Freezer Vegetables
I am a soup gal. Some of you regular readers may have noticed that last year. If you are a new reader to my blog, you will start to take notice real soon since soup season is coming up. I am already whipping out soup recipes.
I LOVE soup! Like, LoVe, LOVE soup! Soups can be super easy & comforting for the cool fall & winter weather coming up. Some of you may say, “Soup is not easy. Soup sucks to make because I am chopping vegetables all the time. And then the extra vegetables go bad & I have to throw them out.”
If you are a soup person like me, then you will want to do this trick. You can even use these for pot pies, pot roasts, & casseroles. No need to throw out any vegetables. Freeze your vegetables! Then you will have most of the chopping done when it comes time to prepare your soups & other recipes.
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Most soups call for Mirepoix – which is basically an onion, celery, carrot mixture. In the cold weather months, I keep these three things in stock in my freezer, just because I know I make soups, pot pies, & other casseroles that use them. And there is never any waste.
You ready to learn how to do it? Ok. I will show you:
Celery
Rinse & dice celery. Sometimes it is good to put the celery in a bowl with a paper towel so you can pat off any water spots from rinsing. This helps it not clump so bad once it is frozen.
Place it into a labeled zip-top bag. Squeeze any air out & seal shut. Place into the freezer.
Onion
Dice an onion.
Place diced onion into a labeled zip-top bag. Squeeze out any air & seal shut. Place into the freezer. You may want to double bag this one because sometimes it stinks up your freezer depending on how strong the onion is. It also helps the smell if you don’t touch the outside of the bag with onion hands.
Carrots
Rinse, peel & dice carrots.
Place carrots into a zip-top bag, squeeze out any excess air & seal shut. Place into the freezer.
Voila! Your vegetables are ready for your recipes!
TO USE: You may have to break up the dices in the bag before measuring them for recipes, but it’s easy to do if you bang it on the edge of the counter.
IMPORTANT NOTE:
Freezing these vegetables does soften them, so they are good for recipes where you cook them anyway: Soups, Stews, Pot Roasts, Pot Pies, Casseroles, etc. The celery will not be crisp to use for chicken salads & things like that. Just FYI.
okay, after throwing away zillions of dollars worth of wilted carrots and celery, NOW you tell us! 🙂
I know, right?! Never again!
brillianr idea i have thought about doing this but never got round to doing it but will now
It has definitely been useful for us!
Love this idea! Just thinking, if you did a combination of all 3 in each bag, wouldn’t that make it even easier?
That is a great idea! I use onion in recipes that I don’t always use carrots and celery in as well, so that’s why I keep mine separate, but you totally could!
Will freezing carrots make them cook faster? Raw carrots take so long to soften.
Yes, actually! It makes them softer because of the moister from the freezer. That’s why you can’t use this method, for example, to freeze celery for chicken salad, but you can use all 3 of these veggies in anything you cook, simply because freezing them breaks down the fibers a little bit and softens the original vegetable.
How long can the veggies be frozen for without being “past their prime”?
Hi Jen,
It mostly depends on how you store them. I use regular zip-top bags (not freezer safe) and they last about 3 months without getting overly crystalized and covered in ice. I’m betting they will last longer in the freezer bags, but I can’t say for sure how much longer. Hope this helps!
~Amber
Do you thaw before using
I use mine straight from the freezer. 🙂
Thanks, Amber! I just followed your tips and chopped up a big bag of sweet onions from Costco. Other than my eyes burning, I LOVE having all these pre-chopped onions now.
Such an awesome idea, I am going to do this. I am a big soup lover to, but I have chopping everything. You get a chance, please link up to the Suburbsmama Sunday Linky Party: http://suburbsmama.blogspot.com/2013/09/sunday-linky-26.html