Can I freeze carrots?

Question

My mother in law took me to Kostco the other day and we bought a bunch of stuff in bulk. Part of that was the massive bag of baby carrots. There is no way my husband and I can eat through that bag of carrots before they start going bad. Can I put them in a bag and toss them in the freezer to save until later?

If I do freeze them, do I need to pre-cook them or can I freeze them raw? Once they are thawed, will they behave differently from regular raw carrots? (I don't mind have to cook them once they are thawed, I just want to know if I should expect to cook them or will they work raw)

Answer 1

I recomend that you precook the carrots before freezing. The peppers can be chopped and frozen uncooked.

Answer 2

yes you can freeze them raw with no problem

peppers are not well frozen

Answer 3

You can freeze both carrots and peppers.  

For the carrots you will need to blanch them first.  You do this by.... boiling a pot of water..... when the water hits a rapid boil..... drop the carrots in.... boil for exactly three minutes....drain... and then submerge them in cold ice water..... when chilled.... drain again.... and bag them in freezer bags.  They work out great for cooking carrots for dinner.

As far as the peppers.... its really simple.  I usally... just cut them in half... de-stem and de-seed them..... and place them in freezer bags.  Peppers do not need to blanched.

Now.... you won't be able to take these vegetables out of the freezer thaw and serve raw(you could but it would be not as desirable.)   But the carrots and peppers are great for cooking into things.

Answer 4

As a gardener, I have found that most veggies can be frozen if you blanch them.  I like to spread them on cookie sheets to freeze then transfer them to freezer bags so they don't get all clumped together.

Answer 5

Yes it is definitley safe to freeze all of these vegetables.  I would first trim and slice them; whole carrots - cut the ends, cocktail carrots - as is.  I would seed and slice, or at least half the bell peppers.  Ziploc freezer bags preserve very well and they now have the bags with the device you can remove all the air and this would help last even longer.  All of these should cook as normal fresh veggies once thawed.

Answer 6

I would recommend that you precook them or at least blanch (place in boiling water for 3 to 5 minutes) the carrots before freezing.

Edit...

For bell peppers, just wash - clean out seeds and the whitish membrane.  Cut into strips or chunks and freeze.

http://lancaster.unl.edu/food/ciqpeppers...

Answer 7

yeah you can freeze them, atleast they will last longer.

=]

Answer 8

I have in the past put my carrots straight in the freezer.  You won't want to use them to eat raw once they have been frozen.  But you can cook them in soups.  Whenever we go on vacation, I dice up all my vegetables (onions, celery, carrots) and put them in zip lock bags and freeze them - to go into soup when I return.  I think you're out of luck on the bell peppers.  They don't freeze well at all.  And yet I have seen frozen hash browns in the store with little pieces of bell pepper in with them.  You might be able to get away with it by dicing them into very small pieces and using them sparingly in your potato dishes and soups.