Monday, March 30, 2009

Stocking up on Strawberries

While out and about with my husband this weekend, we decided to stop off at a Discount Grocery store. And boy am I glad we did!!



We came across flats of strawberries (12 pints, those little green containers) for $10. We love our strawberries around here, especially our 3 yo, Noah. He could probably eat his weight in them, which is not a small feat!


Even though we could eat massive amounts of them, I knew that we wouldn't be able to eat all of them before they went bad. What to do?


Freeze those babies.


I sliced off the tops and rinsed/drained them. Then put them in a single layer on a pizza pan (a cookie sheet would work, too) and placed them in the freezer to freeze them individually.


Once they were somewhat frozen, I placed them in quart sized Ziploc bags in a single layer and removed all the air. Then I layed them flat in my freezer--and voila! When I need just 5 strawberries for a smoothie, or for strawberry pancake sauce, or whatever your little heart desires, pull out as many as you need without messing with a big clump.


We ate a bunch before I froze them, and I saved back about 3 pints to eat throughout the week, and I still managed to get 6 quart sized baggies of strawberries. Hopefully this will last us until we can get a crop ourselves. If not, well, I'm already toying with the idea of going back and getting more. :)

Photo Source: I Farm 4 U

This post is linked to:

Tackle it Tuesday

Kitchen Tip Tuesday

12 comments:

Frugal Sara said...

What a great deal! Strawberries are my absolute favorite and my family devours them every time I bring some home!

Stephanie said...

Mmmm...strawberries and a strawberry smoothie sound really good right now! Or maybe chocolate covered... Anyway congrats on the great deal!

Faith - That's Just Freaking Lovely said...

Wow, thats a TON of strawberries .. $10 is a good deal! I don't know why I never thought to freeze strawberries .. they always end up going bad. Maybe I'll try this!

Miriam said...

Oh how I wish we had a discount food store around here!! I'm excited for you on your strawberry find, though :)

na said...

I love strawberries too!

Relishing Life said...

Wow! What a terrific deal! I am getting better about not letting our produce go bad before we get around to using it. Thank you for sharing how to store the strawberry to keep them from going bad!

Kirstin said...

Great deal!! I do this too with my berries. I also slice some to freeze for pies, or sauces.

L2L said...

oh how I miss strawberry picking, being in Okinawa we can pay upwards to 6 dollars for just one little pint!!!! Drooling over you wonderful tackle!!!!

Amy @ Finer Things said...

Fantastic deal! Fresh strawberries sound so good right now.

Gifts of Nature said...

LOVE that place. Unfortunately it is out of the way for me and so I hardly ever get to go unless it is a planned trip.

Megan said...

I love getting those kind of deals! Check out my post for a great smoothie recipe for those strawberries and to see what I do with my fruit "steals"

http://savingourcents.blogspot.com/2009/02/frugal-meals-fruit-smoothies.html

alpinekleins said...

Great idea! Wish I could get my hands on a good buy with strawberries. I can practically taste the smoothies and other yummy delights:)

Kristin K