Freezing beans

[chadspad]

My french and haricot beans are coming under serious eating attack and I havent got enuf to freeze in bulk. What I have been trying to do tho is save some from each meal and after a couple of days I have enuf for another dinner, which I would like to freeze. Is it possible to just stick them in the freezer without blanching (hope thats the right word!) them? I tend to fry my beans not boil them, hence the question of not wanting to waste time boiling them for just a few.
Cheers Wendy

[Wombat]

G'Day Wendy,

Blanching deactivates enzymes in the produce so it stores better for longer (The enzymes degrade colour, flavour and nutrients. If you were only short-term freezing I suspect that it wouldn't make much difference! But you can blanch with steam or nuke 'em - either way you get less nutrient loss than by boiling!

Nev

[chadspad]

Hi Nev,

Hadnt thought to nuke them, thats a great idea! Thanks for your help

[Nickey]

last year I had enough to blanch and freeze this yaer I've been rinsing and freezing....they taste better than blanched when cooked, and lets face it, will be eaten pretty quick so don't need to be kept for long periods... great in stir frys! yummy! Nickey x

[Millymollymandy]

I find frozen beans go all soggy whether they are blanched or not. I'm not going to bother this year!

[Chickpea]

I have three kids who are fussy about vegetables (aren't they all?). I put veggies on their plates every dinner and scrape most of 'em off again at the end. I save the uneaten veggies in a dish in the fridge and every couple of days I whizz them up in a blender with some stock, reheat them and add a bit of cream or yogurt to make home-made veggie soup for lunch. It always tastes good, and sometimes it's fantastic - like the time we'd had cauliflower cheese and sweet potatoes, that made fabulous soup. Or there was one with oven roasted red peppers and other stuff that was pretty amazing.

Anyway, Chadspad, you could make bean soup. You could just eat it for lunch, like I do, or you could freeze it. Soup always freezes well, even if the ingredients don't freeze well on their own.

[diver]

I can never be bothered blanching my beans, I just put them on trays and freeze them. They taste ok but then, I've never tasted blanched and frozen beans...am I missing something?