How To Freeze Green Peppers

One of the easiest ways to save money on your groceries is to buy vegetables and fruit when they are in season and freeze them for later use.

This week at my local grocery store green peppers are on sale for $.50.  When I went the selection was good and they were crisp, green and bright.  I have a few recipes that use chopped up green peppers and they are VERY expensive in the winter months.  So I grabbed four to freeze so I would have them all winter long.

Freezing green peppers is surprisingly easy.  While you can blanch them before they are frozen it is not necessary. 

Step One: Select the green peppers you would like to freeze.  While I purchased mine at the grocery store, I could have bought them earlier in the season at the Farmers Market.  Additionally you can purchase them often at a discount if your local store has some that are not at the peak of freshness.

Step Two: Wash the peppers in cold or luke warm water and then dry them thoroughly.

Step Three: Slice the pepper while removing the seeds.  I sliced mine into long pieces.   

Step Four: If desired chop into smaller pieces.  I have an awesome food chopper so it only took a moment.

Step 5: Bag them for freezing.  If you have a food saver you can seal them.  If you don’t (like me) get some high quality freezer bags.  Be sure to label the packaging so you know when they were sealed.  Fill the bag as full as you would like it and let out as much air as possible.  Most people recommend sealing it almost all the way and inserting a straw.  Suck the remaining air out and seal. 

The peppers should last about 9 months in a freezer bag. So you should be able to use them until the price on peppers goes down again next year!