blueberries, peaches and raspberries
Freezing is an easy option for preserving food. Like Dehydrating it takes a small amount of effort for very fresh tasting results. The down side is that it requires you to have a large freezer to store your frozen food in and the cost of the electricity to keep it frozen. Another consideration is that in a power outage you can loose your food to thawing.
As I mentioned earlier, to get the best tasting fruits and vegatables year round you will want to use a variety of preserving methods, and for this reason freezing is an option you will want to utilize.
There are many ways of storing frozen foods; plastic containers, Ziploc bags, recycled bread bags to name a few, but I have only been successful with one method of sealing my fruits and vegetables for freezing and that is with the Food Saver. There is also the Seal a Meal that works on the same prmise. This device removes all the air from your bag and then seals it. This prevents frostbite and spoiling.
There are many models ranging in price from a hundred dollars and under, up to several hundred dollars. I have a low cost model that I purchased on sale at Target. I have used it for several years with no problems. The two features I appreciate most are that it seals wet foods and it locks to seal. The hand held seal requires you to hold it down through the entire sealing process which is a strain on your arm and doesn’t allow you to do anything else.
With the food Saver or Seal a Meal systems you need to purchase special bags to put your food into for sealing. Compare and see for yourself; Food Saver, Weston, StaVac. The Food Saver name can be costly. I use Weston and have had great results. Also, beware that many of the Food Saver bags are not bags at all but rolls. With the rolls you cut and make the bags yourself. This to me is wasteful and time costly. I prefer actual bags in a range of sizes, pint, quart and gallon.
If your thinking about freezing some fruits or vegetables this year then now is the time to start looking into supplies. Remember Yard Sales and Craig’s List are great places to purchase used.
