Freezing Strawberries

It's no secret around here that strawberries are my favorite fruit, snack, food, dessert, everything! So when the grocery store had a great sale on them, I couldn't pass it up and stocked up.

I've always loved the idea of freezing leftovers, fresh fruits and veggies or even freezer meals, but I am very limited in my freezer space. We have a normal size fridge/freezer; however, about half of the freezer is taken up by an ice machine.

But I wasn't going to let this stop me! I had already bought them anyway and we couldn't really live on strawberry only meals! So I decided my hand at freezing the berries, and hoped they wouldn't stick together in a huge clumped mess, so here's what I did:

Freezing Strawberries step by step

1. Wash the berries and cut of the tops. Also cut off any squishy parts or just discard the icky looking ones.

2. Slice your berries. I wanted slices since they will a) thaw a little easier and b) are easier to use in desserts and smoothies I think.

3. Lay out the berries in a single layer on a cookie sheet. Put them in the fridge for a few hours so they are nice and chilled.

 

4. Move the berries to the freezer - still on the cookie sheets. I think mine were in there between five and six hours.

5. Remove from the cookie sheets. You may have to get a spatula if they have semi-frozen to the sheet in some areas.

6. Place in a bag and label with the date!

I can happily report that a few days later these were still frozen individually and not in a large clump! It is so nice knowing that I was able to freeze my own FRESH berries for cheaper than I normally buy the frozen bag!