Vegetables – freeze stir-fry vegetables

freezingstir-fryvegetables

I have been buying pre-cut and prepped stir-fry veggies at Trader Joe's and I was wondering if I could freeze my own bags of veggies. Would there be any issues with cutting up stir-fry veggies and freezing them in a conventional home freezer? Are there any veggies that do not freeze well to stay away from? Are there some that work especially well?

Best Answer

You will have the best results if you prep by cutting and blanching prior to freezing. This should ensure that moisture content in the veggies does less damage over time in the freezer and improve color duration. I find it helpful to freeze vegetables separately rather than as mixes as you can always grab from multiple bags, but you can't unmix mixed vegetables without more work.

The majority of vegetables for stir-fry (e.g. broccoli, peas, etc) will freeze well enough, the ones in your freezer aisle obviously freeze a bit better than others. If a vegetable has a high water content (i.e. lettuce, which I hope you aren't stir-frying with) that is more integral to its structure than the cellulose it is likelier to burst cell walls in freezing; these vegetables are better to avoid.