Lots of people are harvesting from their backyard gardens right now. Even if you don’t have one, you may have been given some beautiful produce from a friend. If you’re like me, I REALLY appreciate such gifts. However, I’m just feeding two right now, so we can’t eat a bushel of whatever before it goes bad. Hence, the need to preserve those goodies so they can be enjoyed whenever we’re ready for them.

Such is the case with my green beans. My neighbor has a large garden and has graciously shared their abundance with us. So I froze the extra and made a video of the process. Perhaps there are some folks out there who just don’t know how to properly freeze their fresh veggies. So, I’m offering that tip to help. The link to the video is at the end of this post.

Here are the simple steps it takes to freeze those extra green beans…

* Wash them extremely well and allow them to drain. Cut or snap off the ends and any bad parts, then break or cut them into whatever size pieces you want.

* Bring a large pot of water to a rolling boil. Place the prepared beans into the boiling water. Immediately set your timer for 2 minutes. (Do NOT wait for the water to come back to a boil before setting the timer.) As soon as the timer goes off, drain them.

* As soon as they’re drained, place the beans into a large bowl or pot of ice water. Allow them to cool in the cold water until they are no longer warm. Drain them well.

* Place the beans in freezer bags (one large bag or smaller meal-size bags…it’s your choice). Label bags with contents and date they were frozen. Lay them flat in the freezer, spreading the beans outward within the bag as much as possible (so you don’t have one large clump of frozen beans!). Once the beans are frozen, the bags may be repositioned in the freezer if needed.

* Enjoy them whenever you’re ready!!

Hope this helps in your quest to preserve that bounty. Judi