Freezing Strawberries & other questions

[fkj2]

Does anyone have recommendations for freezing strawberries? (Sliced, whole) Can you use a Food Saver? Should I sugar them or not?

Can you freeze potatoes and how? And, has anyone tried freezing celery?

 

[Beth E. (NJ)]

I don't think that potatoes freeze well, but then I found this link that says it ok:
http://www.i5ive.com/article.cfm/food_preservation/57913

Here's a link that I found about freezing strawberries:
http://www.klickmanfarms.com/recipes/freezemethods.htm

Now, as far as celery goes, from what I was able to find celery loses it's crispness when frozen and is only good for use in cooked dishes. The site I found recommends washing them, cutting them into 1 inch pieces then blanching them before freezing them for later use.

Hope this info helped you!

 

[amid chaos]

I freeze strawberries, watermelon chunks and blueberries this way. Spread fruit...strawberries (no sugar) hulled but whole on a cookie sheet. Place cookie sheet in freezer. When frozen I dump in a large zip loc bag. Now you have individual pieces of fruit instead of a huge frozen block of mush. I use these to make smoothies and other frozen drinks.

 

[fkj2]

Thanks to both of you for responding. Some lady in the berry pattch described an identical method to freezing her berries so I think I'll give that a try.

And, you can buy frozen potatoes in the store so I figure why not try it...I'm forever wasting the produce I buy because it goes bad before I use all of it.

 

[chessie]

I freeze my strawberries using the cookie sheet method too.

I just finished freezing 8-quart bags.

I am a Weight Watcher and a half a cup of frozen strawberries makes a wonderfully refreshing snack. It is only a half a point too.

Chessie

 

[nanns]

I just wash and pick the ends off and put them in a bag and freeze them. I use the quart size bags and try to layer them ontop of each other for more room. I picked 24 qts this year, hope it makes it till next year.

I mainly use frozen strawberries for smoothies, so i don't add any sugar, trying to lose weight (of course!)
my kids can add sugar while they thaw since that's how they like them!