Harvesting and Freezing Vegetables

Daniel and I spent Monday night harvesting and freezing vegetables from our garden. It has been so fun to have the garden and learn from that experience. It has also been great to have the produce! We have enjoyed a lot of yellow squash, zucchini, corn, tomatoes, and peppers.

We are trying to preserve as much from our garden as we can to help cut the cost of buying produce throughout this next year. Last year I experimented with canning, which was a lot of fun. This year I do not have access to the canning equipment, so we decided to freeze what we could.

The great thing about freezing is that anyone can do it. It does not take any special equipment- just a little bit of your time. I have written posts about freezing corn, tomatoes, and green chilies.

I plan to use the corn & tomatoes in taco soup this winter. I will also use the tomatoes in other soups and sauces. The chilies are for chicken enchiladas and other Mexican dishes.

This weekend I will be spending time with my mother canning apple sauce.  We want to have this for when our baby can start eating soft foods.  I also plan to freeze pumpkin this year.  We baked and froze pumpkin last year and have loved it!  I will share directions and recipes on that later on.

Preserving fruits and vegetables does take a little time.  I definitely think it is worth the time.  I really enjoy the satisfaction of knowing that I did it myself.  I also feel good knowing what is in the food I am eating.  In my experience, it is very cost effective.  All of the produce we have preserved comes from our garden or our friends.  Since we were able to plant our garden for close to nothing, thanks to my generous mother, the food we are saving is close to free.  Canning & preserving is not for everyone, but it is one way that we have saved money on eating healthy.

I am so excited to start the winter with a well stocked freezer!