What to do with a ton of tomatoes?

[Danascot]

We harvested about half a bushel of tomatoes from our garden yesterday and there is probably that much again today. We can only make so much sauce and eat so much Caprese salad. We're thinking about driving around and leaving some in peoples mailboxes anonymously. What do people do with a lot of tomatoes?

[Kali]

1. you can freeze or dehydrate them

can or juice them. send some to me!

[irisblue]

2. Give them to me?

Tell your neighbors you got real tomatoes

[griffi94]

3. Make salsa and freeze it

[Trueblue1968]

26. tomato salsa freezes just wonderful. i have frozen it in bags and also little plastic containers

also in jars

[bucolic_frolic]

4. Many options, surely

You're really lucky. I grow about 3 tomatoes a year.

You could
1) puree with some garlic and spice and cook and freeze for pizza or pasta sauce.
2) contact your local food bank (thought they might have a deluge already).
3) call a local Church or monastery.
4) throw them at your TV when Trump is on
5) Save some seeds for early start next spring.

[bucolic_frolic]

8. Attack of the Killer Tomatoes Trailer

[Pencougar1]

5. Ah, memories of the Great Zucchini Glut of 94'

A community garden that got out of hand. Pickled, fried, sauteed, etc., etc., etc. - To this day, I can't look at a zucchini without dread.

[Warpy]

30. Friend had a zucchini glut

and made this one:

The next year, she set out two plants instead of twenty.

For tomatoes, crock pots are your friend, I loved crock pot ketchup. I don't like the bottled stuff because it uses too much vinegar. Crock pot ketchup using less vinegar and cider vinegar instead of white vinegar is wonderful stuff. It does have some vinegar, so it does keep a while in the fridge.

Crock pot tomato soup is another great idea. Mother Campbell put homemade tomato soup out of business because of the day long stirring it required. The crock pot eliminates most of that, although a stir once in a while isn't amiss. You don't have to be tied to the stove to make it.

I also love fresh tomato salsa, more like a super spicy chopped salad, good with steak, burgers, chips.

[Diamond_Dog]

6. Give them to a local food bank.

They really appreciate home grown produce. We have done this the last 3-4 years with bumper crops we can’t use up ourselves.

[Lunabell]

11. This!

And advertise on a neighborhood app. Bring your own bags!

[Deuxcents]

17. That's what I'd do..food bank or spread the bounty

[Danascot]

7. These are great suggestions!

I knew I could count on the Cooking & Baking group!

[MOMFUDSKI]

9. I would make a big

pot of chili with mine. Tried skinning/freezing once but they were shloopy and not so good.

[dweller]

10. The postal carrier

is going to love you


✌🏻

[Tetrachloride]

12. free bag of tomatoes sign

[Jilly_in_VA]

13. When I had lots of them

I spent an evening one year (or was it two?) when I had a tomato surplus skinning and quartering them, freezing them for cooking in 1-lb. lots. It's really easy when you do it in batches. I kept a pot of water bubbling, speared each one on a fork by the stem end, held it under for a minute or so until the skin cracked, then plunged it into a big bowl of cold water where I skinned it. Then I cored and quartered them into ziplock bags that were sitting on my kitchen scale. Every once in awhile I skimmed the skins out of the bowl of cold water. It took me about an hour to process a huge amount of tomatoes, and when I was done I had lots for sauce etc. for the winter!

[Botany]

14. Cowboy Caviar

https://www.culinaryhill.com/cowboy-caviar-recipe/

You can can it too. And the recipe can be "played with."

[Cairycat]

15. I freeze them

my method is to wash, core and chop them - I don't bother with peeling. Then I freeze them in 1.5 -2 cup plastic boxes - this is how I recycle all the cottage cheese boxes from my husband taking cottage cheese in his lunch. It's easier to get the tomatoes back out than from plastic freezer bags, easier to fill too.

Like this, the tomatoes are good for soups and stews - they cook to the same texture but have a fresher taste than canned. (I figure the skins are just extra healthy fiber .)

