When the banana skins start to get brown, I peel the bananas and wrap each one in plastic wrap. Once I have them all wrapped, I place them in a freezer zip bag and store them in the door of my kitchen freezer. If I only want one for a smoothie or need several to make bread or muffins, the whole bunch isn't frozen as one big chunk!
By Donna from Edmond, OK
This page contains the following solutions.
I eat a banana every day, not only because it's delicious, but they are good for you. On these hot days, it's so refreshing to sit in the swing on the porch and eat a frozen banana.
This is a good way to use up bananas before they go bad. You can easily use them for diverse purposes such as smoothies or banana bread, when you cut them up, freeze separately on a tray, and then put them in a bag.
Here are the questions asked by community members. Read on to see the answers provided by the ThriftyFun community.
When deep-freezing bananas, the starch therein, or at least some part of it, turns to sugar. Will this be dextrose or fructose?
Thank you.
By Fluesterwitz
The freezing should slow down the ripening, which is what converts the starch to sugar. It looks like ripening bananas develop fructose, glucose and sucrose.
If I dip bananas in lemon juice prior to freezing to prevent them from turning black, will the lemon juice ruin the taste of the banana?
By June
Lemon juice will make them a little more tart so it just depends on what you are using them for. I generally like to add lemon or lime juice to my fruit salads.
I did see other people recommending soda water but I have not tried that myself. It should not change the flavor if it worked.
What is the disadvantage of freezing? My teacher says we can't freeze bananas.
By Harish
Yes, you can freeze bananas. You can't thaw them out and eat like you would right out of the peel, but they can still be frozen and used inside other dishes (banana bread, for example) or they make delish treats. You can freeze them right in the peel and then open up the peel, remove them and eat or run through a food processor a bit and have "ice cream".
Can I freeze mashed, ripe bananas for future use?
By Sandy from Memphis, TN
I don't even bother to mash them. I just peel them, put them in a ziploc bag, squeeze any air out and freeze!
I put the entire unpeeled banana into the freezer. When I am ready to use it, I let it thaw and then I snip the end off and squeeze.
You can freeze them without peeling them if you want but I like to peel them then slice them thinly. They make a wonderful frozen snack and the kids love them that way. I slice them and lay the slices on an acrilic cutting board.
When is the best time to put the bananas in the freezer? I need to know the best time to cut them before placing in the freezer for my smoothies. When they are green or right as they start turning ripe?
By Dawn
When my bananas start to turn a little brown, I throw them in the freezer peel and all. When I want to use them for my smoothies I run them under hot water for a few moments and then peel them and throw them in my drinks.
You want to wait until brown spots are forming. The brown spots indicate bananas are at maximum sweetness. I have banana peanut butter smoothies 3-4 times a week.
A common way to freeze bananas for use later is to simply freeze them with the peel still intact. This is a page about freezing bananas in the peel.
Here is the perfect thing to do with bananas that ripen too soon. Mash them up and freeze them for a future batch of banana bread or pancakes, or just to add to a morning smoothie.
Simply sandwich creamy peanut butter between slices of banana, then dip it in melted chocolate. A perfect grab and go treat!
If you are not ready to use them now, you can freeze overripe bananas for use later in baking. This is a page about freezing overripe bananas.
ThriftyFun is one of the longest running frugal living communities on the Internet. These are archives of older discussions.
I have a few bananas that are starting to turn. I want to use them in a recipe, but can't make it till Sunday.
