Introduction: Freeze Garden Greens in Ice-cube Trays
As a first time gardener, I didn't know what to expect of greens grown under the midnight sun.... so I overplanted my garden.
Now I'm struggling to keep up with the bounty!
I researched a few different techniques for preserving garden veggies: like this article and this one and this one.
But I came up with this method to create garden green pucks - similar to how spinach is sold in those frozen bags- out of experimentation.
Step 1: Harvest
I was focused on my greens, because the other veggies I'm growing will keep much longer.
I wanted to use up my KALE, BEET TOPS, and SWISS CHARD - but whatever you have in abundance will be delicious.
Step 2: Prepare Greens
- Wash greens (photo 1)
- Chop (photo 2)
- Most of the articles I read recommended blanching before freezing.
- Prepare a large pot of boiling water.
- Place your greens in a strainer.
- Dip them into the boiling water (some websites recommend 2-3 minutes... but I did about 30 seconds to 1 minute)
- Repeat until all of your greens are blanched.
I left the greens to sit in the sink to drain off excess water while I did the next step, turning from time to time.
Step 3: Freeze
- Grease ice-cube trays with a small amount of coconut oil (photo 1). This makes sure that the greens will pop out of the trays without falling apart.
- Fill the trays with your greens mixture, making sure to press them in quite firmly (photo 2)
- Freeze until frozen - approximately 3 hours.
Step 4: Package
Once frozen, you can place all of the pucks in freezer-safe ziplock bag.
I'm looking forward to enjoying my garden greens all winter long! I'm planning to do a few more batches as this was such an easy process and worked so well.
Add these pucks to stir-fry's, soups, etc.

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2 Comments
7 years ago on Introduction
I like this idea - the small puck size will make it easy to vary how much to add to a meal (eg large stir-fry vs small soup).
7 years ago
Nice idea! Way better than a single big block in the freezer. No need for the chainsaw anymore...