Cutting Costs: Freezing Corn

One thing we look forward to each summer is corn-on-the-cob from our local farmer's market. I always wished I could have this flavor of corn all year round. While searching for farmer's markets in our area, I found this fabulous article on how to freeze corn. I thought to myself, why not?

I picked up 4 dozen ears of corn and started off on the adventure. Nathan had a good time "helping" me husk some of the ears. (I turned my back for a second and he had started munching on some, though!) :) All in all, the process wasn't too bad. I wasn't able to get a FoodSaver machine (We're on a budget!) so I invested in a Handi-Vac by Reynolds. They run about $9 or less and the bags are around $2 each. How simple are they to use? I let Nathan use it to suction out the last bag. I was very impressed with it. I'll have to see how well it keeps things from getting freezer burnt. I plan on using this for everything I freeze now! The bags cost around the same price as regular freezer storage bags.

How much of a savings? Well, it was hard to put an exact dollar on this. I lost some from Nathan stealing it and feeding it to the dogs but overall, I ended up with about 24-12oz bags of frozen corn. I did leave some ears for lunch/supper. So in the end, I think I saved about $15 with just this one batch. (I figured low, getting the 12oz bags on sale for $1 in the store.) If I would have done this without Nathan, I probably could have gotten a few more bags but we had so much fun that I didn't care about our "losses."

But overall, can you really put a price on farm-tasting corn year-round? I am looking forward to adding some of this to our Taco Chili recipe that we make on the first kick-off game of the Bears!