As digdirt said, you are not blanching long enough, and I suspect you are not soaking them in ice water long enough. Get the water to a full boil, then put the beans in. Start counting your time from that point. Then lift the beans out of the blancher in the colander, drain the hot water off and then set them into a bowl filled with ice and then filled with water. The beans should be covered and there should be ice still floating in the water. Soak them for at least twice the amount of the blanching time. They should be cold all the way through. Then drain them again before bagging and freezing. I like to freeze my beans whole or only halved. At that size, they are great for oven roasting just like I do fresh beans. I did a couple of bags of over mature beans late last summer. They are not as good, and although I pulled strings, they are still stringy. A good reminder to me to pick them young. I really like Rattlesnake, Emerite, and Fortex beans frozen. They are all pole beans. They produce longer and heavier than bush beans, so trellising is well worth the effort to me. Don't give up! You'll find the right variety and you'll tweak the technique. Home frozen beans, IMO, are far superior to the ones available in the store.

Generally, people only revive a thread when they find themselves in a similar situation, or have something constructive to offer. It's been 6 years, it is likely that the OP has already found an answer & has forgotten about this post. ;-) In areas where insects can destroy beans & peas, the seeds should be frozen to kill any eggs or larvae... even if the seeds will be planted the next year. The seeds need to be close to 0 F. degrees for several days to kill insects, the temperature reached in a stand-alone freezer. The ice box above a refrigerator usually does not get cold enough... if in doubt, place a thermometer in the freezer to test it. For frozen seed storage, the greatest risk is not over-drying; it is that the seed moisture will be too high, which would seriously damage (or kill) the seed when frozen. This is particularly true for large seeds such as beans & peas, which take a long time to dry. An air conditioner lowers indoor humidity, so Dlsm's suggestion about drying seed with an air conditioner has merit. Because my indoor humidity is naturally low in Winter, I can dry my seeds just by leaving them open until then. But if indoor humidity can not be controlled, desiccant is the only practical way to reduce seed moisture to the proper level. While you can re-use silica gel packs intended for other purposes, you will have no way to measure how effective they are. For this reason, I recommend the use of color changing desiccant for seed saving. (This can sometimes be found in hobby stores, where it is used for drying flowers.) Start with an amount equal in weight to the seeds being dried. If the desiccant color changes to indicate moisture saturation, repeat with fresh desiccant until the color remains unchanged. At that point, the seed should be dry enough for frozen storage, and no further drying is needed. Store the seed in a sealed container, along with a small amount of color-changing desiccant - it will add a little extra protection, and warn if humidity has penetrated the seal. Absent a way to accurately measure seed moisture, there is a good rule of thumb for testing small amounts of beans & peas for proper dryness. If you strike the seed with a hammer (wearing eye protection!) and it shatters, it is fully dry. (For a frame of reference, try this with popcorn.) If it is just crushed, flattened, or the pieces stick together, it needs further drying. It is actually difficult to over-dry seeds, unless they are exposed to a drying atmosphere for an extended period of time. One last note, regarding frozen storage. When the seeds are removed from the freezer, the container must be allowed to reach room temperature before being opened. If opened while cold, moisture will condense on the seeds, just as it will on a glass of ice water. That moisture could quickly cause the seed to either sprout or spoil. If the seeds will be used in multiple years, it is a good idea to divide them into multiple zip-lock envelopes within the sealed container... that way a single packet can be quickly removed (and the container returned to the freezer) without warming the whole container.

CLBlakey BB&B sends coupons often. I almost always have a BB&B coupon I can use. I usually save them for BIG purchases, and use them for small ones only when they are near expiration. I rationalized splurging on the Excalibur with the timer by thinking that the difference, with the 20% off was only $50 or so. A pricey timer, I admit. And Grainlady nearly convinced me that a timer was frivolous (actually, she DID convince me that it was frivolous, but I guess I was FEELING frivolous!) Anyway, I really like the Waring Pro pistol vac. And the vacuum bags used for coffee beans, with the coffee still inside the original FreshMarket bags, will be easily reusable. And I saved $6 a bag on each of six bags of coffee!

Not a problem. I do it all the time. I have one pint just plain without seasoning. (topped it with a leftover rich pale ale beer when DH feel asleep and did not finish)... Might use it in a soup. Another pint is bbq white beans. (not at all sweet, just spicy). Another i added a bit of maple syrup, lime, cilantro, tomato, fetta etc. (greek-ish) and served with a lunch of cucumber and olives. I froze the basic lime/cilantro beans for another dish later... When i go to the trouble to soak a bag of beans...bring to boil and let sit overnight, and make a few different dishes, it is alot of beans!. So i always freeze some for an easy later dish addition.. Red beans, white beans, black beans...