Hi folks! Hope this is okay to post here. I also put it in r/povertykitchen but I thought slrpnk people would probably have a different perspective.
I recently got a very generous amount of groceries from the local food pantry, including a lot of fresh veggies that I wouldn’t normally buy for myself - I get frozen every time to make sure I don’t waste anything/let it go bad but honestly my diet is mostly carbs since it’s cheap. I have carrots, baby potatoes, cucumbers, a really shocking amount of onions, and some bell peppers. What’s the best way to stretch them as far as possible knowing I may not have access to more fresh veggies for a while (at least until I’m allowed to go back to the food pantry)?
My ideas so far -
- Carrot cake, slice and freeze
- Treat myself to a nice dinner with roast carrots, potatoes, and onions?
- Cucumber sandwiches
- Vegetable soup
As you can see I’m not really sure what to do with a fresh vegetable. Any ideas or should I just try to cook and eat it all as quickly as possible so it doesn’t go to waste?
As other people mentioned the onions should last a long while if stored in a cool dry place. But if you do have a bunch going off at the same time try making a big batch of caramelized onions, then freeze them in ice cube trays. I do this every year and it’s a great addition to soups and stuff, adds great depth of flavour. Also makes a grilled cheese amazing.
You can also chop up a bunch now and freeze them, that way whenever you need some chopped onions for a dish you already have them in the freezer and it’s one less thing you have to do at the time
Huh, I never really thought of just freezing them raw. I guess I figured they would go weird with freezing, but you’re cooking them anyways so I guess that doesn’t matter. Thanks for the tip!
Carrots go weird when frozen raw. The water inside the carrot expands when it freezes and bursts the cell walls, resulting in squishy carrots when defrosted. I learned that the hard way with my first batch of homegrown carrots :( it can be countered by blanching them before freezing.
Onions and garlic however are perfectly fine to freeze raw if chopped beforehand. (They may be fine whole, I’ve just never tried it).