We love this easy Banana Bread recipe!
This is our tried and true banana bread recipe — everyone in our family LOVES it, which is why I’ve been making it for years and years. It’s so easy to make and uses ingredients you probably already have on hand.
I wouldn’t say it is the most healthful banana bread recipe ever invented, but it sure is delicious! Plus, it freezes exceptionally well, which is always a plus in my book!
This recipe works well as a breakfast, snack, dessert, or side dish, and it’s an excellent way to use up over-ripe bananas.
Use up ripe bananas!
We always freeze bananas whole (without peels) in a freezer bag once they are so ripe that no one wants to eat them. And then we save them to use in banana bread! (Here are 55 other recipes for ripe bananas.)
Sometimes we decide to mix things up and add chocolate chips — which is especially amazing if you’re a chocolate lover. Feel free to experiment with other mix-ins too — this is a fantastic base recipe to start with!
Silas often helped me whip up this easy recipe while I made dinner.
Look how tiny (and cute) he is!
Ingredients for Banana Bread
- 4 cups flour (all-purpose, whole-wheat, or a mixture of both)
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup oil (I used melted coconut oil)
- 2 cups sugar (I used turbinado)
- 4 eggs, beaten
- 6-8 bananas, mashed
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1/3 cup milk
Optional Mix-ins for Banana Bread:
- 1 cup mini or regular chocolate chips
- 1 cup chopped walnuts
- 1 cup chopped pecans
- 1 cup butterscotch chips
- 1 full banana, chopped into pieces (not smashed with the other bananas)
How to Make Banana Bread:
1. Preheat oven to 350ºF.
2. Grease two 9″ loaf pans and set aside.
3. In a medium bowl, stir together dry ingredients.
4. In a large bowl, mix all wet ingredients.
5. Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients and blend until just combined.
6. Pour mixture into greased loaf pans and bake in preheated oven 1 hour and 15 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the bread comes out clean.
7. Cool in pan for 10 minutes and then transfer to a wire rack.
8. Eat while still warm, or cool completely and freeze for later.
To freeze: Let the bread cool and slice the loaf. Cover it in plastic wrap and foil (or put in a zip-top freezer bag). Slice the loaf and cover it in plastic wrap, then in foil (or put in a zip-top bag).
To serve: Thaw on the countertop for a few hours or defrost an individual piece in the microwave for 20-45 seconds. We love to serve ours warm with butter. We also love to pull out slices as needed to use on-the-go as a snack!
Freezer-Friendly Banana Bread
Ingredients
- 4 cup flour all purpose or whole wheat
- 2 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 cup melted coconut oil or melted butter
- 2 cups sugar granular or turbinado
- 4 eggs
- 6-8 over ripe bananas mashed
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- ⅓ cup milk
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350ºF.
- Grease two 9″ loaf pans and set aside.
- In a medium bowl, stir together dry ingredients.
- In a large bowl, mix all wet ingredients.
- Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients and blend until just combined.
- Pour mixture into greased loaf pans and bake in preheated oven 1 hour and 15 minutes, or until toothpick inserted into the bread comes out clean.
- Cool in pan for 10 minutes and then transfer to a wire rack.
- Eat while still warm, or cool completely and freeze for later.
Notes
Nutrition
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I have made banana bread for years. According to my family, this recipe is the best by far. Thank you.
YAY! You are so welcome! -Jordan, MSM Team
I’m trying gluten free now! I’m using a gluten free all purposed flour, almond flour for some added protein, and flax seed flour for fiber. I’ll let you know how it turns out!
I need to start to do some more freezer cooking to get ready for back to school. Once school starts things will get crazy and I’ll be glad I did. Thanks for the wonderful ideas.
This recipe turned out so good! Thank you for sharing 🙂
I have to say this recipe is fabulous! I used half white, half wheat flour and the turbinado and the coconut oil and it is wonderful. The smell when it was baking was intoxicating, lol. Thanks for this recipe!
The hour and 15 minute cook time was too long for me and I don’t usually have this problem with my oven. The loaves are edible, but definitely overdone:( Oh well, better than nothing!
what sort of oil could you use in place of coconut oil? Live in the UK and coconut oil is super expensive over here :o(
You could try olive oil. Or, you could try this recipe:
https://moneysavingmom.com/2010/01/bread-machine-cinnamon-roll.html
I got one loaf made (that was all the ripe bananas I had), but it didn’t make it to the freezer :(. Haha! Getting things IN the freezer is going to be a challenge in itself.
