# Freezing taters



## Pearl B (Sep 27, 2008)

I need to freeze about 10pds of potatoes. Ive heard you cant just throw them in the freezer raw.

So what do i do with them? Blanche them? 

I basically want them like they would be a raw potato. What is the minimalist way I can prepare them to freeze?

Also can you freeze cabbage,carrots,celery, & mini sweet peppers in _bulk_ without pre-cooking blanching?

TIA


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## Macybaby (Jun 16, 2006)

I think you are out of luck if you want to defrost them and have them like raw. A lot of veggies simply don't freeze well in the raw state.

My expericne with potatos is when thawed, the texture is funky, like they turn into a mush/meal becuase the water in them freezes and messed up the sturcture.

I have excellent results with freezing cooked potatoes, I make twice baked potatoes up to the point you'd toss them back in the oven. Then I wrap them and freeze, and then take them out and bake them and they taste about the same as if I had skipped the freezing.

I also prepare frenchfires up to the point of the second frying and freeze them. Then take them out and dump them frozen into the hot oil and fry for 4 mn. 


One of the reasons to blanch is to STOP the ripening process and kill off some of the bad stuff that might be on the surface. Freezing also retards the riping and spoiling process, but it does not stop it all together, so killing the surface germs and stopping the ripening process before freezing can help for longer storage. 

But you can freeze all veggies without blanching or precooking - you might not like the results when you thaw them out though. It won't hurt the veggies nutirtion wise, but they most certainly won't taste, look or feel like they did before they were frozen. Just like cooked veggies don't taste/look/feel the same as raw. NOt bad, but different and it's up to you to decide if you are OK with the difference.


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## bajiay (Apr 8, 2008)

I have not had any luck in freezing potatoes. We grow half a ton every year and I am always looking for new ways to do something with them. We didn't like them canned either. My taters turned to mush when I tried using them frozen. I don't know what the trick is...

I have frozen carrots and sweet peppers without doing anything to them and they have been fine. I don't know about the other stuff.


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## Sherry in Iowa (Jan 10, 2010)

I freeze hash browns and they seem to do real well. They have to be par-boiled and then I shred them on a towel so the moisture is at a minimum. Throw in freezer bags and they are just like the ones you buy and bring home from the store.


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## Pearl B (Sep 27, 2008)

Thank you everyone. I will just experiment and see what I can do with them.


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## Ruby (May 10, 2002)

I have frozen potatoes, but used them for soups and mashed potatoes after thawed. What I did is cube them into about 1 to 1 1/2 inch cubes. Blanch them then put is ice water to quick cool them. Then froze. I've kept them up to a year that way.


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## Pearl B (Sep 27, 2008)

Thank you Ruby, I was thinking of doing sometnhing along those lines. I had originally wanted to have them so that they would be as close to a raw potato as possible, it doesnt look like that is do-able.

I am going to try boiling a few of them, till they are just slightly cooked, then cut them up into big chunks and see what happens.

Summer is in the desert is coming up, if I dont freeze them or something, they will spoil in 2-3 days. The air conditioner just doesnt keep any part of the house cool enough to leave them out.


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## laurafergie (May 5, 2010)

Sherry in Iowa said:


> I freeze hash browns and they seem to do real well. They have to be par-boiled and then I shred them on a towel so the moisture is at a minimum. Throw in freezer bags and they are just like the ones you buy and bring home from the store.


I freeze hash browns too, but I bake the potatoes, cool them down over night in the fridge, then shred them on the coarse side of my cheese grater.They freeze great. 

You can freeze them out on a cookie sheet before putting into a ziplock bag, as they will stay more loose, but I skip that step. When you're cooking them, leave the lid on for a few minutes and the steam produced will loosen the hash browns right up.


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## unregistered65598 (Oct 4, 2010)

Macybaby said:


> I also prepare frenchfires up to the point of the second frying and freeze them. Then take them out and dump them frozen into the hot oil and fry for 4 mn.


Can you explain this a bit more please? What is a second frying point?
Thanks


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## Pearl B (Sep 27, 2008)

> What is a second frying point?


Some cooks and restaurants fry frenchfries twice. The 1st fry cooks them through, the 2nd fry crisps them up real nice.
I think the 1st fry is 3-4 min at 375. The 2nd is 425 for 2-3 min.
I saw it on food network.

Thank you for the advice on the hash browns and french fries. Im going to do some that way.

For now I stuck them into the fridge.


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## Sherry in Iowa (Jan 10, 2010)

laurafergie said:


> I freeze hash browns too, but I bake the potatoes, cool them down over night in the fridge, then shred them on the coarse side of my cheese grater.They freeze great.
> 
> You can freeze them out on a cookie sheet before putting into a ziplock bag, as they will stay more loose, but I skip that step. When you're cooking them, leave the lid on for a few minutes and the steam produced will loosen the hash browns right up.


That's a great idea too. I will try that this year. I usually don't take time to do the cookie sheet thing..lol..but I love them anyhow! Thanks again!


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## Macybaby (Jun 16, 2006)

For french fries. I parboil them for 1mn and let them dry, then I deep fat fry them for 1 mn, let they dry and then I freeze them. Once frozen, I bag them up enough to feed DH and I for one meal (about 40 fries) and vacuum seal them. 

Then when we want them I heat up the oil and open the bag and put them in frozen, shaking them periodically to separate. Cook them 3-4 minutes. 

It might seem like a lot of work, but I do about 20 lbs of potatoes at a time and get an assembly line going and in an afternoon I can have enough put up to last us for several months. 

This is the article I read and used as the basis for what I came up with. 

french fries


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## unregistered65598 (Oct 4, 2010)

Macybaby said:


> For french fries. I parboil them for 1mn and let them dry, then I deep fat fry them for 1 mn, let they dry and then I freeze them. Once frozen, I bag them up enough to feed DH and I for one meal (about 40 fries) and vacuum seal them.
> 
> Then when we want them I heat up the oil and open the bag and put them in frozen, shaking them periodically to separate. Cook them 3-4 minutes.
> 
> ...


I can't believe I just sat here and read that whole artical LOL WOW who know making a french fry could be so complex. Thanks for the link. I am gonna try it.


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