Find a monkey....bake banana bread and take it to friends.

Banana bread or muffins were the first thing that came to mind. Then I thought of banana milkshakes and/or banana splits (you could have a family ice cream party!)

Racoons LOVE them. Any animal rescues nearby?

Smoothies. And yes, I'd freeze them.

I think I would make banana bread, and call someone in the family with freezer space. What a great buy! I'm pleased when I find them for less than .69 cents...per pound.

That's a lot of bananas! I think no freezer space means sharing them with someone.

I've never had luck dehydrating bananas. I'd do a little baking and give the rest away if I couldn't freeze it. I hate to waste, but it's only $2 worth of food.

Bananas around here usually 56 - 57 cents a pound, and I'm told to use them for some health issues.

First time ever, as I've usually considered that, with there usually being a half dozen or a few more deteriorated ones in a bag, they're going to die before I get to eat them, I bought some outdated ones in a bag at 50% off the other day ... there were 7, and I figured that if I threw up to three away, I was still money ahead.

They weren't in too bad shape, and when I went into the credit union, I gave three to the staff visibly on duty, saying, "Don't ever say that one can't get anything free at the credit union!". Later gave one to a neighbour, so I was down to three ... still using them.

When they get just a bit too ripe for eating comfortably out of hand, I may mix them into soup or stew or add to breakfast cereal, especially the cooked kind, e.g. oatmeal.

Haven't learned how to make banana bread: figure that I should learn ... maybe it would be possible to teach an old dog new tricks?

ole joyfuelled ... fuelled also by a banana, on occasion

joyfulguy, you should try this recipe for banana bread. So easy and so good...and I was never a fan of banana bread.

Banana Bread (from Martha Stewart)

Makes 1 large loaf or 4 mini loaves

1 stick butter, room temp
1 cup sugar
2 eggs, room temp
1 tsp. vanilla
1 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
1 cup mashed very ripe bananas (about 2)
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 cup chopped walnuts or pecans (I toast them first. You can omit the nuts, if desired.)

Preheat oven to 350. Butter a 9X5X3-inch loaf pan or 4 mini loaf pans.

With electric mixer, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs and vanilla, beating well.

Sift dry ingredients and combine with butter mixture. Blend well. Add bananas and sour cream; mix well. Stir in nuts and pour into prepared pan.

Bake about 50-60 minutes, or until toothpick comes out clean. Turn out onto a rack to cool.

Donate what you can't use reasonably to a food bank or pantry. Could be a church pantry near you -- or a small school. Preschools use bananas for snacks. I don't care for bananas in smoothies -- they take over, and there is only so much banana bread you can eat.

Bananas here are usually 59 cents/pound and a single costs about a quarter. So 12 pounds is likely more than 24 bananas. Say 30?

I looked up a banana creme pie recipe that called for 4 bananas and took 4 hours of prep. Not for me.

That's a lot of bananas to peel and eat. Using them in recipes makes it even more. (Speaking as an individual)

I grow some small bananas. (takes at least 3 to equal a grocery store banana)

Ice Cream and Gold Finger. When I get a rack I have to give some away or freeze them. They're small but there's a lot on a rack.

Those are about ready so... maybe I'll try the banana bread recipe chloebud posted. Thank you.

I ate so many bananas when I was PG with DD- craved them and they seemed to help with my ongoing blood pressure issues. I'd cut them in about 1" chunks and freeze them on a sheet of waxed paper, and then put the chunks in a storage bag in the freezer. It worked pretty well for freezing a fair number of bananas in the least amount of space. That said though, I lost my taste for bananas and barely ever eat them anymore, so I'd probably look for a food pantry or neighbor to donate to!

The dehydrator is full and running. I could have gone downstairs for another dehydrator but did not feel up to it and lugging it back up here. I think I used up about 14 bananas or maybe a couple more than that. So the banana pile has gone down a lot. They will keep for a pretty good while as I keep them in the winter in a very cold room. I sliced them differently this time. Using my Rada tomato slicer I cut them in half then sliced them longways. So will see how that works out. The tomato slicer did a great job.

Sue

Dried banana chips are very $$$ in the organic section so you did good!! But those are meant just for munching I think. Once dehydrated can you rehydrate them at some later date for bread or muffins?

That's a nice load for the compost pile... once you got the fruit out. ;)

Moni

Can they be mashed and then frozen? You may think you have no freezer space but something mashed and then put into a plastic freezer bag can be shoved into small irregular spaces.

