My mother has frozen shredded zucchini for years, she just makes sure that it is as dry as possible. She uses paper towel to squeeze the moisture out as much as she can. Also measures out the amount she needs in her recipes and freezing in that amount. She uses Ziploc bags.

Same here. Works well.

Dave

Wow sounds like you did a lot of work! I have not done this before but I have an abundance of zucchini and I think I am going to do this too. I just wonder since zucchini has such a high content of water in it even with squeezing out as much liquid out as possible when it thaws out is it mushy and watery?
I guess if it is you can drain off the water but would the measurement be different then? Just some thoughts. Thanks for asking this question Judy.
Tina

When you thaw it, use the water and the shreds in your recipe since it would have all been there if used fresh.

I made zucchini patties (squash, bread crumbs, egg, seasonings), baked them and they're now in the freezer. I want to see how they hold up.

Deanna

I don't dry it at all. I just freeze the grated zucchini as-is, and then, when it thaws, the liquid is automatically separate.

For patties i use the solids only (because my recipe says to drain if using fresh) and I save the liquid for making soup, rice, etc. Often by putting it back in the freezer for another day :).

You could sling it in a salad spinner to get the most liquid out. I do that with shredded potatoes before making hash browns. Huge difference.

I freeze shredded squash every summer. I love tossing it into spaghetti sauce, soups, lasagna. Depending on the use, I either drain it or throw it in with liquid and all. It is a good way to sneak in a little more nutrition.

I do it every year and it's perfect for zucchini bread and cookies (and other baked goods), or for tossing into spaghetti sauce, soups, or stews. Just be sure that when you're using it for baked goods, you allow it to drain - just like you would if you'd just grated it and were going to use it for baking.

My question is for zucchini bread. My recipe calls for grating and using fresh without draining. This adds the perfect amount of liquid to the mixture. If I freeze for bread, should I drain it, knowing it needs the liquid??

hyacinth, I grate it and freeze it without draining or drying it, but I drain off the liquid from the frozen squash before I add it to my bread. I don't squeeze out any liquid or let it drain for a period of time, I just pour the melted liquid out of the bag and then use the shreds. I do freeze in bags that contain 2 cups of zucchini, because that's what my recipe calls for, and I don't add liquid to make up for the stuff that drains off, but it still comes out fine. I know others have told me to use the liquid, but that just didn't work well in my recipe. Maybe it depends on the recipe, as mine already has pineapple in it also.

Annie

OldDutch, some of us are just picky. I don't care for frozen green beans, so I can those. I also can spaghetti sauce, jams and jellies, pickles, homemade soups, sauerkraut. I do have three freezers and I love them, but the space is taken by my grassfed beef, free range chicken, pigs, my husband's hunting "harvest" of venison, this year we raised 2 dozen ducks, and we have a couple of ponds with fish, plus my family fishes for salmon in Lake Michigan. Freezer space is at a premium, so other than the "proteins", the only items that get my freezer space are berries and shelled Italian Horticultural beans.

So, some of us still can. I do occasionally lose electricity, although we now have a generator so I don't have to can an entire steer like I did one year when we lost power for 5 days. But I'm NOT buying another freezer, and a whole steer and a whole pig will take up most of two freezers, leaving the third one for venison, fish, and the berries and beans. Oh, and rhubarb. Everything else is just going to have to be canned, other than items that cannot be safely canned, like pureed squash and eggplant.

Annie

@annie, being an old man who lives by himself, my biggest issue is getting portions down to the right size! I also still work full time; so my personal time is just not sufficient enough to spend the extra time canning. I have a gas stove top and decent nuker and plenty of freezer space for myself. I will make up extra meals and freeze them in individual sized containers, but those are much like what I normally make for myself, one dishers, generally pre-cooked and brazed in an orange non-stick 8" fry pan. I am still gaining weight; so the portions are still too big! I am finding that even at that restaurant portions are very often double the size it takes to fill me up; so when I eat out with friends or my sisters, we very often split an entre. One meal two plates.

Gardening for me, like fishing, is a hobby. I fish catch and release primarily for crappies, and do not garden for preserving except for my current passion, which is garlic, which I cure and carry over whole, replanting my own stock right along with the red tulips I use to divide the varieties. I only have a 40x120 city lot anyway, and I maintain a couple of nice flower beds; so there is not much space for preservation gardening.

Sorry maam being an old farm boy, I retain a preference for corn fat beef and pork, and confinement fat and tender chicken. I definitely prefer chicken over turkey and domestic meat over wild. Being lactose intolerant, I don't use dairy at all except for well aged cheese. LOL the sharper the cheddar the better.

OldDutch, I'm 63 and my girls are grown and have children of their own, but I often have family dinners so I use all that "protein" stored in the freezers. We started raising grass fed beef when my Dad had his triple by-pass, but I was raised on a farm and so I've canned since I was big enough to stand on a chair and peel tomatoes with my Grandmother. I don't really need a huge garden, but I love it, so I just keep doing that. Back when I was a single Mom working a full time job and trying to help my disabled Father with the farm, I used to take vacation days from work to can. My friends thought I was nuts, LOL.

Annie

LOL More power to ya!

For myself I am close to 70, only a couple of months off, live by myself, no children and am socially pretty much of a hermit, although I have a few friends around in shared activities. I simply do not need so much and cannot grow enough anyway in my small city lot.

When I was a child back on the farm, my mother initially canned a lot, but once she got her first freezer, that declined dramatically. The original house garden had been a full acre, but that got cut back again and again, too, as prices of canned goods fell below the cost of home canning, at least on sale, which my parents shopped pretty carefully. They farmed shares and really didn't have much choice but to watch their pennies.

I garden because I love it too, but tend to concentrate on special favorites. Currently those are garlic and perennial onions, sweet peppers and early tomatoes. I also love daikon radishes which will be getting planted this coming week, now that the garlics are out and that space has been freed up. I think I will also be planting some autumn napa, which I like a whole lot. My veggies have to share the yard with my daylilies, too. Some of the clumps are 30 years old and still blooming strong.

OldDutch, I have daikon radishes right now and Napa, but was thinking I could do a fall planting. Do you start your Napa from seed, or plants? I tried seed and they didn't do well, so started plants, which did well until I planted them, then it got to be 90+ here and all but two died. My husband likes to make kimchi and Napa is really expensive in the stores here.

Annie

Seeds. Some varieties of both daikons and Chinese cabbage will bolt if spring planted but not if summer planted for fall harvest. Michihili Chinese Cabbage is one that is best in the fall, also the so called winter radishes like Chinese white, rose and red and Spanish Black along with a number of Japanese daikons are best planted in the summer for fall harvest. Also true of a number of turnips, better in the fall, and carrots and broccoli, too for that matter.