Storing and Freezing Vegetables for Meal Prep

Preparing and storing cut vegetables can streamline your meal prep and cut cooking time in half.  After chopping vegetables, they are easy to store for snacks or cooking.  Many cut vegetables freeze well which can help you prepare a fast and easy meal during the week.

For example, wash lettuce, kale leaves or any vegetables with large leaves under cold running water.  After using a salad spinner to remove excess moisture, these can be stored for more than a week in the refrigerator.   See below for specifics on how this is done:

• Wash leafy vegetables under cold water (please make sure any dirt is washed away)
•  Use a salad spinner to remove access water from leaves (do in small patches)
• Once vegetables are completely dry put in a paper towel and roll into a tight roll.
• Put a rubber band on the end and put in a plastic Ziploc bag (remove the air and seal the bag

Step 1 Cut of ends and separate

Step 2 Rise with cool water and put in salad spinner and repeat until all vegetables are cleaned and rinsed

Step 3 Tightly roll in paper towel and put in Ziploc bag

Preparing vegetables for storage or blanching

Some vegetables require blanching.  So, what is blanching?

Blanching consists of submerging vegetables in boiling water for a very short period of time (30 seconds to 5 minutes or so) then transferring to an ice bath immediately.  Once they are completely cooled, transfer to paper towels to dry and drain excess moisture.

Asparagus – After blanching, drain thoroughly and store in freezer bag.  If not blanching, trim ends and place in a jar of water like flowers; put a plastic bag over the vegetables to prevent refrigerator odors.

Green beans – Pick your green beans one at a time (my experience is when they are prepackaged they can have bad beans that will compromise the whole batch) if you don’t cook immediately.   Trim a handful at a time; line up stems and cut with a single chop with a chef’s knife. 

Broccoli – Cut broccoli into florets before blanching and store in freezer bags.  If you do not blanch the florets, place them between lightly moistened paper towels and store in refrigerator.

Brussel Sprouts – same process as broccoli.

Carrots – Place cut carrots in moist paper towels to prevent them from drying out.

Cauliflower  -  Treat as broccoli but cauliflower loses flavor once cut (unless frozen).  It can absorb flavors of other foods.  Use as soon as possible.

Celery – Buy whole celery sticks not the pre-cut.  You can cut up to desired size.  Wash, place in paper towels and put in Ziploc bags.

Cucumbers – Wrap cut cucumbers in an airtight bag or tightly in plastic and store in the crisper of your refrigerator up to three (3) days.

Peppers – Store cut peppers in plastic wrap or a plastic bag for up to 2 days in the refrigerator.  To prevent slime, wrap in a sheet of paper towels.  If you want to freeze, slice peppers and put on a cookie sheet and freeze until crisp and than transfer to a freezer bag.