I like to make mini loaves of banana bread which are perfect to add to a meal I share with a new mom or friend recovering from surgery. They can pull it out for breakfast or put it in the freezer until they are ready to eat it. I get 3 mini loaves in place of 1 regular size loaf. By doing the small loaves, I can make 3 different kinds, too! I can mix the basic batter then sprinkle chocolate chips in the batter in the pan, or nuts, or both! Just top the loaf (before baking) with whatever you included (nuts, chocolate chips, or nothing) & you’ll know at a glance which variety your bread is! (I wrap mine in plastic wrap & then foil & label before putting in the freezer)
Instead of the full about of oil, I use 3/4 C applesauce & 1/4 C oil & it’s crazy moist!
I made this today, YUM! I topped mine with sugared pecans (I buy them in the produce area, for topping salads).
I’m trying to cook more whole foods as we had gotten in a “convenience” food slump….but I have a hard time getting my kids to eat that way too. Do you have any favorite freezer kid friendly meals? I work full time so it’s hard to prepare whole foods from scratch on a daily basis.
I’m just getting to the 4 Weeks to a More Organized Home assignment. I’ve made a list of the all assignments on one page for easy reference and plan to repeat the unique ones every month. Thanks for the direction! But this comment is really to say that watching yours and others progress has already inspired me to tackle stocking the freezer next month – that is once those 15 half-gallons of milk are out of the way.
I didn’t get freezer baking done today, but I did get inventory of all freezers so I can do my once-a-month shopping this week and I did get 4 and 1/2 pints of apple jelly made with some juice I found in the freezer 🙂
I saw the post last night and had been thinking that it would be nice to have some freezer breakfasts. Since our chickens have been giving us ALOT of eggs lately, I decided to use them up for breakfast meals. Last night I made a new recipe of granola that is left in the oven overnight. YUMMY! This morning, I made a double batch of waffles and a double batch of french toast. I want to make breakfast burritos on Friday. Thanks for the encouragement!
Where did you get the recipe for granola that cooks overnight – That would be awesome
I used your recipe, but I cut the sugar by 1/2 c (so 1 1/2 c for 2 loaves) and it is very good. I might try dropping it to just 1 c for both loaves next time, since I’m diabetic and have to be careful with my sugar and carb intake.
Ooooh that bread looks GOOD.
What a cute little helper! I just started letting my (almost) 3 year old help me cook. I’m not a “player”, but my son loooooves helping, so I figured it would be a great way to spend time together. He loves being the big helper and bragging to his sister and dad when they get home about how he “made” dinner.
Still – he didn’t eat it yesterday! He’s picky. Tonight is pizza. I’m hoping that’ll do it 😉
Rose
I’m bookmarking this series for a weekend mommy/daughter day. Think my oldest would like to do this.
Holy cow, Silas looks JUST like your husband in that first pic!
I cooked from around 1:30 today until 4:30 and I have made two lasagnas, one chicken, broccoli, and rice casserole, one Mexican casserole, and two loaves of banana bread ( I have a recipe I usually use, but I tried yours this time. They’re still in the oven, but they look yummy!) I didn’t think I would be able to accomplish everything I set out to do, because I have a 10 year old, 7 year old, and an *extremely* active 18 month old, but I did it!!! I’m so excited to fill up my deep freeze to lighten the load on myself later in the month. Now to finish up these dishes… 🙁
Already had a plan so did up my apple pie and some black beans for the freezer. Mongolian beef is up next and had thought about meatballs. Maybe I’ll add muffins and pancakes since its breakfast week.
I recently stumbled on your freezer cooking plans and am thrilled. I have seen freezer meal plans in the past, but never healthy (lots of processed and canned foods) and never breakfast! I love the idea of making breakfast ahead!!! I only have ingredients on hand for one loaf, so I am also going to make a few of these: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/downeast-maine-pumpkin-bread using whole wheat pastry flour and raw sugar! Thank you for the hard work that must go into this blog!
I apologize for my link posting twice. The first link DID NOT work for some reason! Sorry! We had a different day. I am allergic to Bananas so there are seldom if ever bananas at our house. We made lots of other gluten free things instead! Thanks for allowing the link-up!
I can’t wait to catch up on this freezer cooking. I have finals this week and am trying to study but I am gonna get this done!!!! So excited.
