How To Freeze Strawberries | How Long Are Frozen Strawberries Good | Best Way to Freeze and Preserve Fresh Strawberries From Your Garden or Michigan Farm

How to Freeze Strawberries | By Sherry Trautman | Travel-Mi.com

Each year, I am more interested in health, wellness and wanting to know exactly what I put in my body. So I began to experiment with learning how to freeze strawberries that I picked from local Michigan gardens.

After reading informative Dr. Gundry's Plant Paradox book, I'm very concerned about pesticides and additives to our fruits and vegetables (some are sprayed on to quickly ripen store bought fruit!). 

So now I am picking several pounds of fresh strawberries each June/early July to freeze or can to use throughout the year. It took some trial and error to learn how to preserve strawberries...

But I finally figured out how to freeze strawberries in a method that works the best for us. 

So keep reading for the best way for freezing fresh strawberries!

What to do with Frozen Strawberries

I mainly use my frozen strawberries for my daily green smoothies, strawberry pies, strawberry shortcakes and frozen drinks.  For my frozen drinks, I like to blend frozen strawberries, 1/2 a frozen banana and a small amount of fresh cold water.

You can also try blending just frozen strawberries, a bit of water and a dash of lemon.  So refreshing in the summer!

So keep reading for more info on freezing strawberries for smoothies and treats!

How to Freeze Strawberries

Wondering how do you freeze strawberries? Well....

I always pick several pounds of strawberries at one time from one of our local Michigan strawberry farms.  I usually freeze my strawberries in two ways, depending on when I plan to use them.

I begin by cutting all the green tops off the berries then I wash them in a colander with fresh running water. You will want to work in small batches so you can rinse off all the sand and dirt (especially if they are fresh picked).

Then I slice the berries into quarters. 

Next I dump them into a very large container filled with water (I use my canning container) and swish them around once again to make sure all the sand/dirt is removed. 

I lay out several clean red dish towels or you can use paper towels to let the berries dry a bit. 

I then lay the berries in a single layer on cookie sheets and place them into the freezer for a flash freeze. I put them in the freezer uncovered. In my opinion, this is the best way to freeze strawberries.

I leave the strawberries in the freezer for about 4 hours until they are solid. 

I then use a spatula to pry them off the bottom of the cookie sheet. 

This is the best way to freeze fresh strawberries to prevent them from sticking together in a big frozen ball in a freezer bag. You can easily take out as many as you like instead of thawing the whole bag. So you can see, freezing strawberries is easy!

How to Freeze Strawberries For Short Term Use:

If I plan to use my flash frozen fresh strawberries in the next month for my smoothies and fruit drinks I will simply place them into quart sized freezer bags and push out as much air as possible.  For me, I usually freeze 4-5 quart bags worth of fresh Michigan strawberries...yeah, I go through a lot!

How to Freeze Strawberries For Long Term Use:

Since I pick enough strawberries to last all year, I need to prevent freezer burn on my flash frozen strawberries.

We invested in this Food Saver and we absolutely love it. Not only can you freeze and preserve fruits, but we buy large packages of steaks from Costco and freeze half of them. 

Using a Food Saver vacuum sealer really prevents your food from getting ice and freezer burn inside the packages. Vacuum sealers preserve food by depriving the food of oxygen. Mold and bacteria cannot grow without oxygen. 

I freeze small enough packages so once I open them I take out what I need and then use it within 3 days. I close the package with a chip clip and refreeze. 

It works awesome to preserve strawberries!

You can stack several of these lovely freezer bags in your freezer to use throughout the year. I hope you found some helpful tips on how to freeze strawberries!

How Long Are Frozen Strawberries Good?

If you are wondering how long frozen strawberries are good for, it is recommended to use fresh strawberries within 2 to 3 days when stored in the refrigerator. 

However, frozen strawberries can last up to 8 to 12 months according to Good Housekeeping. 

Where to Pick Fresh Michigan Strawberries

I create an interactive map of the best farms in Michigan to pick fresh strawberries. Check it out!

Make Strawberry Pie with Your Fresh Strawberries!

So guys, you gotta try this yummy Michigan Strawberry Pie!  It's so yummy and doesn't use Jell-O! 

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