I just wanted to pop in and say, “Hi!” And let you know that I’m still around, but have been super busy the last 2 days. My hubby got a great deal on 30+ lbs of strawberries, 24 quarts, so I have hand my hands full (of strawberries) trying to clean and prepare and freeze them before they go bad. And trying to do that with two kiddos that are not cooperating with their naps or nighttime sleep has been extra fun!
So far I have 4 gallon size bags of whole strawberries, a double batch of freezer jam, 2 batches of strawberry coulis (sauce), and several containers of sliced strawberries with sugar, in my freezer. Of course we’re eating them by the handful and over strawberry shortcake as well! And I still have 6 more quarts to go through. I have been using information from this great post at Simple Bites to help me with knowing how to freeze the berries. We’re actually hoping to go strawberry picking this weekend too and get a few more to make another batch or two of jam, and have a few more bags of whole frozen strawberries.
It such a great feeling to know that we supported a local farmer, got high quality berries (they were not sprayed with any pesticides, strawberries are on the Dirty Dozen list), and are putting away yummy food that we will be able to enjoy throughout the year. All while saving money because these berries were much cheaper than buying the frozen variety at the grocery store! I’m already looking forward to having strawberry shortcake in the middle of winter! It will be so refreshing to have a little taste of summer when it’s cold and snowy out! (Okay, I don’t really want to think about that anymore, I am loving summer right now!)
Alright, the strawberries are calling me – whew, who knew this would be so much work? But it is so worth it!
Are you preserving strawberries this year? What is your favorite way to freeze or preserve them?
—————————————————————————————————-
Thanks for visiting Live Renewed! If this is your first time here and you’d like to learn more about me and what Live Renewed is about, click here. If you like what you’ve read, and would like to read more, you can subscribe to my blog by clicking here! You can also follow me on Twitter.
June’s Change Challenge is Frugally Green Baby Care. You can catch up on all the Change Challenge posts here.
Are you brand new to being frugally green? Be sure to check out my Frugally Green Fundamentals.
Leave a Reply