Using Excess Green Beans from the Garden

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Sometimes the garden can bless us with too much of a good thing. Having excess green beans all at once can be overwhelming, but there are a ton of great things you can do with them. If you’re having other excess produce in your garden, check this out for ideas.

There is such a thing as too much of a good thing. I love green beans, but during the height of the summer garden, there can be too many to eat. Especially if you grow the long varieties like snake beans that produce so well. We love to give away produce and share with the daycare families. And we bring excess food to the shelter.

And for a complete guide on how to use even more produce, check out How to Use All the Garden Produce You Grow-Without Canning by clicking this link.

A few years ago I came up with a green bean recipe the kids loved. They asked for them over and over again calling them world famous green beans and they are delicious. My husband loves them too. I like to freeze my extra green beans and then make this recipe with the frozen ones too.

It’s our favorite way to use pole beans and bush beans. We also love to grow long snake beans as well.

We also love to grow long snake beans as well. We start with companion planting. It’s a good idea to find out the best green bean companion plants before you start learning to grow green beans for the first time. We learned a lot about the great properties of companion planting in the practice of planting plants in the garden for the first time. We love growing our own food, it’s so much fun. And it’s a great way to teach kids where their food comes from.

Best way to store green beans

Fresh green beans will last a few days in the refrigerator. They last longer if you store them in the crisper. If you put the green beans in a container with a moist paper towel but not wet (not airtight, vegetables need to breath for long lasting storage) they will last about a week.

✔Here’s a link to a great vegetable garden planner you can print right out and use at home! So cute!

Preserving green beans

There are many ways green beans can be preserved for later use. You can try these yummy dilly beans. You can freeze excess green beans, can them, and dehydrate them to store them for later use.

If you choose to dehydrate your excess green beans, you’ll be able to eat them crunchy like potato chips or rehydrate them in soups, stews and casseroles. I love dehydrating because produce takes up much less space and is shelf stable. You can also learn more about how to preserve food with dehydration here.

Blanching green beans

If you’re going to freeze your green beans, you’ll need to blanch them. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Wash your green beans and cut the stem end off. You can also cut or snap them into bite sized pieces or leave them whole. Drop the beans into the boiling water for 3-4 minutes. Scoop them out of the boiling water with a spider or slotted spoon and plunge them into a bowl of ice. Drain the green beans and pack them into quart sized freezer bags or containers, removing as much air as possible.

Freeze immediately. Frozen green beans last for about 6 months. Many people say they don’t like frozen green beans, but I have found if you cook them a little longer, they taste just like canned.

Box overflowing with fresh picked green beans from the garden

Canning green beans

I don’t can food because I am not allowed to serve home canned food to my daycare kids. I want to be able to use what I put up for them too, so I just stick to freezing, pickling and dehydrating food. But if you want to take on canning green beans, check this out.

Green bean recipes

Green beans make a great side dish but the easiest thing to use green beans in a creative way is to add them to a dish. We tried that with some string beans last week. We just tossed some chicken breast that was cubed in some olive oil with some green beans and onion slices, and strips of Swiss chard, and roasted it on a sheet tray.

It was super easy and put a big smile on everyone’s face. (Our little sheet trays that fit in the air fryer oven get a lot of use at our house, how about you?) It’s a great way to use up excess garden produce. If you have sweet potatoes, or whatever, chunk them up into small pieces, toss them in olive oil and some spices like lemon zest, garlic, or whatever you like, and bake them on a cookie sheet. It’s been a game changer for my cooking world and I cook a ton of food for my Little Sprouts, so I’m becoming an expert in easy meals.

Even if you’re only feeding a couple of children, this is a great technique. It will become one of your favorite recipes that you come back to over and over again.

There are so many ways to use green beans. Check out these awesome recipes: