Bulk Buying Vegetables Prep them for the Freezer
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It’s that time of year where supermarkets slash the cost of vegetables in the run the up to Christmas – but do you know the best way to prepare and store them?
Being the super-duper money-saving sort of girl I am, I’m in a lot of money-saving groups on Facebook. And one thing that seems to be up for debate at the moment is the price and bulk buying of supermarket vegetables.
Bulk Buying Vegetables and Prepping them for the Freezer
Being just a week out from Christmas they seem to have been slashed to ridiculous prices – in particular bags of carrots, sprouts, parsnips and Potatoes, mostly coming in at around 30 pence (or less!) a bag or even 20p in some cases!
While I’m all for stocking up whilst food is cheap, I’m also all about preventing waste. So knowing how properly to store and prep vegetables can make a huge difference – and also means that you won’t be wasting any money if you do decide to stock up.
Related Post – 9 Tips to help you save money on the big Christmas Shop
Current Vegetable Prices as of (20/12/17)
Asda – Parsnips, Carrots, Broccoli and Sprouts 20p a bag
Morrisons – Carrots, Parsnips and Sprouts 3 for £1
Aldi – Parsnips, Leeks and Carrots 19p Potatoes 29p
Tesco – Sprouts, Carrots, Cauliflower, Parsnips and Potatoes 29p
Sainsbury’s – Carrots, Sprouts, Parsnips 25p
Lidl – Sprouts, Carrots, Parnips and Potatoes 29p
Preparing Vegetables for Freezing
What is certainly evident in a lot of the discussions that I’ve been following is that people aren’t always sure of the best way to prepare vegetables that will be going in the freezer. There is a lot of debate as to whether they can just be chopped, bagged and chucked in the freezer or whether they need to be blanched first.
In my experience vegetables 100% need to be blanched or par-boiled first before being frozen. If they are put in the freezer raw they will either go black or shrivel up and go wrinkly, neither of which leave them suitable for eating. A lot of people in the group had no idea what blanching is, so I’ve popped a quick explanation below.
‘Blanching is a cooking process wherein the food substance, usually a vegetable or fruit, is scalded in boiling water, removed after a brief, timed interval, and finally plunged into iced water or placed under cold running water (shocking or refreshing) to halt the cooking process’
After doing this vegetables can then be bagged or boxed and popped in the freezer. Simply add to boiling water when needed and cook as you would any other frozen vegetables.
Preparing Potatoes for Freezing
Potatoes need to be prepared for the freezer slightly different than other veggies as they won’t be boiled in water when reheating.
If you want to make roast potatoes for the freezer then par boil some potatoes (see above) and then place on a lined baking tray making sure the potatoes are not touching one another. These need to be frozen on the tray for a couple of hours until solid and can then be bagged for later use. Freezing on the tray first stops them getting stuck together in one big gloopy mess.
When ever we make mash in our house (I say we, it’s usually my husband as he makes the most amazing garlic and rosemary version!) we always make double, or even triple and the freeze down. Mashed potato freezes really well and can be reheated either in the microwave or in a pan on the hob. I find making mash can be a bit fiddly so it’s great to be able to get it out the freezer and simply heat it up, especially if it’s going with something else easy like a slow cooker stew.
Check out this post on making on the most your freezer space!
Tempting Recipes
So with all that amazing veg on offer if you are tempted to stock up here are some recipes to get them used. If you’re at home this week and have the time it could be the perfect opportunity to fill up the freezer with cheap meals ready for the long, bleak month of January where typically everyone is on a tight budget after the extravagances of Christmas. Also, remember that not everything needs to contain meat – vegetarian meals are a stape for when keeping to tight food budget.
Left Over Vegetables Recipes
Laura from Savings 4 Savvy Mum’s has these tips for using up Christmas Leftovers
My own post – Three slow cooker recipes for using up Sunday Dinner Leftovers
Charmaine from ChammyIRL has this post for making an amazing stock. Don’t forget stock can be frozen (once it’s cool) and makes a brilliant base for soups and stews.
Thrifty Mumma, Thrifty Bubba Suggested Vegetable soup or vegetable curry if you add ginger, onion and coconut milk – served with rice.
Potato Recipes
Katy from Katy Kicker has this Fab post for making Air Fryer Potatoes
This my own recipe for Leek and Potato soup with Stilton Croutons
Parsnip Recipes
Another Recipe from Katy Kicker – Spicy Parsnip Soup
Cauliflower
Kelly from reduced grub has this Cauliflower Casserole Recipe perfect for a veggie supper
Emma from The Money Whisperer suggested that some of our furry friends would appreciate cauliflower leaves and carrot peelings – even if you don’t have any yourself it’s worth asking friends or neighbors if they would like any! The less waste the better.
Broccoli
Cat Plummer Suggested this lovely Broccoli soup recipe
This is so helpful! I’ve never frozen potatoes before…
I’ve only just come across this, but it is sooo useful, thanks!
Hi we’re on really tight budget and we saw your post and we just had to write to you as we really need help saving money and budgeting saving tips and hints with buying vegetables and potatoes and we are wanting also to do the post on mash potatoes.and we really want to do meal planning and prepping for meals for the freezer instead of going and buying prepared meals we have bought some realitively cheap containers to put the food in and get zip lock bags and sticky labels. And also foil containers with the lids for the freezer meals and batch cooking meals. That we want to do.but don’t want to sound cheeky but I woundered If I could have some of your recipes please as we really want to start really want to save money and learn what to do with buying vegetables in bulk and freeze them. And how to freeze potatoes and mashed potatoes.and would like a few freezer meal prepping recipes please.and also hints and tips.on bills paying and frugal living and where to get the shopping vouchers and money saving money off vouchers off food as where do you get them from as we don’t know really how or really where to get them from and from what shops.as we’ve never heard or got these vouchers.and we’ve always just paid for what the shopping bill comes to at the checkout.once a month but if we could save a little extra money from time to time then this would be really nice in our mind just fabulous more to the point.just wonderful.and would appreciate if you could please get back to me please thank you take care bye.