Bountiful Basket & storing fruit and vegetables

I picked up my second Bountiful Basket on Saturday and I'm really glad that I did! I don't know if it was just me, but it seemed like there was more produce in the baskets this time which is always great. My 21-month-old dug right into the juicy strawberries that were included. The only problem that I had is that I still had produce leftover from last week (from the basket and from the store) so I had a hard time finding places for everything. I made a list of everything that I'll make this week and made sure to re-package or freeze those veggies that I won't be able to get to. We certainly can't have anything spoiling in the refrigerator!

The only fruit that I froze were the grapes. We have lots of fruit that needs to be eaten, and if I left it up to my kids they would eat nothing but grapes. So freezing the grapes will help encourage them to eat some of the other fruit before it goes bad. Also, frozen grapes are SO good on a hot summer day. So not only will they not go bad, they will serve as a tasty treat down the road. To freeze, wash thoroughly and drain as much as possible. You can freeze them on a cookie sheet then transfer to freezer bags. But I've found that as long as there's not excess water on the grapes, they freeze just fine if you put them straight into bags. Just squeeze the frozen grapes gently to break apart when serving.

In my basket this week I got onions, celery and carrots.. all of which I either bought last week, or in the case of the carrots, have been using out of the garden. So to make sure these stay fresh, I chopped and blanched the mixed veggies and added them to quart-sized bags for some easy soup or stew down the road. Even if I don't get to them until the end of Summer or beginning of Fall they will be just fine.

First, I set a pot of water to boil. I then chopped the celery and added it to the water with the exception of the celery tops and yellowish inner stalks. These don't take as long to cook, so I set those aside to add last. Next I chopped the carrots and added them. Then I cut the onions into chunks and added them as well. By the time I added the celery tops, I only needed to let the vegetables boil for about 1-2 minutes more. I'm not trying to fully cook them, just give them a good blanching. To stop the cooking process, when I removed the vegetables from the boiling water, I gave them a good dip in some ice water and then into the freezer bags.

I also had some spinach that needed to be frozen. I kept some out for the dinners that I'll make with it this week, but for the rest I wilted it and stuck it into a freezer bag for future use. I stuffed the spinach into a large colander set atop a big empty pot. Then I slowly poured the boiling vegetable broth from the carrots and celery over the spinach and allowed it to wilt for a couple minutes. It was then ready to add to the freezer bags.

For the lettuce and celery that I won't get to until later this week or next week, I wrapped them in aluminum foil to keep them crisp until I'll need them. This really works and is especially handy when the vegetable crisper is full, like mine is. I've kept celery this way up to a month without it going limp on me.

Simply center the vegetable in the foil and wrap tightly.

Other than that just be sure that you keep most vegetables in a high moisture vegetable crisper. And fruits, such as apples and oranges need as little moisture as possible to stay fresh.