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This year, the garden hasn’t been as plentiful as it used to be, and going to the store is a stressful endeavour. So, in come locally grown foods (that we should always be eating/taking advantage of as much as possible!) that are easy to pick up and keep us safe. It also means we’re eating A LOT more vegetables, some that we don’t eat lots of every week.
I love broccoli and cauliflower, but I don’t want to eat it two-three times a week. I like my potatoes and carrots just fine, thank-you-very-much. But, there is no way in hell I’m going to waste delicious locally grown food, something that has been hammered into my head even harder ever since this pandemic started. Wasting food means more trips to the grocery store, nevermind the problems it causes our planet!
That means freezing the extras of my vegetables for winter! I love freezing broccoli because it’s easy and is perfect for stir frys – just grab a handful from your freezer bag! Plus, it tastes so much better than store-bought froze veggies.
Step 1. Wash your broccoli.
Step 2. Cut it into desired pieces. Or, snap off the bits until you’ve taken all the florets from the stalk. Discard the extras into the compost.
Step 3. Pop them in salted boiling water and blanch for 3-5 minutes, depending on your broccoli sizes. You want it crisp, yet tender. Too cooked and it’ll be mush when you cook it later. Ick.
Step 4. Place them in a bowl full of cool water to cool them down faster.
Step 5. Drain and place on a cookie sheet. Put it in the freezer for about 2 hours so that they’re already half frozen when you go to freeze them. This keeps the vegetable from sticking to one another in the freezer bag. Sometimes, you’ll still get some friends who just won’t let go, but you won’t get that huge clump.
Step 6. Place in a freezer bag like these or a reusable one (this is my favourite), if you have enough/the money to buy lots! You can also use a storage container that can handle the freezer, if you don’t want to use any plastic. This is what we do with any leftover sandwich meat that is getting too close to the expiry date – just pop it in a tupperware and take out when you want to use it! (don’t forget to write the date on it if it’s getting real close to expiry, so you know to use it right away)
Step 7. Take out and enjoy whenever needed!
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