What to do with some fruits and veggies that are about to go bad?
Freeze them! Always freeze them!
I hate wasting food. Or anything really.
These bananas (which I bought overripe on purpose so I can freeze them) are about to be mushy. So I cut them up and stuck them in the freezer for smoothies, oatmeal, yogurt, peanut butter, or by themselves as a snack.
I freeze anything from bananas, spinach (for smoothies), strawberries, grapes, carrots, pineapple, mangoes, blueberries.
I also do the same with non-fruits or veggies for meal prep purposes!
I buy large packages of cheese blocks (both sliced and not sliced), bulk ground beef or turkey, chicken breast, steaks, roasts -- break open those bulk packages and wrap them individually, two or three at a time, whatever you need for you and your family, then freeze them! I always wrap them in plastic cling wrap, put them into a freezer Ziploc and write the date on them. (And I try to re-use the Ziploc bag instead of throwing it away - the meat didn't actually touch the bag if you've wrapped them well).
A huge help with this, has also been to cook the ground beef, turkey, or sausage first, (let it cool) then wrap and freeze it -- this makes meals even faster and easier. I don't have to try and thaw a huge hunk of frozen ground beef in order to make some spaghetti.
Today I actually was out of my meal prepped meat for lunch, so I was going to make a salad and put some chicken strips on it. I rummaged through the freezer and found some already cooked, crumbled, ground turkey I had (for I don't know what reason) and I threw it in the microwave for a minute and tossed it on my salad! 6 ounces of turkey for 33 grams of Protein added to my salad in literally one minute.
I've side-tracked myself into the non-fruit and veggies, sorry, back to the banana thing.
I lay wax paper down on the cookie sheet - it's easier to scrape the frozen banana slices off of the wax or parchment paper with a spatula than it is just off the cookie sheet itself.
Slice your fruit or veggies up (if you want to). Big chunks for smoothies, small chunks for snacks, yogurt, oatmeal, adding to your water jug, etc. (Side tip for the non-water drinkers: throw some strawberries, blueberries, cucumbers, or pineapple into your water bottle or water jug [Ashley bought me an awesome fruit-infuser water bottle for my birthday which I use for this constantly] for a different taste. These also have antioxidant properties, and for those of you who fast, as long as you don't eat the fruit, it won't break your fast).
When I freeze spinach, I just throw the bag into the freezer, I don't put it on the cookie sheet first, I used to, but it freezes just fine in a bag and then you can crumple it up and not need to stuff whole spinach leaves into your smoothie cup. When you've crumpled it, it's also ready to scoop out with your measuring cup (for those of you that log your food like me).
When all the slices are ready, just throw your cookie sheet in the freezer (make sure ahead of time the pan you choose will fit!). I leave mine in the freezer anywhere from a couple hours to a day, depending on my schedule or if I forget about it. But I always make myself a note - leaving bananas uncovered in the freezer for longer than a day starts to get gross - they look like they're shriveling up.
I hope you enjoy!!
xoxo,
Christine