With some fruits and vegetables, you can stick them in a freezer bag or container and forget about them; greens are not those.

The following is step by step instructions for how to freeze your greens to ensure they last for as long as you need them.

Rinse

Rinse the spinach well. Sorting out any weeds, browned or damaged leaves or other things (bugs) that might have gotten mixed in.

Spinach will often have dirt hiding in its leaves so you need to rinse well.

Blanch

Spinach and other greens need to be blanched before freezing. This helps retain the color and nutrition.

Bring enough water to cover your spinach to a boil. I use my blancher but a large pot will work as well. When the water is boiling throw in the spinach use a spoon to lightly push the spinach down so it is all down in the water.

Place the lid on to hold in any steam.  Start timing right away for 2 minutes.

Cool immediately

As soon as time is up remove spinach to a bowl of very cold or even ice water.

This stops the cooking. The spinach will have reduced in mass somewhat but not as much as you might think.

Drain Spinach and Dry

The last step is to drain the spinach and dry. I have a salad spinner that I use to spin the water off.

If you don't have one you can simple drain in a colander then spread out on paper towels and blot dry.

Package

For freezing spinach freezer bags are a very easy way to pack them for the freezer.

During any survival situation or even during a long winter, greens are an important part of any balanced and nutritious diet.

You must, however, store greens properly or you risk finding them non-palatable when you want to eat them.

For more information on canning fruits and vegetables, please visit Simply Canning.