The sun is shining, the rain is raining and the gardens are growing!

Well, not my garden.

My garden is mostly weeds or the half eaten lettuce plants that the local bunny family leaves for me.

But, I can tell from the photos on Facebook, Pinterest and Instagram that the rest of you are rocking the vegetable garden.  Yay you!

So, now that you’ve successfully farmed, what do you do with all that produce?  As I discussed here, there are only so many zucchini’s one person can eat (as delicious as my Corn, Zucchini, Sweet Potato Fritters are).

And when you try to give too many away at work, people start to think you’re weird.

So what’s the best way to approach the bounty of amazing and healthy veggies coming out of your garden these days?  Here are five useful vegetable hacks that might help you out:

1. When planning meals, think about the veggies first

On the weekend, when you’re planning your meals for the week (you’re doing that, right?) stop thinking about veggies as a side dish.  They have everything it takes to be the star.

Vegetable Stir Fry, Vegetable Coconut Curry, Huge Ass Salad, Stuffed Peppers, Vegetable Soup – the possibilities are endless.

2. Get yourself a spiralizer

There are few kitchen tools that are as fun to play with as a spiralizer.

Turn zucchini, sweet potatoes, carrots, beets, squash and more into the healthiest silly string you’ve ever seen!  When you can make noodles out of vegetables the whole game changes.  Plus, get the kids involved and you just cut your prep time in half.

colours3. Set aside time on the weekend to prep veggies for the week

On the weekend, carve out 45-60 minutes, pour yourself a glass of wine or a cup of tea, put some great tunes on and set about washing and chopping all the veggies you can.  Store them in airtight containers in the fridge for snacks and recipe additions throughout the rest of the week.

4. Know what you can freeze and what you can’t

Some of the amazing bounty from your garden you can freeze for the depressing months in the winter when the only fresh green stuff we see is the mold growing inside our window sills.  But, not all vegetables do well in the deep freeze and it’s important to know which can handle it and which cannot.

You can freeze: fresh herbs (chop them up and freeze them in ice cube trays with oil), carrots, broccoli, asparagus, peas, cauliflower, and lots more.  Here is a great chart on 20 vegetables you can freeze and how best to prep them for freezing to keep them as fresh as possible.

You can’t freeze: Celery, cucumbers, lettuce, potatoes (especially raw), radishes, sprouts, salad greens

green juice5. Drink your veggies

When you get tired of eating all those garden veggies? Drink ’em!

Beets, broccoili, cucumber, celery and all greens make amazing additions to fresh juices and smoothies!