Can I bulk freeze fresh food?

[Breeze and Nibbles]

Hi guys,
Not posted in a while. Was wondering if it is safe to freeze fresh veg and defrost when needed? Not sure if defrosted food is safe for my conure. I have googled but I prefer to ask you lot who know what ypu are doing because most of you have done it lol 😆 thank you

 

[chris-md]

Yes, this absolutely can be done! Many of us do this in the form of large batches of chop mix.

Naturally, you can’t just freeze an entire celery stalk and have it be ok.

the best way to accomplish this:

1) first, make the veggies into a chop mix. Run everything through a food processor, making them into small pieces. One big veggie mix

and the

2) Blanche everything (drop it into boiling water for 90 seconds, then run under cold water to stop any further cooking). Blanching is necessary to improve the quality of the defrosted product, makes it less mushy when you thaw it. it also has added benefit of helping make some nutrients more bioavailable (vitamin a, for example).

Key to successful chop is reducing moisture content. Add ingredients that soak up moisture, and don’t add things that are naturally more watery like fruits (some things make for a nasty, snotty consistency such as barley, okra, and excessive spaghetti squash).

Hand-wringing the chop really helps mechanically get rid of a ton of water as well.