I love homemade dried banana slices! They're nothing like those tasteless chips at the stores. I make mine a bit chewy, and they're very sweet - like banana fudge.

I use ripe bananas, and oil the racks so they don't stick. I like to cut long diagonal slices. I keep thinking I'd like to try dipping them in dark chocolate, but I haven't tried it yet.

Dehydrating definitely can use up the most fruit, since it shrinks down so much.

The trouble is or maybe it's the blessing--banana bread to be great is made with over ripe bananas. Banana cream pie/pudding would be a great use. Last time I had a dearth of bananas I made Bananas foster and frankly I wouldn't recommend it. I froze many quarts. I bothered to take the peels off and put them in freezer bags. They would take up less space that way was the idea. Bad mistake. Again the best bread is made from over ripe bananas and using the frozen turned into dry bread. My son puts them in his pancake batter. I find a little banana goes a long way in cooking.

I freeze them without peeling them, and then when I want to use them in a smoothie, I put them in a glass of warm water for a few seconds to defrost just the peel, and they peel very easily after that.

I have a large freezer in the garage, but I do not have room for 12 pounds of bananas either.

Birds like them:

My first batch of bananas are done, when cool I will bag them up. I will see how they work when hydrated with some warm water. I like banana cake better than the bread, easier to bake for me. They look nice and they taste good. I dipped them in a mix of lemon juice and water before putting them on the dehydrator.

Share them with neighbors, or give them to a church, for shut-ins.

Certo used to have a recipe for banana jam, but that one got taken off the market as it was deemed not totally "safe." I made some, it was very delish. It didn't last long enough to be that questionable as far as safety for me, but being as low acid as they are, I would not recommend canning bananas. Sigh. I freeze mine, but there's a limit to how much banana stuff I want. They keep in the fridge a little while, even if the skins turn brown.

Have a banana split party!

This sounds good. down in the comments she gives instructions if you want to keep on the shelf.

https://momfoodie.com/banana-jam-recipe/

Normally, I don't make much homemade and just keep in the extra garage frig.

Well that recipe is relying on the acid from the lemon juice and orange juice and sugar to compensate for the low acidity of the bananas. Absolutely no guarantee if it is high enough to do the trick. And quite possibly lethal if not, and particularly if someone were to skimp or not follow the recipe. Would be a fine way to prepare banana mush for freezing, but I would not do it if I was planning on keeping it on the shelf. Just too risky, this one could go very, very bad . . . I guess I should not have brought up the banana jam. It's a can of worms. Low acid fruits are not something to fool around with! However, such a concoction might keep well in the fridge for a while until some freezer space opens up. Would be a great way to process bananas for freezing.

That is why I said I keep in in the frig and only make a few jars. I do this with my grandmother's candied fig preserves that we grew up eating and never got sick. They were only figs and sugar cooked until thick.

There is only one banana left. The second round is on the dehydrator. Set at 150 F. and 18 hours. Will see how that is in the morning. The first batch made a quart bag and a fourth full of dried bananas. They are so good and sweet. They may not make it to any baking. I believe these were at the perfect ripeness, not overly ripe and not green. Hardly any black on them and lots of yellow. They did not stick to my trays either and I just put them on there with no oiling.

Sue

Nice!

And I always want to use my dried bananas for something, but they get eaten as-is too fast - better than candy 😀

Bananas can be pressure canned and used in recipes afterward. They do change color and look awful, but the flavor turns out just fine in baked goods.

following sushipup2, who is following carisa

My banana tree finally did make bananas:

I have an ice cream banana tree, and the bananas are a bit small. I sliced them lengthwise and dehydrated them. I sometimes use the dehydrated bananas in smoothies. If I had large bananas, I would slice them diagonally for dehydrating.

Frozen chocolate covered bananas... For some reason they would have them at the local flea market when I was a kid. They made me more tolerant of my parents love of thrifting...

Congratulations, Lars!

I didn't see this thread 2 years ago. I rarely buy bananas, but now I am inspired to drag out my dehydrator and try to make the home-dried bananas like MarilynSue and carolb.

This is an old post!

Yes this an old post - but came in handy since I got a bargain bag of organic 29c per #. I made Hummingbird cake - delicious -- yesterday it was a batch of not so tasty banana muffins filled with cream cheese - tossed. The cake is almost gone - had 5 workers here putting down new floors, besides DH who eats any sweet not nailed down.