Cooking vegetables then freezing?

[Cooking4Fun]

First off when a person buys a bag of frozen peas, carrots, beans, etc, are they generally completely raw or are they steamed a little before freezing?

Can vegetables be completely cooked and frozen and reheated later? I wanted to season different vegetables in advance and keep them for extended periods of time. Is that possible or do they need to be mostly raw and flash frozen?

 

[pepperhead212]

They are usually blanched, then flash frozen. With a lot of things, like soups, curries, and other things where the food is completely cooked, I freeze leftovers, and thaw, and reheat, and they are very much edible, though some of the veggies might loose some of their crispness.

 

[caseydog]

They are usually blanched, then flash frozen. With a lot of things, like soups, curries, and other things where the food is completely cooked, I freeze leftovers, and thaw, and reheat, and they are very much edible, though some of the veggies might loose some of their crispness.

When I freeze my homegrown chili peppers, I put them on a tray in the freezer first, then vacuum seal them when they are frozen solid. They still go soft when I thaw them out, but they don't get crushed by the vacuum sealing process.

BTW, you can use a basic Foodsaver to vacuum seal soups in a similar way. I put the soups/stews in bags, stand them up in the freezer to get solid, and then vacuum seal the bags of frozen soups/stews.

CD

 

[Aunt Bea]

Do some experimenting with the leftover cooked vegetables from dinner.

Freeze a portion or two and see how you like them after a week or two in the freezer.

They usually taste fine but the texture can be disappointing.

 

[blissful]

I blanch or steam all my greens before freezing, half cook by steam my brussel sprouts.
Onions and peppers diced as they are, no heating them. I often have a glut of onions if they are starting to grow, or peppers when they all get ripe at the same time.
I don't blanch or steam diced fruit, blueberries, strawberries, peaches, just freeze them.
Official food safety instructions: https://extension.umn.edu/preservin...ing-directions-and-times-home-freezer-storage
(obviously I don't follow all of them)

 

[Badjak]

I blanch & freeze fresh garden produce like beans
Never tried leafy veges.
Tomatoes get frozen whole if I am lazy, or processed into tomato sauce or paste and then frozen
Chili's generally get turned into chili paste or frozen whole (or dried)
Limes get frozen whole

 

[jennyema]

We have a freezer full of veggies from our garden. We clean them and blanch for about 90 seconds. Cool and freeze in ziplocks.

We just ate the last of last summer’s frozen beans a few weeks ago.

 

[Cooking4Fun]

So cooking until somewhat soft isn't recommended? Just quick boil then freeze? I want them ready to eat when thawed out

 

[caseydog]

So cooking until somewhat soft isn't recommended? Just quick boil then freeze? I want them ready to eat when thawed out

I believe the reason for blanching is to set the color, especially on green veggies.

CD

 

[dragnlaw]

Blanching also stops enzyme actions which otherwise cause loss of flavor, color and texture during the freezing process.

 

[Badjak]

Plus you would generally cook the veges again or at least heat them up. Hence you want them under-cooked

 

[Cooking4Fun]

Well the thing is I was thinking it might be interesting to season different vegetables differently. Like green beans with celery salt, Brocolli with maybe soy and garlic, etc. Then mix all together? Would that be weird or would flavor bleed over into other vegetables? I just want each to be more savory.

 

[Badjak]

If you cook them all together they will start tasting the same.
Better use more pots and keep the veges seperate.
I would also only season when preparing for eating

 

[Aunt Bea]

If you cook them all together they will start tasting the same.
Better use more pots and keep the veges seperate.
I would also only season when preparing for eating

I agree.

Sometimes seasonings amplify or get weird after being frozen.

Also, freezing them plain gives you more options when it’s time to thaw and use them.

 

[kashmirtiffinservice]

from where I come I don't think its a good option to cook vegetables and freeze them and scientifically speaking, vegetables lose all the nutrients if cooked and stored in freezers, it is better to freeze raw vegetables and then cook it later, even the canned vegetables that western people use is not at all healthy it is loaded with preservatives, and not good for your health.

 

[dragnlaw]

I think you will find that is all not quite true.
Not talking about full cooking here, although yes, you will lose some nutrients but certainly not all.
It is necessary to blanch raw vegies for freezing in order to stop the enzymes from turning them to mush. Many others will chime in with better insight/explanation into but I think basically blanching is absolutely necessary.

We have considerably long winters in which fresh vegies, although ideal, are not always possible.
Again, although not ideal, canned vegies are sometimes the only source of any vegetable available to some people.

 

[Cooking4Fun]

Is there an easier way to blanch vegetables than boil, ice bath, space loosely on a tray and pat dry, freeze on tray (or stack of them), then transfer to zip lock?

And if adding flavor beforehand is bad can a seasoning dressing mix store well frozen?

 

[dragnlaw]

Is there an easier way to blanch vegetables than boil, ice bath, space loosely on a tray and pat dry, freeze on tray (or stack of them), then transfer to zip lock?

Not to the best of my knowledge.

And if adding flavor beforehand is bad can a seasoning dressing mix store well frozen?

Dry, yes. Wet, depends, but probably.

 

[jennyema]

Is there an easier way to blanch vegetables than boil, ice bath, space loosely on a tray and pat dry, freeze on tray (or stack of them), then transfer to zip lock?

And if adding flavor beforehand is bad can a seasoning dressing mix store well frozen?

Blanch, drain, into a ziplock (in appropriate portion), into freezer

2/3 of our garden is currently in our freezer. We pull out a bag, let it thaw a little and either boil briefly or nuke.

No need to dry and freeze on a tray. Who has room in their freezer for a sheet tray?

I wouldn’t season them

 

[blissful]

The top shelf of the fridge has clear 1 quart deli containers with premade foods.
In the middle shelves, we try to stack things flat if possible on the shelves in the freezer. If we leave some room on top of the stacks we can put trays on top for freezing blueberries or chopped onions before we put them in bags.
In the wire drawers in the bottom of the freezer we put bags of blueberries, dates, onions, peppers.
I steam and freeze greens in 2.5 cup rectangular containers, as well as canning some of them because there is only so much room in a freezer.
I like canned food. 90% of our canned food is home canned pickles, jams, fruit, tomatoes and sauce, salsa, mustard, ketchup, green beans, corn, brown sauce, vegetable and bean soups, legumes.