I didn’t have bananas, so my 5 year old (he’s the chef in our tribe) and I mixed up a double batch of freezer cinnamon rolls and icing/caramel toppings. We had a blast, and he was so proud, because it was the first time he cracked the eggs by himself.
Hoping to mix up a batch of something else this afternoon – maybe some french bread – thanks for the challenge!
Ok. So I have to say I am ashamed at what a horrible mommy I have been! I haven’t been cooking or baking like y’all! But I really need to start! In our house, we have a nut allergy, a gluten sensitivity and also are trying to use less dairy AND go more organic…all in a TIGHT budget. HA! Anyone laughing out loud yet?!
For atarters, I was wondering if any of the recipes y’all have used could be ‘converted’ to Gluten-Free (GF)?
Thanks for the inspiration! I have two loaves baking in the oven now. 🙂
I made a TON of chicken nuggets tonight (6 lbs of chicken breast.) We had chicken nuggets, homemade french fries and corn on the cob for dinner. I fully cooked some for lunches and picky eaters for the rest of the week. The remainder were fried for 1/2 the time and then bagged and frozen for later. I got 4 family-sized pkgs. and 2 kid-sized pkgs. out of it.
Are you no longer cooking GF?
Yes, everyone but one of us has switched back to a regular diet again. It’s nice to get back to normal baking!
Wow just saw this post time to get some bananas….I. new to freeze cooking…..how long does it stay in freezer??!? Thanks I can’t wait to be apart of your challenges.
How do these do Gluten free? Has anyone tried to convert this recipe yet? Most of my family is Gluten free so I’m always changing things up a bit!
Had to work last night late, got hubby off to his out of town trip, 2 oldest off to school, baby down for nap, and little brother cracked the eggs – its in the oven!! Looking forward to it. Hard to find a real yummy banana bread thats not too dry. I halved the oil with applesauce, and was really tempted to add raisins (I usually add em to my version) – but I want to see how yummy this is without too many changes! Thanks Crystal!
Update – looks delicious, tastes….well, next time my pregnancy brain won’t forget the sugar….ahem. 🙂 Gotta make some icing to drizzle over the top! Still, not too bad for sugar free!
This is too funny. The sugar is mysteriously missing from mine too. Can’t even blame pregnancy brain here. Thankfully I threw some choc. chips in mine. My first bite was enough to jog my memory on the sugar but my kids think it’s awesome and now I won’t feel a bit of guilt serving them for breakfast. It’s a win win.
I am glad to hear that, I left out a small amount of the sugar (on purpose) and am considering cutting it in half next time I make this bread.
I saw you were starting this series and realized my frozen breakfast food supply was dwindling. I’m one of those weirdos that actually likes doing a BIG freezer cooking day once every 4-6 weeks (usually 15-17 recipes, doubled for 30-35 meals total) but I like to scoot into the kitchen on in between days for other meal prep and preping produce, etc. I find on sale. Yesterday I already had plans to finish up my “homemade cream of something soups” I need for my freezer cooking next week so I added a double batch of WW choc. chip waffles, double batch of freezer oatmeal (which is baking off in muffin tins right now..YUM!!) I can freeze individual portions this way so my littles have a quick, yummy breakfast with little effort, a big batch of croutons and some no-bake energy balls (dubbed power balls in our house) great for weekend hikes and bike rides. Today is crock pot mashed potatoes for the freezer and maybe the cinnamon rolls then off to tend to the garden and mow the grass 🙂 I love baking breads for the freezer but I find when I pull them out the loaf from the freezer always has a “funny freezer” taste to me. My husband doesn’t notice it but it bothers me. I double wrap in plastic then foil. Any suggestions?
Oh my goodness! I didn’t see this until late last night, but as soon as I did,I thought “I just got some overripe bananas at the store today, how fortuitous!” So I woke up this morning with visions of banana bread dancing before my eyes, and whipped up a batch. I halved the recipe and divided it into 4 mini loaf pans that I happened to have laying around. I also added some Chinese five spice powder, which just makes bananas go crazy ^_^ It’s in the oven now, I can’t wait to see how tasty it is!
I so looked up a recipe for banana bread today!!! Will be doing a double batch now!!!! great idea to fill the freezer!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
My recipe calls for no milk or eggs,,,,,,I have a sis in law visiting with allergies.
Can I get that recipe?
