I've never blanched any of the veggies I've frozen (bell peppers, zucchini/summer squash), and I've never had a problem in almost 10 years of doing this. In fact, I just finished a bag of zucchini/squash I put in the freezer last summer.
I just looked it up, and this is what I found:
"Blanching...
Depending on what color your beets are: red beet powder makes a good fake blood (according to my dad who is a first responder and has about a gallon of beet powder that he rehydrates to practice tourniquet-ing).