How to Freeze Strawberries

Ingredients
Fresh strawberries - any quantity

Step 1 - Get your berries!
Start with the freshest strawberries you can find. Look for plump, full berries with a good color.

Step 2 - Wash the strawberries in a bowl of plain cold water.
Then you need to pick out and remove the stems, leaves and soft l. It is easiest to do this in a large bowl of water and gently run your hands through the strawberries as they float. Drain the strawberries.

Step 3 - Drain the strawberries
Use a large colander to remove as much water as possible. I usually let them sit for about 15 minutes in the colander.

Step 4 - Cut the leaves off the strawberries
Cut the leaves off the strawberries, then drain the water from them. You can cut the berries up, or leave them whole, as you like.

Step 5 - Put them a freezer bag
Fill freezer ziplock bags full of strawberries. It works best to have 1 layer of berries.

6. Seal the strawberries
.
Tip
1 straw is needed

Seal the ziplock bag all the way to one end, leaving space to put the straw in the bag about 1-2 inches. Being careful to not harm the strawberries. This may seem different, but just suck the air out of the bag. It only takes a little to have it all out.

A tip for a low budget vacuum sealer:
To remove the excess air from a ziploc bag, put a straw inside the bag and zip it closed as far as possible. Then suck the air out of the bag, pinch the straw shut where it enters the bag and pull it from the bag and quickly zip the bag the rest of the way.

Step 6 - Label the bags!
I use a sharpie marker and put the month day and year.

Step 7 Freeze
Pop them into the deep freeze, or in the coldest part of your regular freezer!
To use them, just set them in the fridge overnight, or on the counter for a couple of hours. I wouldn't recommend the microwave unless you are planning to cook with them!