I like to use a few mini-chocolate chips in my banana bread batter. (The mini’s don’t all fall to the bottom of the loaf like the regular chips do!)
I have not tried it but have been told if you toss your choc chips in some flour before putting in the batter they won’t sink.
I have tried it & it works ok. I still like to put 1/2 the batter in & sprinkle with chocolate chips then put the rest in & top with chocolate chips. (I make loaves with nuts, some with nuts & chocolate chips & some with just chocolate chips. I sprinkle nuts or chocolate chips or both on top so at a glance I know which ones have nuts, chocolate or neither!)
I didn’t make the bread but did make a big batch of baby food, 3o sandwiches for my husbands lunches (he’s working 14 hr days this month and asked for 2/day), roasted and shredded chicken leg quarters that were on sale, and prepped Italian beef for today.
I like to turn bread recipes into muffins for easy freezing. My favorite was making a healthier version of my grandmas cranberry bread into muffins (which is on my list this week to put in the freezer since i had thrown extra cranberries in the freezer at christmas and want to use them up). I’ve also turned a pb banana bread into delicious muffins.
Also attempting granola bars this week. …this one is a first, been using personalized baked oatmeal but wanting something more bar like.
This is sort of an off-topic question. Do you have a reason for using foil to put the bread in the freezer? I usually use freezer ziplocs, that I can reuse, but wondered if you found better results with the foil.
KellyH
As mentioned in the post, either one works — I just use whatever I have more of. 🙂
That had to take a lot of willpower not to let anyone have a slice before freezing it all! Not sure I could do it with those yummy smells in the air!
I bake a lot but have never baked with Turbinado. Do I need to throw it in the food processor before use? Does it change the texture at all from using granulated sugar?
Thanks!
I am going to make some banana bread and strawberry sour cream bread today – thanks for the idea of slicing and freezing it. My family always tries to eat it all up and it will be nice to spread the joy over a few months instead of gaining all the weight from eating too much at once!!
What is strawberry sour cream bread? It sounds yummy! Would you mind posting the recipe?
It is a lot like banana bread but useful when we have fresh strawberries. Here is my recipe:
Strawberry Sour Cream Bread
2 1/3 cups Bisquick or homemade baking mix
3/4 cup sugar
1/3 cup sour cream
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoon cinnamon
3 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup washed, hulled, and chopped fresh strawberries or you can use
partially frozen unsweetened strawberries, chopped
1/2 cup pecans, chopped
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray a loaf pan with nonstick cooking spray and flour. Combine baking mix, sugar, sour cream, oil, cinnamon, eggs, and vanilla. Beat 50 strokes by hand. Fold in strawberries and nuts. Pour into prepared pan and bake 45-60 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool loaf for 5 to 10 minutes on wire rack before removing from pan.
I cooked this at the same time as the banana bread with no problem!
What kind of milk do you use? Vitamin D, 2%, Skim? Does it matter or can I use either? Sorry, new to baking and would love to try this!
TIA
Any kind will work — even non-dairy milk.
I made 20 mini breakfast burritos…phew! It was on my to do list forever so thanks for inspiring me. Praying they last until the end of the school year…I hope to make something each day!
Wow! I’m impressed! Way to go!
I love freezing things! What a great idea to do it slower! My goal for this month is to use the different odd things in our freezer, then focus on summer freezing ideas! Going to be back to visit for these great ideas! Thanks!
I didn’t get around to the store to buy bananas, but I did make 3 pans of lasagna when I got home from work. We had one for dinner and froze 2 pans. I love having a stocked freezer.
I made your whole wheat waffles last night but they failed in my waffle iron, so I turned them into pancakes. I hope they taste good! I doubled the batch making 16 pancakes (8 breakfasts for 2) for us. Hopefully they’ll get eaten when I am at work in the evenings!
Thank you so much for this great challenge! I’m excited to learn more freezer cooking, with your help. Question about this recipe: I’ve never used coconut oil before. Why do you like using this over the typical veg or canola oil? Any advantages to coconut oil? Thanks!!
I used it because that’s what I had on hand. 🙂
I have never done freezer cooking, but this has inspired me to try a bit. It’s just my husband and me and we only eat quick breakfasts, so instead when I made spaghetti last night, I froze half the bolognese sauce for later. I’m hoping to do a few more things in the next few weeks.
I mixed up a double batch of the whole wheat waffles. The problem is, between us and our 14 month old quadruplets, less than a batch made it to the freezer!
