Freezing Green Beans

The first thing is 
to pick the beans...
which we did!  







Somehow we ended up with two grocery bags of beans for the two of us.  

My niece informed us that they were best cooked within 24 hours.  Well, no way we could eat all of those beans before they spoiled in the fridge.

Solution: Cook one bag and freeze the other.

I have never canned anything and it is on my 'not gonna do' list.  I decided that I would freeze them. Actually it was quite easy though the instructions from my sister-in-law sounded labor intensive.  It  was not:



Step 1: Snap and remove the strings from the beans.
Step 2: Wash the beans thoroughly...they are dirty!
Step 3: Blanch the beans for about three minutes in a large pot of boiling water. Blanch means you are going to partially cook them really fast.
Step 4: While the beans are boiling prepare a large bowl of ice water.
Step 5: At the end of the three minutes remove the beans from the stove.  Then, spoon them out and throw them into the ice water.  I had so many beans the water got warm and I had to do a second bowl of ice water.
Step 6: From the ice water drain and dry the beans on a towel. Then blot them until they are dry with paper towels.

Step 7: Divide them and put them in freezer bags.  
...and this is the tip: 

The trick is to get all of the air out before you seal the bag.  It is really quite easy when you use a straw.  Place the straw down into the bag. Close the bag until the only space left is where the straw comes out.  Then, suck the air out.  You  have to pinch the straw to take a breath until all of the air is gone.  (kind of like those SpaceSaver Bags you see on TV.)  Carefully remove the straw, closely the opening of the bag at the same time.

Voila!  
Success!  
I now have two bags of home grown beans in the freezer for the future.  


We cooked a big pot of beans and had some for supper with plenty left over.  I am thinking we will be eating green beans for a while!