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.

Macky, your technique is quite similar to mine. I have two matching stainless steel kettles with large strainer basket inserts... this works well for large-scale freezing, since one basket can be cooling while the other is blanching. But rather than fill a sink with cold water, I place a kettle in the sink large enough to immerse the basket, and keep the tap running slowly into it. My well water is cold enough to make your teeth hurt! The cold water sinks to the bottom, and the warmer water is constantly flowing over the top. I stir constantly when the basket is first immersed, for about a minute, then let the veggies sit under the running water. Meanwhile, I strain out any fragments that might remain in the blanching kettle (the wide hand strainers sold in Asian stores work great for this), place the second basket in, and once the water resumes boiling, put in another batch to blanch. I remove & drain the batch that is cooling about a minute before the blanching is complete; by that time the water in the cooling kettle is cold. The other sink holds a colander for draining; but it's not that important to get the veggies completely dry. I initially freeze veggies in square plastic freezer boxes, then vacuum seal the frozen "blocks" into bags (this lessens the chance of debris interfering with the seal). A little water helps the veggies hold together during the transfer. I freeze greens (such as chard) covered in water; this reduces freezer burn. If you don't use a vacuum sealer, covering with water is a good alternative for extended storage. Place the veggies in a ziplock freezer bag, cover with water, squeeze out air bubbles, and seal. Be sure to leave enough room for the bag to expand as it freezes. In my experience, you don't want to use a cheap freezer bag for this, the seam might pop open or leak as it freezes. For me, vacuum-sealed green beans will last for over a year with good quality, if kept at 0 degrees F. A refrigerator ice box generally doesn't get that cold, so storage life would be reduced in the warmer conditions. A small chest freezer is a worthwhile investment if you want to freeze enough veggies for the year. Oh, one last note about blanching. For the best quality, it is best to work small batches. For me, one pound seems to be the magic number... the blanching times tend to match those listed in the Ball Blue Book, which is my reference of choice for canning & freezing. When freezing a new variety for the first time, it's a good idea to do a test batch & check for proper blanching, before freezing large quantities. One tip I've noticed is that when properly blanched, the beans (and most other cut veggies) will sink as they cool.

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!

Well, Keith, you know how I am. I don't grow a little bit of anything, so I grow a ton of green beans and freeze enough each spring and summer that we never have to buy green beans at the store. To freeze them, you just trim them down to 2-4" pieces after washing them and cutting off the ends. Then, blanch them in boiling water for 3 minutes. Cool them. I do this quickly (for a higher quality frozen product) by draining off the boiling water and them pouring the beans into another stockpot filled with ice water. Once they've cooled down, you drain them and let them dry off some and then pack them into freezer containers or freezer ziplock bags or FoodSaver vacuum bags---whatever your preferred storage method happens to be. Seal, label, freeze. That's it. And, if you don't want to freeze them all, remember that you can pickle excess green beans to make Dilly Beans. By the way, I loved my grandmother's cooked green beans when I was a kid. I knew they were from my grandparents' garden and had been frozen, but by the time I had my own garden as an adult, I couldn't figure out why I couldn't replicate the texture of my grandmother's green beans, and she no longer was around for me to ask her about that. I cooked the beans with enough bacon fat and black pepper and salt that I could replicate the flavor exactly, but not the texture. It drove me nuts. Finally, about 15 years ago I mentioned to my uncle that I just couldn't get my green beans to cook to the texture of Mamaw's green beans so he had me describe how I preserved them. When I said I blanched them (as we are supposed to do!), he stopped me and said that she never blanched hers--they went from the garden to the kitchen to the freezer with no blanching. I was astonished. I always intend to freeze some without blanching each year to see if that would give me the same texture as her beans but I never do it. It is hard to ignore a basic rule of food preservation like blanching, I suppose. Dawn