My husband thought they were great and he isn’t a big fan of breakfast food! And the kids devoured them! We topped ours with fresh strawberries which was amazing!
Wow, quadruplets? I find the one 14 month old I have a handful! 🙂
Yeah, they are definitely a handful but also a huge blessing! 🙂
I had frozen some mashed bananas about a month ago and was letting them defrost to make the banana bread and had already mixed the rest of the ingredients together when I discovered that the frozen bananas were Yucky! They had turned brown and had a disgusting smell! Oops, now what was I going to use? I had bought a bag of Cascadian Farms frozen blueberries at the store last week on sale with a coupon, so they were pretty cheap! So, I threw them in and got a nice “blue” color batter. I had some leftover mini bread tins from Christmas baking so I used them to make 8 mini loaves 🙂 I left two out for us to eat and the rest went in the freezer! I also made a big batch of brown rice for the freezer and separated it into 2-cup portion sizes. Not all of my improvising works out, but I’m glad it did this time:)
This week I made large batches of:
Whole Wheat Bagels http://www.jennifervandahm.com/2011/10/whole-wheat-bagels.html
Whole Wheat Pizza Dough
http://www.jennifervandahm.com/2011/10/whole-wheat-pizza-crust.html
I already had banana bread in the freezer so I made homemade spaghetti sauce and froze 4 containers so it is ready for quick meals over the next few crazy weeks. We have 2 sons getting married this summer 6 weeks apart.
What is the freezer life of these breakfast items?
Most things are good in the freezer for up to 2 months, if wrapped very well.
I got four jars of spaghetti sauce in the freezer last night. It’s not breakfast, but every bit helps!
So excited to start freezer cooking! I have been wanting to for a really long time, but never knew where to start. This is perfect! Going to try to do 3 of the recipes today, and I think I will throw in a couple of loaves of zucchini bread..I have an abundance of frozen zucchini from our garden last year!
Also, I am thoroughly enjoying your handouts from the Cincinnati homeschool convention! Two of my friends went and I told them they had to go to your seminars and bring me home all your papers! 🙂
Yay! I got some freezer cooking done and it felt so good. I made 2 gluten, dairy, egg, soy, corn-free banana breads and froze 1 1/2 of them. They turned out not being the best recipe, but they are edible, and I know how to adjust the recipe the next time.
I also made 4 lbs of ground beef into thin hamburger patties, separated by parchment paper, and froze. Finally, I opened a 64 oz can of tomato sauce the other day and separated it all out into 2-cup portions, put in freezer bags, and froze.
It’s great to have all that done! I think I’m going to opt out of the cinnamon roll challenge today. While I would absolutely LOVE to do it, my hips are telling me otherwise.
Thanks for the motivation!
Did you bake both pans together or separately?
I baked them both at the same time.
I made pumpkin choc chip muffins! It felt good to put something in the freezer, so thanks for the encouragement, Crystal!!!
FYI, I make that muffin recipe with half of the oil substituted with applesauce. They are lower fat and are super yummy!
My family has been enjoying your banana bread recipe for abou 3 years now! My almost 6 year old says “there is nothing better” :). But one thing I find weird is cook time. I don’t have any loaf pans so I put mine in an 8×8 glass pan to cook and it only takes about 35 minutes to cook. That’s considerably less than your 1 hr and 15 min. Thank you for this recipe! I’m a hero to my little boy every time I make it! 🙂
Yours would cook faster because you increased the surface area for cooking 🙂
Mine took less than an hour in a loaf pan! I was going to ask Crystal about this too.
My oven took 50 minutes in an 8X8 glass pan. Why would the times vary so much?
Would be able to put up next weeks list before the weekend? I would like to participate with you but I don’t have all the ingredients on hand. I try very had to limit my trips to the store so that I stick to my budget.
I didn’t make bread, but I went ahead and cooked up four pounds of ground beef and packed them into 1 lb bags and froze.
How long will this last?
I made apple pumpkin pancakes for the freezer (and breakfast). I’ve got a pretty delish recipe for Chocolate Chip Banana Muffins too though that may be worth a shot in bread-form:
http://dontwastethecrumbs.com/2012/02/over-ripe-bananas-and-a-recipe-banana-chocolate-chip-muffins/
I made banana bread too. I am glad to hear I am not the only one who has unmotivated days. I am looking forward to filling my freezer now so that I can play in the sun with the kids later! that is what is keeping me motivated this month.
