Freezing Bananas (a re-post)

I originally posted this 1-25-11.


I bake a lot of banana bread when I am baking for the farmers' market in the summer.  I do also bake it some when it is not farmers' market season, though my kids would say not enough.  I don't like to pay 50 cents a pound for bananas.  I also don't like my kitchen to smell like rotten bananas.  So I stalk my local grocery store.  Their policy is to discount bananas when there is no longer any green on the skin.  Once they are discounted, the customer can purchase a bag of bananas (usually about 2-3 big bunches) for a buck.  (Our Fareway changed their produce person, and the banana policy changed at the same time.  It is no longer that great of a deal, but better than full price.  I have found bags of bananas at HyVee though.)

I discovered a few years ago how easy it is to freeze bananas.  I peel and freeze the bananas whole in the amounts I need for a recipe.  If you need 2-3 bananas for a loaf a bread, freeze 2-3 bananas together in a baggy.  Pull a baggy of bananas out of the freezer the night before you bake.  The bananas with thaw into a brown puddle of mush, but this is perfect for banana bread!  No need to mash the bananas ahead of time.


I also do the something similar with zucchini.  I shred it, measure out the amounts I need for my recipes, and freeze to use later for baking.
I am sharing this post with the frugal ladies hosting the Frugal Tuesday Blog Hop.  Head on over to Learning the Frugal Life on Tuesday to see other frugal tips.  Post your own frugal tip on Tuesday and join us!