Freezing Green Beans!!!

My mom was gracious enough to give me two big bags of green beans! Dylan and I have a garden but we overestimated the size and we have three bean plants. Needless to say they don't produce enough for a meal, let alone freezing for the winter! My mom took pity on me and I went over to her house and picked beans with her and took them home with me. Freezing beans is super easy and a pretty speedy process. I froze 14 - 2 cup bags in about 2 hours, including trimming, cutting, blanching, and bagging. Now I can eat food all year that I know where it comes from!

First, I cut both end off the beans and then cut the beans into 1-2 inch pieces (usually 2 inches, it goes faster!) I soak them in one side of my (clean it first!) sink. This cleans them. And then I rinse them after they soak while I am cutting them. Next, bring a big pot of water with strainer to a boil. I have this exact set below. It's a Denmark Stainless Steel Multi-cooker set. You can get it at Bed Bath and Beyond for about $50. Use a 20% coupon!!! I use the bigger insert, the little one is for steaming. Techinically I think the big insert is for pasta, but I had to improvise. My mom has this big black fancy thing she uses. I was not going to buy one just for my beans... maybe for Christmas... hint hint.

Okay, so when the water is boiling, I put as many beans as I can submerge. I let it boil for a few minutes, usually between 3 and 5 minutes. Meanwhile, I fill the other side of my (clean it!) sink with ice cold water. I take the beans out of the boiling water and immediately dump them into the cold water. This keeps the beans from cooking further. They are now a really pretty green color! I love it!! This is called blanching.

Repeat this until all your beans are done. Next you get to bag them! This is my favorite part. I even took pictures for you! I buy Ziploc double zipper freezer bags. You must use freezer bags! I use the quart size and I measure out two cups per bag. You can measure whatever size you need for your family. I add one cup per adult to a bag. If you have kids, your on your own, I don't know how much they eat.

I squeeze all the air out and seal. I write what I am freezing and the year. Next, I lay them all flat in a stack so I can maximize my freezer space and keep in organized.

Once these are frozen you can stand them up like books and make bookshelves in your freezer to keep things organized! Good Housekeeping gave me this idea!

It always seems like you can never make all your bags perfect sizes and you'll have one cup of leftover beans. Instead of making one small bag, I make one big bag and label it as such.

I store this one on the bottom of the stack or at the end if they are all stood up so that I know which one to grab for when I have company over or want to make enough for leftovers.

Last summer my mom taught me how to do all this. I was excited to do this on my own this year!