It’s post-vacation now, of course, but I forgot to share this photo with you, so I’m doing it today. 
Before vacation, I worked really hard to clear my fridge of food because when you’re gone for two weeks, you can’t leave much in there!
We ate leftovers, I made applesauce from my apples, and I also froze a lot of the extra produce I had.
The top bags are red peppers and celery, both of which I’ll use in soups this fall, and the bottom bag is tomatoes. I boiled them for a minute to loosen the skin and then put them into the bag. I’ve done this here and there throughout the summer when I’ve had extra tomatoes, and I have a nice little stash in the freezer now. I use these when a recipe calls for canned tomatoes, and they work quite well, especially in soups or in tomato sauce recipes.
{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
I never thought of freezing celery and I almost always have a partially rotting one in my fridge. I can never go through the whole bunch before it goes bad. From now on I will monitor and freeze. Thanks for the idea.
I know, I never used to freeze mine either! But I was delighted to find that frozen sliced (or chopped) celery works great in stuffings and in soups.
Great idea on the celery. I do freeze my tomatoes, but I usually core and chunk. I don’t bother with the boiling water part. Usually I dehydrate my celery. I dehydrate a lot of things, even bagged salad and spinach if I see I am not going to use it up in time. Great to add to soups for color/flavor. I keep my dehydrator out on my counter and do something almost every night as I prep/clean up dinner. Super easy. Thrifty. Great for camping and snacks. Also, no loss to product if freezer goes out due to power outage.
Celery doesn’t go (nearly as) mushy in the freezer if you saute it first.
There’s no need to peel the tomatoes! If you freeze them whole, the skins peel off easily when they thaw. Make sure the tomatoes are very clean and dry before freezing. When they thaw, they are rather soft, and there’s lots of liquid, which is perfect for soups and sauces. Coring helps, but is not necessary as the cores remove easily with your fingers when the tomatoes are thawed. I’ve always believed that the blanching zaps a bit of nutritional value, so I think the no-boil method is a perfect trifecta: faster, cheaper, healthier.
When I have alot of tomatoes,I remove the skin from the tomatoes and then I chop up onions and green peppers, and mix them in with the tomatoes and then freeze them together in small freezer bags and then when I make chile or soup, I just empty one of the bags in the chili or soup, I don’t even thaw it out. It saves alot of time of cutting the onions or green peppers each time you make these meals.