can you freeze fresh greens?

[fruitcake]

The reason I ask is, I just talked to DH at work and he was telling me their gas distributor raised gas prices and that they are going to continue to rise over the next couple of months. We only have a truck that gets 10 mi/gal and live a long way from town. There's a couple small towns near us with grocery stores, but as far as produce goes it is the very basics. Right now I'm only getting to go to a town big enough to buy things like romain and kale every 2 weeks. Now that gas has gone up, I'll have to cut back even more. Maybe once a month. So I'm wonder if green leafy stuff can be frozen for later that way I can stock up while I'm in town? I'm mostly going to make smoothies out of them. We do like salads sometimes, but I've gotten to where I'd rather drink my salad than eat it.

[belleadonna]

Don't think so. I have had lettuce and stuff freeze in my fridge because it was too cold and it ruined the stuff. :(

[Revvell]

Well, you COULD freeze it but not if you want to make salad. Could maybe blend it, then freeze it.

Revvell

[fruitcake]

Well, you COULD freeze it but not if you want to make salad. Could maybe blend it, then freeze it.

Revvell

OK, great! So I can freeze the liquified ones and still have my green smoothies. :) That'll work!

[sport]

Or you can juice them and freeze then.

[Princess Elaine]

My friend freezes large quantities of green smoothies at a time to take to her elderly mother who can defrost them everyday as needed.

I live in So. CA and I forget that not everyone has markets on every corner. Good for you planning ahead .
Elaine

[trinity082482]

I have been experimenting with greens lately.

Freezing them does not work for me. They are disgusting when not completely fresh.

Marinating collard green to eat as a salad was the most nasty thing I have ever tried LOL.. BLAH :p

[momma-rawma]

The juicing first makes sense.

I buy frozen wheat grass juice (don't have a juicer for that). Still tastes like grass when I thaw it out to drink. ;)

[rawererin]

i tried both ways, freezing the greens whole (yuck! i don't recommend it, even with a vacuum sealer) and blending the greens then freezing them, that way seems to work the best.
i picked up some small condiment cups at a restaurant supply store, they're disposable and they come with lids so i put my blended greens in there, that way they don't absorb smells from the freezer.
when i'm ready to use them i just pop a couple of cups into my smoothie, and voila!

[LovingLife]

I freeze my green smoothies all the time. I think the kale actually tastes better in the smoothies after frozen (and defrosted) because it softens up some. I've even gone on trips where I've made up several green smoothies, put them in a cooler for the duration of the car trip (3-4 hours), then put them back in the freezer at the relative's home or motel and it works fine.

Just curious how much your gas is now. Ours is always much higher than the national average. The low for regular gas right now is $3.69/gallon. We live far from town too. Drives me nuts!!!

Edited to add -- maybe early next spring, we can start a challenge to grow our own greens -- then we won't have to depend on the stores and gas, huh?

[fruitcake]

I
Just curious how much your gas is now. Ours is always much higher than the national average. The low for regular gas right now is $3.69/gallon. We live far from town too. Drives me nuts!!!

Edited to add -- maybe early next spring, we can start a challenge to grow our own greens -- then we won't have to depend on the stores and gas, huh?

Our gas is 3.25 right now, which is the highest it's ever been here. DHs family owns a convenience store and their gas distributor said it will be around 4.00 by July.
This year I tried planting some lettuce. The only lettuce I could find were 2 six packs of very sad looking plants, so I mixed and matched taking the best looking ones out of both. So now I have 8 lettuce plants growing in a tire. It's a start! Maybe next year I can have a bigger garden. Looks like we'll need it.
Im threatening to get a goat and a mall wagon. He can keep the yard trimmed and then pull us around in the wagaon LOL no need for gas then

[sport]

Be gratefull.

1 US gallon = 3.7854118 liters
Irish Petrol Prices : April 2007
Surveyed in April (avg. retail price per litre) 111.1c
This means that we are paying €4.20 per gallon which is $5.72


Other European Prices per Liter. Euro Zone Price Comparisons

Austria 1.06
Belgium 1.36
Finland 1.29
Germany 1.32
Greece 0.96
Netherlands 1.47
Italy 1.27
Luxembourg 1.13
Spain 1.01
France 1.27
Portugal 1.30

[unimpressed]

Wow, never thought of juicing and freezing for later. Silly me. I'm kind of getting sick of juicing every day. Does anyone know if there would be some kind of nutrient loss when one freezes and thaws green juice? Also, how long can you freeze green juice for, before it is no longer good? Thanks.

[Veganforlife]

Well, you COULD freeze it but not if you want to make salad. Could maybe blend it, then freeze it.

Revvell

Oh yes! That's what I've done in the past and it works great!