I didn’t get this done tonight (two baseball games after work) but I want to let you know I was giggling at the fact that you managed to get the loaves to the freezer. Mine rarely make it that far. 😉
Yep. I totally forgot. Whoops. Today was nutso around our house.
That being said, I am going to make some cinnamon rolls for the freezer and some pumpkin muffins tomorrow. My 4.5 year old started soccer tonight, and muffins are a great after practice snack! 🙂
I am laughing because I totally forgot you were doing this and what did I make tonight instead of going to the store? Banana Bread. But mine is for my kids snacks this week. They like to spread it with peanut butter and sometimes jelly. That would be my 4 yr old who likes jelly on everything. I can’t wait to make the other things on the list.
I made banana muffins! So great to have something in my freezer for breakfast.
I did not get any baking done today, but if I had bananas, I would make some of this bread. I love this recipe. I have tried several banana bread recipes, and this is our family’s all time favorite. I use Sugar in the Raw and whole wheat flour.
Sometimes I am really naughty and add toffee bits, and we eat it for dessert. It is then like dessert, and is especially yummy warm from the oven with a scoop of ice cream or some whipped cream.
I picked 10 pounds of strawberries today at a nearby farm. I gave away 1 pound to a neighbor who did something nice for us earlier in the week. We ate about 1 pound, and I washed and hulled about 4 pounds and put them in the freezer for use in smoothies and slushies over the next few weeks. We’re hooked on lemonberry slushies (lemonade and frozen strawberries in the blender – delish!) We’ll eat the remainder over the next few days. My children and I had already picked 8 pounds a couple of weeks ago, and they are already gone. I probably should pick more before the season ends!
Season ends!? Where are you that strawberries are already ending by you, you poor thing!? Ours runs from mid/late May through the end of June here in Wisconsin. Then, it’s tomato/corn season! 🙂
Where I am in SC, season is almost over. We’ve already picked twice too. Blueberries will be soon and peaches will be over the summer. We actually produce more peaches than GA! I want to find somewhere to pick peaches with my boys. We live on the coast and they are grown more in the Midlands and Upstate. We will be visiting the Upstate over the summer….Our primary crops (historically) were cotton and tea!
@christy….I grew up in the Upstate of SC….Greenville, to be exact. Our peaches are the best!
We are in Upstate SC and love the peaches! There is a farmer’s market down the road from us that always has a bin of really ripe ones. Love to go there and get them ready to eat. Can’t wait for the market to open up!
Strawberries seem to be ready early this year due to the warm Spring. We have some in our garden, but I’d like to take the children to a farm to pick some.
Many of the U-pick places are gone now. We used to go pick peaches and that orchard is now a subdivision. Here is a list of u-pick places. http://www.pickyourown.org/SC.htm If you are passing through Spartanburg County and want to buy peaches we always get them at a produce stand at the intersection of I-26 and Hywy 176 for $12 a half bushel which is the best price I have found anywhere around and they are always SO good. Strawberries have just started in the upstate but they are expensive this year at $14 a gallon.
I live in North Carolina. The strawberry-picking started about a week or so earlier this year because of the warm winter/early spring. We started picking on April 9. When I went to the farm yesterday I asked how long until the season ends, and she said 1 1/2 to 2 weeks at best. Can’t wait for blueberries, though!
I am in Florida and the family farm that I pick from has also stated the strawberry season will end in about 2 weeks. They do have blueberries though! 🙂
No strawberries here until July!! 🙁
Well I was gone all day today but I am very excited about this series. Freezer cooking has been something I want to do but just can’t seem to figure out.
So I am looking forward to starting tomorrow. I may have to change up a few recipes to fit our preferences but I can’t wait to start having extra food ready in the freezer. 🙂
I cannot tell you how truly EXCITED I am for this month’s challenge! I know I went on and on last month during the cleaning and organizing challenge, but it helped me get out of such a severe rut that I may never have gotten out of by myself. I don’t know how you picked a challenge that hits me exactly where I need it, except that God must be guiding you, and I’m very glad that I’m not alone in my struggles. I’ve wanted to get serious about freezer cooking, but just couldn’t find where to start.
