Summer means it’s Farmer’s Market season and fresh fruits galore. We’ve been stocking up on fruit each week, especially on peaches. I love having frozen peaches on hand for smoothies, baking, and my morning oatmeal. When I first thought about freezing the extra fresh fruit I’ve been buying, I just assumed I could put them in a bag and throw them in a freezer.

Instead, I found that it works much better if I flash freeze them first. This way, they freeze individually and I can grab a handful without having to defrost the entire bag if they’ve stuck together.

So, I just lay out the peaches on top of plastic storage containers lids (you could also use a cookie sheet, but we have a side by side refrigerator so a cookie sheet won’t fit in ours) and put it in the freezer for a few hours. You might want to put parchment paper over the lid or cookie sheet so they don’t stick and are easier to remove. Once they’ve frozen, I move them to a freezer bag. This works great for raspberries, strawberries (I cut mine into smaller pieces first), blueberries, grapes and other fruits.

Do you freeze fruit or vegetables to use later? Any tricks to share?