The Fun Has Begun

The good times (and the garden grub) are rolling... into the freezer and the countertops and the kitchen table.  Now I know why my brother referred to his raspberry patch as his part time job.  I have been picking daily for a week and I think I have ten cups of raspberries in the freezer.
The drill is actually pretty simple.  Baby Bear and I go out each morning and pick the day's ripe raspberries and peas.  I bring out a cake pan or two and a bowl.  The raspberries freeze best if the are frozen individually, so I carefully spread mine out in their cake tins.  The cake tins fit easily into my kitchen freezer.  Bigger hauls go on cookie sheets in the basement freezer.  We also pick most of the ripe peas and bring them in to be shelled before they go into their own pie tins or cake plates in the freezer.
Peas don't tend to bunch up when they freeze as raspberries do, so I can throw the day's pickings into the pie tin of peas already collecting in the freezer.
Sooner or later, every pan, tin, and sheet is covered and they all need to be bagged and vacuum sealed.  Three years ago, I purchased a vacuum sealer.  My dad had one that he has used for freezing the fish and game he hunts.  A vacuum sealer greatly reduces freezer burn.  I use mine for everything, from freezing garden produce and meats to economizing on freezer space needed for chicken stock.
Vacuum sealers used to be the well kept secrets of hunters and fishermen.  Now they can be found at almost any big box store, along with replacement bags.  My dad is on his second sealer.  His first was a little temperamental and didn't consistently work.  Mine went through a similar stage, but I think it had something to do with the fact that I stored it locked.  The directions specifically state not to do so.  Maybe my inability to completely read directions is genetic.  I almost bit the bullet and bought a new one, but it seems fine now, working beautifully.
I researched mine carefully online, and bought the best one I could at the lowest price point.  I figured I wouldn't mind replacing it if was relatively cheap.  Price points can vary dramatically.
I buy replacement bags by the roll so I can customize my own size of bags.  Produce gets frozen in single servings and clearly marked (and dated!) and stored in the basement freezer.  I freeze everything from berries, pesto, soups, sauces, beans, peppers to tomatoes, carrots, cookie dough, and scraps for stock.  Because I can freeze many of the things flat, I don't waste freezer space.  My cherries used to grow a layer of freezer burn in the space between the fruit and the top of the container.  Now they come out of the freezer bag just as nice as they were when they went into the bag.
Last night I made my husband a batch of chili for his camping trip.  Today I will seal it in bags and freeze it.  It will fit better in the cooler and stay frozen longer than food frozen in a storage box.  Melting ice won't seep into it and spoil it.
This sealer will stay on my countertop for much of the rest of summer, putting away produce for winter.