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| Project to Tackle: Freezing Berries |
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I blew it. In June, I planned to freeze 50+ lbs of strawberries for a Tackle It post. BUT, I procrastinated. Instead that week I think I cleaned my van. Like I am going to be grateful about that come the fall and I am buying sub par, overpriced, frozen strawberries! (Although I must brag that my van is still clean. Yeah me!) But I thought, “No worries, I will do it on the weekend.” And on the weekend I thought, “I still have one week before the end of strawberry season and I need to finish this newsletter. I will do it Monday and post it for Tuesday’s Tackle.” Yes, you guessed it. Monday there were no berries left. None. Not one little scrumptious berry in the entire city. And believe me I looked. Well, actually I got my husband to look. It was a holiday here that day and I sent Jackson and him to scour our local berry markets and stands. You see, we had been having unusually nice weather. Lots of sun. Sun + procrastination = no berries for Jan Now to get the full appreciation of this tragedy, you must understand two things. First my husband and I really love berries. And we go through a ton of them. Lots of smoothies and I use them on cereal, deserts etc. Second, our local fields produce the yummiest little strawberry bombs of flavor you have ever tasted. To not have them all year is true suffering. (Yes we were getting fat like summer bears on them, but I didn’t stop popping them in my mouth long enough to do my annual freezing.) However, all is not lost. Once I got home from camp, I still had some time to get the last of the raspberries and to go crazy on the blueberries. (We have killer raspberries and blueberries too. I mean really good.) So, this weekend my hubby and I we were a washing and a freezing. I freeze on cookie sheets and then put in bags after. Tonight I bagged the last of them and then hauled the others out for a photo. Only a blogger can understand dragging 70+ pounds of fruit out of the freezer for a photo! |
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I still may do more blueberries and I wish that I had more raspberries, but I am grateful to have as much as I do. And if you think I have plenty – let me tell you, we will be lucky for those to get us through to the winter. My hubby loves his protein smoothies with some berries and I use blueberries in my porridge. So what did you tackle this week? Let us know and join the party. We are making housework blog-able! |
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samantha says
My best friend has a blueberry patch so we get all of them that we want…also, my twin daughters, affectionately called brat1 and brat2 (3 1/2 yr. old) LOVE fruits of all kinds, so I bet we BUY $30 wortha fruit a WEEK! Here’s what my crisper drawer has in it right now… 4 apples (2 red for brat1 and 2 green for brat2), 4 peaches, big bag ‘o grapes, 3 lb. bag o’ oranges, pint of strawberries. And 2 bunches of bananas on the counter! My girls wont tolerate candy, they’d MUCH rather have fruit! I dont know how to can fruits, I’d love to learn tho, it would probably save $$ for me! Also, it would probably save trips to the grocery store!!
YellowMama says
I tackled building a business card for a new ministry and a jpeg web page for the same.
BTW…I love fruit too and sadly enough I think I just used the last bag of peaches for a smooties this morning. Oh, well they were sure GOOD!
Rena (Mugwumpmom) says
Not even any berries out by Abbotsford or Chilliwack?? I was out that way all day today on work, and drove past lots of fruit stands…wonder?
Aren’t you glad it’s cooled down some?
I can never do a tackle it Tuesday cause I work Mon to Fri outside the home and my tackle Tuesday’s are always the same…get home, make dinner, clean up and crash!
Have a good evening.
MamaDuck says
Ha ha ha, I love that you dragged them all out for the photo!!
Susanne says
Well it looks like you still have quite a few nice bags full! Yumm! I like to make my own fresh berry sauce for pancakes and waffles or ice cream too! It’s a really expensive this year where we are though! A tiny container of raspberries is $4 – $5.
Karmyn R says
My in-laws have a blueberry field – and this weekend we went and picked. I keep mine in gallon bags – I now have 8 gallons of frozen blueberries to last the rest of the year – we never have plain pancakes. Only blueberry pancakes in this house!!!
Frozen berries are the best!
stephanie says
Yum! I procrastinated on my tackling and played in the pool with my 2 year old this morning. At least I know it will be here next week. 🙂 LOL
Randi says
Look at ALL THOSE Berries!!!! YUMMY!!
Christina says
The berries look yummy. I wish I was as good as you at getting stuff bagged and frozen. I also love berries, can you post one of your smoothie recipes? sorry to hear about your strawberries. I used to love the strawberry patch, but here in Hawaii it seems like those things get shipped from other islands like Guam and they do not have a patch that I know of, but your post gets me thinking, maybe I should search.
Nikkie says
I’d love to be able to freeze berries like that if I had the space in my tiny freezer! Sorry you missed out on the strawberries, they’re my favorite too!
Sandra says
Oh Yummmm berries. That is a LOT of work, give yourself a pat on the back 🙂
I have my before pic up on my blog but will post the after when I’m done LOL
Jenn says
I CAN NOT BELEIVE YOU HAULED ALL THOSE BERRIES OUT OF YOUR FREEZER; even for a picture! LOL…Silly girl! 🙂
That’s A-LOT of work, wow you must be proud, oh yeah and hubby too! 🙂
I have yet to put mine up for the day, it will go up later…it’s been one of those weeks! 😀
Shereen says
Wow, that looks so neat. They look so orderly. You did great. What a wonderful idea. So do you just take out a little bag as you need it? Way to go. You have inspired me.
eph2810 says
Mhm – yummy – berries. I like berries a lot. But I also enjoy cherries. We have been getting a lot of cherries from the Pacific Northwest 😉 in our local supermarkets. Oh, they are so great.
You did awesome my friend…I know what you mean by hawling out 70lbs of berries for a photo…bloggers are a strange folk – aren’t we – hehe…
Have a blessed day in the Lord.
Momma Piñata says
I wish we had a deep freeze so that we could freeze berries and make bigger batches of things (like pasta sauce, etc)…The joys of living in an apartment I guess.
Good for you getting those berries frozen though!
Shannon says
I didn’t get to the berry fields this year either but I did eat a whole lotta them!! We freeze our berries the same way, it’s much easier than the large clump of frozen fruit.
Mom2fur says
I heard you aren’t supposed to wash the berries before you freeze them, because they absorb water and come out mushy. But since you’re obviously a pro at this, maybe that isn’t true! (Alton Brown, of “Good Eats” on the Food Network, uses dry ice to freeze his strawberries. Apparently, it keeps them more like fresh. I’m not so sure I’d be ambitious enough to work with something that requires gloves for safety!) I have some blueberries frozen. The best part is when you take some out in January for blueberry pancakes!
Amy says
Ugh, I think my computer ate my first comment. 🙁
WTG Janice! You are going to have a wonderful berry-filled winter. 🙂