feasting with friends

I Love My Garden, But…

freezing green beansThere’s nothing like growing your own, organic, fresh vegetables. I really love my backyard garden, but really…how many green beans can a girl eat? Lately I just want to to say “enough already”. Mother nature just keeps those green things coming. It seems as if we just pick and pick and pick. We think we’ve picked the plants clean, and there is a whole new crop the next day . It’s crazy! The weird thing is this is the first year in about 5 that we’ve had any success at all with green beans. Feast or famine I guess. Once we got to the point where we really couldn’t eat any more [for awhile], we decided to prep a bunch for freezing. It is so simple to do, and with my sous chef, Glenn, we prepped 8 quart bags to freeze in less than an hour. Basically, all that needs to be done is wash, trim, blanch, ice, package, seal and freeze. Like I said, simple. Now we have beans waiting, for a much later date, to join our dinner table. But wait there’s more…Glenn just came in with another huge bag full of beans…ugh, time to get busy 🙂


1. The only “ingredient” is green beans.

2. Rinse and drain beans in a large colander.

3. Cut the ends of the beans off; leave whole or cut in segments for planned uses [1″ segments are good for soups/stew].

4. Fill a large stock pot about 2/3 with water; bring to a boil over high heat.

5. Fill a large bowl with ice water [I like using a metal bowl as it stays cold longer]; set aside.

6. When the stock pot reaches a full boil, add handful of beans; blanch 2 minutes; remove with large slotted spoon and immediately plunge in the ice bath.

freezing green beans 7. Cool completely in the ice bath, remove to colander to drain.

freezing green beans8. Repeat as needed until all beans have been prepped.

9. Using freezer bags, portion out beans to desired amount. Zip them up and freeze.

10. Enjoy at a much later date. 😉 [within 8-10 months]freezing green beans



  1. Pingback: Greek-Style Green Beans | feasting with friends

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