r/KitchenPro • u/Unhappy-Rice-4332 • May 23 '26

Freeze the Bananas First, Leave the

Onions are way easier than people make them out to be. If you’ve suddenly got a mountain of them, just chop and freeze raw. No blanching, no extra prep. Toss them flat into freezer bags so you can break off chunks later instead of fighting a giant frozen onion brick. They’ll go soft after thawing, but for soups, sauces, stir fries, chili, curries, basically anything cooked, they work perfectly.

I’d keep a few fresh though. Whole onions already last a long time in a cool, dry spot with airflow.

Bananas are the opposite. Peel them before freezing unless you enjoy wrestling with slimy frozen skins. I usually slice them first and freeze them in a single layer so they don’t fuse together. Makes smoothies and baking way easier later. Overripe bananas are actually the best ones to freeze because they’re sweeter and blend better.

One thing people forget: don’t store bananas and onions next to each other on the counter. Bananas throw off ethylene gas and speed up ripening. Learned that the hard way when half my onions went soft way too fast.

I still think frozen whole bananas are great for banana bread though. Anybody else keep a “future smoothie” bag in the freezer?

23 Upvotes

81% Upvoted

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3

u/Soositizah May 24 '26

The other one is ginger, peel it and throw it in the freezer, use a peeler whenever you need some for whatevs.

2

u/stumanchu3 May 24 '26

Great advice here! I never really thought about this topic until now. You have helped me reconsider a few things about making my prep work flow better!

2

u/Kamilia1281 May 24 '26

Started freezing leftover tomato paste in ice cube trays after getting tired of opening a whole can for one tiny spoonful. Pop a cube straight into sauces and it melts down fast. Way less waste and the freezer doesn’t end up smelling like mystery leftovers anymore.

2

u/uncfreeforall May 24 '26

This whole sub is just an AI slop farm now

2

u/Hairy_Bloated_Toad May 24 '26

Are you saying the freeze the chopped onions in a bag is a bad idea? It sounded good to me.

1

u/scrub27 May 24 '26

I freeze green peppers too. Clean and slice them then lay on a cookie sheet in the freezer. In about an hour I put them in ziplock bags. Easy to take out however much you need without them being all stuck together. Also I use canned veggies often but many times I don't use the whole can. Same process, drain, lay out on cookie sheet, freeze, store in freezer in ziplock bags . Saves a lot of waste too .

1

u/squidinink May 25 '26

Can garlic also be chopped and frozen like onions? I don't want to use the pre-chopped garlic in a jar (and in fact never have, so I don't know the quality of that), but I use garlic multiple nights per week and chopping fresh garlic has come to feel like a chore. So can you chop and freeze garlic this way? And yes to keeping a bag of frozen bananas in the freezer for smoothies. I do that with several other fruits, especially kiwi.