But if you don't have the freezer space, donating to the food bank, or maybe giving to a nursing home is a good idea.

[MiHale]

16. We grow lotsa zucchini and tomatoes...

Romas I’ll wash and freeze directly, no prep, the skins come off easily when placed in hot water when you need them.

We make a zucchini and tomato, onion mixture to freeze in portioned containers to use as a topping with rice. We use that for a side with chicken or fish, or a whole meal just by adding the protein in the mix. If the mixture is to watery I add tomato paste in the appropriate amounts.

Quick easy dinners plus it brings summertime into winter.

[usonian]

18. Sauce Master (not a plug)

Prior two generations used something of the sort. Days before plastic everything.

Probably not a good idea to donate them without asking first.

Old joke.

A politician (use your imagination) is riding in a parade, when suddenly hit with tomatoes.

Rushed to the emergency room.

When later asked how tomatoes could cause serious injury, the politician replied:

THEY WERE STILL IN THE CAN.

[Emile]

19. Canning time!

[mitch96]

24. +1! Lots of memories of canning tomatoes with my parents. Can them in the summer and we had

"fresh" tomatoes all winter...
m

[no_hypocrisy]

20. Get a large kettle, and

make gravy, and process into jars for the winter.

You're welcome.

[Bayard]

21. Starting to have the same problem

Also with cucumbers and cantaloupes. The chickens are eating very well--their pen is right next to the garden.

No time for canning now. Hadn't thought about freezing though. We make a lot of chili and vege soup in the winter. Spaghetti squash starting to come in too. Could make sauce for those.

[Nanuke]

22. We have a neighbor who puts a table out front by the curb. We all contribute and take.

[eppur_se_muova]

23. Google "horiatiki salata"

Last edited Sat Aug 12, 2023, 04:29 PM - Edit history (1)

https://thegreekfoodie.com/greek-tomato-salad-horiatiki-salata/

If you leave out the bell pepper, no one will notice.

I believe Garrison Keillor resorted to a game known as "tomatoball".

[zeusdogmom]

25. I peel and quarter mine

Tightly pack them into clean quart canning jars and water bath them for 90 minutes. Jars of beautiful, fresh tasting tomatoes all year instead of buying canned whole or diced tomatoes for soups, sauces, etc. The good canned ones are fine but always taste a bit tinny. Plus the good ones are really $$$. My home canned tomatoes taste fresh. Uses up LOTS of tomatoes. Granted a bit of work, but not bad. My very small attempt to cut down on my personal environmental footprint. From my garden, to my house, into reusable glass jars. Even the water from the canner gets used for hand watering plants.

[hatrack]

27. Gazpacho! It freezes beautifully.

Make the traditional kind where all the vegetables are pureed together. Pure summer heaven.

[Retrograde]

28. What kind of tomatoes?

And where do you live?

If they're smaller varieties, you can slice them in half, remove as much of the seeds as practical, and sun-dry them - it helps if you're in a hot, dry area like California.

If they're a high acid variety, they're easy to can: pack in sterilized canning jars, add lids, and process in a hot water bath for as long as the Bell Blue Book tells you to. If you're not sure and have a friend with a pressure canner, you can always pressure-can them. If not, cook them down into a puree and freeze - you can dilute them as needed for sauce later on.

A chilled tomato soup - the basis of traditional gazpacho - is good on hot days when you're tired of caprese salads. You can make salsas, and tomatoes are used a lot in Indian cooking. And there's always my father's favorite - a ripe tomato right off the plant eaten with a bit of salt!

[MissMillie]

29. If you're thinking of giving some away

Think of your local food bank/food pantry.

Obviously a lot of those places have issues w/ storing fresh produce. But honestly, I don't think they'll have to worry about storing fresh tomatoes for very long. The tomatoes will be taken before they go bad.

The folks who rely on the food pantry don't very often see fresh produce there.

[Vinca]

31. LOL - I made a rule in our house: tomatoes with every meal.

Scrambled eggs with tomato for breakfast? BLT for lunch? Fresh tomato sauce with pasta for supper?