filling the freezer

Being too tired and too busy to do much canning up to this point I nonetheless have lots of produce that needs to be taken care of. Today was designated "the day" and I chopped, sliced, diced and prepared for the freezer. I almost got rid of the freezer thinking that we have two adult-sized children leaving for college and it wouldn't make sense to keep it. Hah! Hah I tell you. When you start freezing stuff suddenly there doesn't appear to be as much empty space and one might have otherwise expected.

I prepare all of my frozen items in freezer bags, laid flat on a cookie sheet to chill and then stacked sideways to take up less room. I learned this trick from Amy Dacyczyn of Tightwad Gazette fame.

New packages gracing our shelves include:

3 quarts of shredded zucchini
2 quarts of shredded yellow squash
2 quarts of salsa
pesto
3 quarts of fresh picked blackberries (some of these are as big as my thumb!!)
1 quart of kale
1 quart of swiss chard
3 quarts of green beans
1 quart of beets
plus I have a red cabbage dehydrating on the back porch

Whew! I'm tired. Somehow looking at the list does not adequately describe all of the preparation that goes into putting this food away. But I know that in the frozen depths of winter we will surely be grateful for this bounty.