in the bag as much as you can, removing excess air. Then, label and freeze until solid.

Boiled potatoes

Once again, this means boiling the potatoes, but only until almost cooked, still having some firmness to them. The timing for this will depend on the size of the potatoes, and whether you have cut them up at all before freezing.

Similarly to carrots, lay the potatoes onto a lined baking tray, without touching each other. Place in the freezer for a few hours. Then, once solid, store in resealable freezer bags, removing as much air as possible.

Roasted potatoes/Chips/Fries

Cut your potatoes into your chosen shape or size, depending on whether they are roasted, chips or fries. Boil until almost cooked, and submerge in iced water to stop them cooking, draining afterwards.

Then, coat them in your chosen cooking fat, whether that be oil, goose fat, or another alternative. You want to heat the cooking fat first to ensure your potatoes are completely covered. Lay them onto a lined baking tray to freeze until solid, and store in resealable freezer bags.

Cauliflower

Firstly, cut your cauliflower into equal florets, and then boil to blanch for about two minutes. Remove each floret from the boiling water and place directly into some ice water, to stop them from cooking.

Then, follow the standard process of freezing on a tray before storing in resealable freezer bags, back in the freezer.

Broccoli

It would be easy to presume the same process for cauliflower applies to their brassica cousin broccoli, but they slightly differ. Alternatively, broccoli needs to be cooked until al dente rather than blanched and then can follow the same process.

Onions

These tasty vegetables are best prepped before freezing, rather than freezing hole, but require few steps beyond this.

Simply chop into small chunks or slice to your preferred sizes and freeze raw on trays. Once solid, which shouldn’t take too long due to their size, refreeze in resealable freezer bags.

Peas

Classic frozen food, peas should be shelled and blanched before freezing on baking trays. Once solid, bag into resealable freezer bags.

Strawberries and apples

With no cooking or blanching required, strawberries and apples are simple to prep for freezing.

For strawberries, simply give them a wash and pat try, cut off the stem, and they’re ready. You may prefer to cut them into slices or quarters, which is easily done too.

Apples need to be washed, and shouldn’t be frozen whole, but instead sliced.

Finally, freeze on trays until solid before bagging up for the freezer long term.

Smaller berries and currants

Berries like blueberries, raspberries, redcurrants and more are all easily frozen in the same fashion.

Wash and remove any leaves or stems, and freeze in a single layer. Then, as is standard, store in resealable bags, and put back in the freezer until you are ready to use them.

When it comes to using your frozen potatoes, just cook them in their traditional fashion. For example, chips, fries and roast potatoes can be popped in the air fryer or oven until golden brown and soft all the way through. Do so at the original temperature and adjust the time depending on the size your potatoes are cut.

If you have defrosted your frozen mash in the fridge overnight, you can reheat it on the hob, stirring constantly. However, if recooking from frozen, reheat it more gently, slowly increasing the heat. Boiled potatoes, if larger should be defrosted in the fridge overnight. If smaller, simply pop it into boiling water until cooked through.

For carrots, broccoli, and peas, you can easily pop into boiling water, or to steam straight from frozen; they just may need a few more minutes than fresh.

Cooking frozen onions can be done by simply sauteing for a few minutes until thawed, and then continuing to cook as normal.

Fruits like strawberries, apples, berries and currants do not tend to defrost well, so are best cooked or used as frozen. They are great for adding to smoothies, as being frozen they help thicken up the texture. You can also add them to baked or cooked goods, like compotes, jams, or other desserts. If you have the time before baking, it would be beneficial to defrost slightly.