Got Zucchini?

Do you have tons of Zucchini from your garden or your neighbors garden and don't know what to do with all of it? We LOVE Zucchini and unfortunately, we don't have this problem. I tried to grow Zucchini this year and everyone says it's the easiest thing in the world to grow. Well here's my poor Zucchini plant which I have tended and cared for since I bought it in April.

I'm about ready to give up, I've tried everything and that sucker just won't perk up. I don't know if it was bugs or disease or exactly what, but I'm very sad. But we did buy some great Zucchini from a local orchard and stocked the freezer for winter. I thought you might want to know the best way to freeze Zucchini so here's a little run down on freezing Zucchini:

The first thing you want to do is give them a rinse, get a pot of water boiling and get another pot with cold water and ice ready to shock the zucchini

Slice your Zucchini in 1/4-1/2 inch slices and drop into boiling water for 3 minutes. If you want to freeze Shredded Zucchini, steam it for 1-2 minutes.


Remove the Zucchini and place it directly into cold water (this will stop the cooking) for 3-5 minutes (just until it's cooled down)

Drain the Zucchini

at this point you can put it right into the freezer bags, but I prefer to place the slices on a parchment lined baking sheet(yes, I forgot the parchment on this batch!) and right into the freezer for about an hour and then into the freezer bags.

Remove as much air as you can from the bags (you don't need a foodsaver, just use a straw)

Label and Freeze

Freezing Tortillas

Whenever I find tortillas on sale and can pair them with a good coupon (like the one I posted here) I always buy as many as I have coupons. Why? Because we eat a lot of tortillas and they freeze beautifully. Here are a couple of tricks to freezing your tortillas. I always separate them into 8 or 10 and then put a piece of wax paper between groups, that way they don't all freeze together.

The other trick to freezing anything is to get as much air out of the packaging as possible this helps prevent freezer burn. If you have a foodsaver--no problem. If you don't have a foodsaver, still no problem just a little more effort. I always transfer the food into freezer bags or plastic freezer containers because they're thicker and made for freezing. Then just grab a handy-dandy drinking straw and...you guessed it....suck the air out. Date the bag and throw it in the freezer.