I’m back. Sort of. I’m still recovering from a kidney infection but trying to get back to business as usual. Right before all this happened I went grocery shopping, and it pained me to see all my fresh veggies going to waste in the fridge. So today I willed myself to enter the planet kingdom and rescue what was still edible and store it in the freezer.

How to Freeze Fresh Vegetables

Freezing fresh vegetables is relatively easy. There’s really only one rule to freezing vegetables for storage:

Blanching destroys certain enzymes and bacteria while helping to preserve the color, texture and flavor of the food. It also helps retain vitamin C (so they say).

“Blanch” simply means to “immerse briefly in boiling water boiling water” (NOAD). How long you immerse a specific veggie for depends on the veggie. I followed the method on Allotment Foods, which has a very handy Blanching Chart listing a whole bunch of vegetables, how to prepare them for blanching, and how long to blanch.

So now I have a freezer full of spinach and chard, just waiting for my appetite to come back. Alas, I also have a bag of rubbish to take out, as well, sad veggies that didn’t quite make the cut. Sigh. I hate seeing food go to waste.

Download The Blanching Chart, a handy PDF chart to blanching and freezing all your favorite veggies!