What to do with all of the great fruit deals?

The time of great fresh fruit prices is upon us, so how do we maximize these savings?

My suggestion is to buy a bunch and freeze it! Most of the fruits you can buy fresh can be cleaned and frozen. I buy tons of strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, raspberries, cherries, and peaches during the summertime great prices.

I wash the fruit well in produce wash and let it dry. I then trim anything like stems or yucky looking spots and pit the cherries. Next, I freeze the fruit on a cookie sheet (it is usually easier to remove the frozen fruit if you use wax paper on top of the cookie sheet). Once frozen I place the fruit into a gallon sized plastic storage bags, label it, and throw it in my freezer. Fruit like the berries, cherries can be frozen whole and the peaches can be sliced or just cut in half with the pit removed.

I use this frozen fruit for fruit smoothies, for fruit topping on granola, as fruit in oatmeal (my kids LOVE peaches and cream oatmeal - cooked oats that I put a few slices of peaches in and add milk to it and sometimes a touch of brown sugar. The peaches cool off the oatmeal quickly so they don't have to wait forever for it to cool down to eat!).

There are tons of uses for fruit frozen this way and the beautiful thing about freezing it on the cooking sheet first is that it isn't all frozen together in one large block, you can remove just what you need for your recipe.

My mom actually does a similar thing but portions it up into individual servings in smaller plastic bags. That way when she is running out the door late for work, she can still make herself a healthy breakfast smoothie by just adding some milk and/or yogurt without spending much time on it. The other beautiful thing about making smoothies with frozen fruit, is that you eliminate the need to use ice in it!

This fruit like all other frozen fruit, tends to be a little bit mushier than fresh fruit once defrosted, so keep that in mind when you are planning on using it. I don't like to eat it as a fruit salad, as I don't like the mushier texture - but I know many people that don't mind it.

This fruit is usually cheaper than even the bulk packages you can buy at Costco or Sam's Club, especially if you get it on a great sale. It does take a little more time than the already done bags, but the financial savings can be well worth it in the end!

It really pays to plan and shop ahead, especially on seasonal fruit.