If you find yourself turning down fresh fruits and vegetables that are on sale this summer or coming from a friend’s garden because you can’t use them before they go bad, you need to look into getting a freezer. When you figure out how to preserve the best foods of the summer, you can enjoy them all year long. We have some important tips to remember when freezing fruits and veggies.

• Freeze them at their peak of freshness.
• Blanch the vegetables briefly in boiling water, and then submerge them in ice water. Dry them with a paper towel before packaging.
• Store fruits and veggies in heavyweight, airtight containers or freezer bags.
• Fill the containers all the way to the top, and remove as much air as possible from the freezer bags.
• Keep it very cold; the best temperature is at zero degrees or colder. Fruits will be good to use for up to a year, and veggies can go for 18 months. You can store them longer, but the quality may not be as good.

Freezing fruits and vegetables may take some time, but it’s pretty easy to do. It’s a small price to pay to have garden-fresh produce throughout the year.