Freezing Squash

Kroger had a great price on Organic Butternut Squash ($2.99 each and they were huge) so I grabbed a bunch -eating some now but also wanting to preserve some for later.  I decided to freeze three of them and thought I would share how I did it so you can see how simple it is.  Anytime you have extra veggies that you wont be able to use before they spoil (or a great deal like this), simply freeze or otherwise preserve the extras and you will save money as well as adding to your 'emergency' food supplies.

The 3 I chose to freeze

First peel off the outer skin.  You may need to go over the squash twice in order to get all of the skin off.  See the color difference here?  You want the lighter color all removed so all you have is the deep yellow flesh left.  

(No idea why these two pictures are backwards!?)  

Cut in half (pic below) and then cut off the stem end (above).

Cut the top section in half, slice into crescents, and then dice into pieces.  

Slice the bottom in half revealing the seed section.  

Using a large spoon, scoop out the seeds and pulp.

I saved the seeds to eat later.  (Rinse and soak overnight in salty water then dehydrate or bake until crisp -yummy!)

 Slice off the bottom end

Cut the blossom/hard portion off and save the side pieces.  (Its all about saving every bit you can!)

Again,slice into strips and then dice into pieces.   

The container of diced squash pieces.  

I wanted mine in 4c portions as that will be about 1 meal for my family.  

You can freeze them in ziploc bags if you only want to freeze them for a few months. (Up to 6.)

Or you can vacuum seal them and they will remain fresh for years in the freezer.  (I love our FoodSaver-Jarden GameSaver Silver but even the more basic FoodSaver - GameSaver would be great!)

(Note I recommend labeling your bags BEFORE you put the squash in them -sure is hard to write on those chunks of squash in those bags!)  

If you prefer, you can also cook the squash chunks, mash them and then add them to ziploc bags for freezing.  I may go back to Kroger and get a few more if they still have the sale and do that.  We love butternut squash mashed and cooked with lots of yummy butter and sea salt!