One of my favorite life hacks is to buy discount produce at the grocery. I can often save as much as 50% by purchasing fruits and vegetables just past their prime or are not pretty. The key to this is knowing how to handle an abundance of fruits and vegetables. Freezing is one of the easiest and quickest ways of preserving an abundance of fresh vegetables whether they are from your own garden, the farmer's market, or the grocery. While most produce can be frozen, it is important to learn the techniques, and which technique is going to work best with each type of produce.
There are four basic techniques that will serve you well for most produce. Blanching will be used in most cases. Sugaring is used for some fruits. Stewing is used for some firm fruits. Chopping and freezing can be used for many herbs, onions, garlic, and mushrooms. My first choice is always "cellaring" for any fruit or vegetable that is firm and has a long storage life, but not everyone has a root cellar, and there will always be a need to extend the life of produce.
For this article, I am going to cover the basics of blanching. Stewing, sugaring, will be covered in their own articles. Blanching is the practice of stopping the enzyme action of the produce. It helps the vegetables stay tasty and nutritious in the freezer. This becomes even more important when you start growing your own food and learn to forage.
Not all fruits and vegetables need to be processed in order to put them in the freezer. A few can be put in almost as they are. For these, I get them ready for the recipe, throw them in bags, and plop them in the freezer. More extensive methods for getting produce ready for the freezer are covered in the sister articles to this one.
I use the chop and drop method when I am already cooking a meal and have the equipment out. I chop extra vegetables while I am supervising the cooking. For this to work for me, I prepare the vegetables in the same way that I would use them in a typical recipe if they were fresh. I then put the amount needed for a recipe in each bag, seal it, and place it in the freezer in a single layer.
Here are some specifics:
Onions: Peel and chop or dice and store one onion per bag.
Peppers: Wash and seed the peppers. Dice the peppers and store them in a thin layer in the bag. I can break this apart and use as much as I need.
Garlic: peel and finely mince. I spread them in a thin layer in a bag and freeze the bag flat. When I need garlic, I break off what I need.
Most Leafy Herbs: Wash and chop the herbs. I would mix the herbs with a bit of olive oil and freeze it in small batches.
Pro Tip: Mix your onions, garlic, peppers, and herbs together like you would use them in a recipe. Add a bit of olive oil. Store this mix in recipe sized potions in bags and freeze them. Some blends to conider are chili blends, pasta blends, chinachurri ( a hot spice blend) , Harrisa (a hot spice blend), home made sausage blends, Mexican blends, Chinese blends.