Bananas are most conveniently available, nutritious fruit, with amazing list of benefits. But how many of you toss away the limp, ripe banana as soon as you buy a new bunch! Yes, many of us are not excited eating over-ripe bananas, but did you know the ripe bananas can be frozen and used. Some you may have tried freezing them in a ziplock bag with or without the peel to use it later for baking or smoothies? But how many of you actually used them! Probably you didn’t, because your children or you yourself got grossed out on the look and feel of the overripe discolored frozen banana and did not want it in their smoothies!
So here is a smarter and better hack to store ripe bananas in a freezer which keeps the bananas looking good and delicious to be used in many ways.
- Peel the banana.
- Slice the banana into chips
- Layer it on a plate and keep in freezer for 30 mins or so.
- Take out these frozen banana chips and bag it into ziplocks and freeze for later use.
Banana Benefits
Bananas may be one of the few fruits with the highest ROI or value for money with its many health benefits it offers, besides being a quick snack. The nutritious banana is known to have good potassium which helps control blood pressure, keeps bones and muscles healthy, gives good soluble fiber which keeps your cholesterol low, bowels working well and reduces inflammation. Banana can also lessen you lactose intolerance issues, helped in yeast infections, UTI, digestive and gastrointestinal issues.
But did you also know that minerals and vitamins like B6, C, A , magnesium and tryptophan makes eating a banana relax moods, avoid depression and good for sleeping! Bananas are also known to help replenish energy and electrolytes, and serotonin and dopamine in it can make it a good recovery snack after exercise.
Lets go Bananas over Bananas!
Next time you want to make a strawberry banana smoothie, grab all the ingredients from your freezer since frozen fruits make delicious cold smoothies.
If you are baking banana nut bread or muffins, just defrost the banana chips and use it to bake. Over ripe bananas are always flavorful and you don’t have to wait for your bananas to get over-ripe to bake into bread.
If you are lactose intolerant, vegan or just prefer healthy version of ice-cream; whip up some frozen bananas chips with nuts and enjoy a banana nut ice cream.
Defrost frozen bananas to whip up the batter for Banana pancakes. May be use fresh bananas as toppings 😉
Or just take out a bag of frozen banana chips, add some pecans and almonds or any nuts, chocolate chips and drizzle of honey and make yourself a delicious and healthy snack or dessert anytime.
Lastly, here’s a good use of ripe bananas not just for you, but for your plants to enjoy! If your banana has gone too brown and over ripened to handle, please don’t toss it in trash. Just dig a hole in your potted plants or garden and bury the banana in soil. It will fertilize your plants with mineral nutrients like potassium, nitrogen, phosphorus and magnesium, and make it healthy!
Lets go bananas over bananas 😉