I modified the schedule some for this first week to fit our needs better. I also have a very thin grocery budget right now, so I can’t buy any extra products unless I can plan it into my regular shopping trip on Wednesdays. I still feel very strongly though that I can make quite a bit of things along with you and fill my freezer, even if it isn’t full of exactly the same things! 🙂
Here’s my schedule for the week:
Tuesday- Amish white bread (2 loaves)- Did this today! I didn’t freeze them though because we need them just to eat over the next day. The other bread I make and freeze this week will be used for breakfasts (toast, French toast, cinnamon sugar toast) and just to have on hand for regular bread uses.
Wednesday- Husband’s day off, grocery shopping, going to strive for two more loaves of Amish white bread, freeze these
Thursday- Amish white bread, 2 loaves, freeze
Friday- Pancakes x4
Monday- Banana bread x2 (This way the bananas I buy tomorrow will actually be ripe enough to use for bread and not just eat.)
Sorry you had a hard day today. I didn’t get any banana bread made as I didn’t have any ripe bananas. The kids wanted to make bagels so that is what we made today. We put half in the freezer and we kept the other half out to eat. We are all looking forward to making the cinnamon rolls tomorrow.
What an adorable little helper you have there 🙂
How long will it last in freezer???
That is a GREAT idea to pre-slice the bread. That is my biggest struggle with freezing bread–I can’t just take out a few slices at a time. Thanks for the tip!
I made a double batch of Slow Cooker Chicken Tacos tonight. It served us for dinner tonight, will be lunch tomorrow, and I froze the other half–which will also be enough for a dinner and a lunch. I think all told, the entire double batch ended up costing about $8. Not bad for 4 meals worth! I didn’t get around to blogging about it today, but here is the recipe I use:
http://www.savemoneylivejoyfully.com/2011/12/worlds-easiest-slow-cooker-chicken.html
I love the pre-slicing tip before it’s put in the freeze!! I’m going to do that from now on!
I didn’t get a chance to bake today and I only have 1 loaf pan. I think I will make 1/2 of the mixture for the 1 loaf pan I have and then freeze 1/2 of the mixture in a ziplock bag for future baking.
Also I will make the following recipe adjustments:
*Applesauce instead of oil
*Ground flax seeds and water as the egg replacement for 2-3 of the eggs (it is healthier and cheaper)
*Less sugar. Not sure how much less, but probably 1 cup. I may use honey instead.
Let us know how it turns out!
I never use oil in cakes, breads, pancakes, muffins, etc. Always applesauce and everything turns out great. Interesting egg substitution, will have to try it sometime!
Christy, do you use the same quantity of apple sauce? Bought a bottle intending to use, but not sure of amounts.
Cheers,
Carla
Carla,
I have always evenly subbed applesauce for oil.
Thanks! Will have a go converting some recipes. Lovely blog, by the way 🙂
I *finally* got mine made. Still gotta go toss it in the freezer. I almost didnt do it today either, but at dinner time I decided to since I already had the oven on. My husband loved it!
Are these the 10-inch (large) loaf pans?
Yes.
look delicious! I don’t think it’s ever dawned on me to freeze banana bread. Then again, it usually doesn’t last a full day in our house!
I didn’t have enough bananas & the store I went to only had green ones. So I made the homemade baking mix, then I used some for the cinnamon rolls. I’ll make the banana bread another day this week.
I have to admit that this morning I was excitted to see you were making bananna bread and I followed the link to your recipe. I wrote it down and decided to try your recipe this afternoon instead of the one I had. I was already planning on making bananna bread today anyway. That is some really good bread. The whole family really enjoyed it. Thank you for sharring. It is a keeper at our house.
I don’t know why but I have never thought to cut my bread before frezzing it. I always hate taking the whole loaf out and yet it just never crossed my mind to cut it. Thanks for the tip.
I love this challenge and I already got the banana bread and cinnamon rolls done today. My family ate most of the first loaf before I could get it into the freezer so I might be making more of that soon. 😉
Nice! I’m going to be making some banana bread this week!! Most of the time I just make enough to eat right away. It’s a great idea to make more and freeze. I’ve got a whole-wheat version of banana bread I love!
can you post your recipe?
Actually, I use a variant on The Prudent Homemaker’s Banana Bread, so I’ll just post a link to her’s right now:
http://www.theprudenthomemaker.com/index.php/banana-bread
It’s really good!
If I weren’t trying to keep my grocery budget down, I would totally be adding chocolate chips to my shopping list. 🙂 That sounds amazing!