Bananas for bananas

In my house, we use a lot of bananas. My boys take them in their lunches almost daily, they are a binding ingredient used to make our favorite smoothies, I'm always making a loaf of banana bread, and they're a great topper for our cereal. So we're constantly buying bananas and when we were at our local fruit and vegetable stand today, I was so excited to see a box of bananas on sale for $3. Now these are those super ripe bananas - you know the ones - they're brown on the outside and look a little worse for wear, but they are golden and beautiful on the inside, still ready for use!

So I loaded up my box, paid my $3 and took them home. I spent about 10 minutes peeling every banana and putting them in Ziploc freezer bags (about 7 or 8 to a bag), and storing them in my freezer, which works out great for smoothie and banana bread making. I already use frozen bananas in my banana bread and though I usually use thawed bananas in our favorite smoothies, these frozen ones will work out great and they'll last me a lot longer than a fresh bunch.

The next time you're at the grocery store or at your local fruit stand, look for those bruised bananas (sure to be marked down) and grab a handful!