How to freeze broccoli...

I love to buy my broccoli in these big bags at Costco for $4. It's really convenient to have it all ready to steam or eat and it's a good buy. But we never seem to finish the whole bag before it goes bad.

So... I figured I'd freeze some of it to use at a later date. We don't eat a lot of frozen broccoli by itself, but I do sometimes use it in casseroles :)

And mine looks so much prettier than the frozen broccoli you buy at the store!

First, gather your supplies. You need to move quickly while blanching veggies, so have everything all ready. You'll need a pot of boiling water, a stainer, a big bowl ready to fill with ice water and freezer bags with a straw to remove air (I mentioned this in my last freezer posting.)

After you have your supplies gathered, rinse your broccoli in cold water. I did eight cups of raw broccoli to freeze into two bags.

Next, drop your broccoli into the boiling water. Put the lid on it and boil for three minutes. While it boils, rinse out your strainer to use again and prepare your big bowl with ice water.

After it has finished boiling, quickly drain and dump into ice water. Let sit in the ice water for three minutes. Scoop out some of the warm water after a minute and add more cold water and/or ice. Drain again.

Place your drained broccoli into freezer bags and label.

Close the bag almost all the way, squeezing as much air as you can out of the bag. Insert a straw into the itty-bitty whole. Suck the air out. Take a picture because it's funny. Once the air is out, remove the straw and close the bag up all the way.

You can see that I got almost all of the air removed from the bag. This protects your freezer items even more. Ta-da!!! You have broccoli all ready to freeze. Just like store-bought frozen broccoli, you don't want to cook this too long after it's been frozen. Just enough to get it hot. Yum!