Ok so I'm beginning to become overwhelmed with tomatos (have 12 plants this year). I wish I knew how to can, but I don't. I was thinking about chopping up the tomatos and putting them in small ziploc bags and freezing them, has anyone ever done this and did it work out ok? I'm thinking about doing them in 1 cup increments so I can use them to add to chili or any other recipes I want to use them in.

I'm just glad you got so many! All my plants have burned up in this heat!!

I'm jealous we planted a bunch last year but it rained so much here that they all rotted on the vine. We didn't plant anything this year and turned it into a flower garden.

One thing you could do is cut some and cook them with italian seasoning and garlic to make your own sauce. Then make a bunch of meals with noodles to store in the freezer, like spaghetti, lasagna, or anything you like with sauce. To me, that would hold the flavor better than frozen tomatoes.

But to answer your question, I haven't ever frozen tomatoes so I have no clue if it would work or not!

I do this every year, quarter them, put in ziploc bags, squish air out and freeze, they work great! AND the skin slips off when you thaw. You can put x at the bottom of tomato, dip in boiling water with a slotted spoon, cool. The skin will "slip" right off.

I also freeze my extra zuchinni, yellow squash, peppers the same way, If you take the bags and lay them flat in the freezer they will be easier to stack.

You can take fresh basil, don't even take it off the stem and freeze in ziploc bags, be sure to remove the air. Then once frozen, take out and squish between your hands, the basil will shatter, no chopping necessary and you can just pick the stems out of the bag. Be sure to immediately return to the freezer though if you don't use it all, it will turn into a basil brick! You can still use it but it isn't as easy. This way you can have the fresh basil taste all winter. I do thyme, sage, oregano too.

Great advice!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Thanks so much, I have a basil plant to so I will do just what you said!!! Thanks again!!!!

great post!

You can freeze them no problem but they say you should blanch them 1st.
dip them in boiling water for a couple seconds to kill off any cooties.

Cooties? Tomatoes have cooties? LOL! Great post... seriously, great post (funny, but good info!) I love this site more and more everyday!

I will blanch them first, thanks for the information!!! I know what I will be doing all weekend

I have also put them thru the food processor with peppers, onions, basil and garlic, chop and then put in one cup per bag, freeze flat. Great to add to jar spaghetti sauce, jambalaya, soup, you name it! (AND you don't have to blanch if you don't feel like it! LOL Sometimes I get tired of blanching and just chop and go, it makes it go quicker!)

Yes, freeze the tomatoes, put them in ziplock bags, they are wonderful in soup and cooked recipes. I do this all the time. I do this even when I have a few and they ripen before we can eat them all.

Have been doing this for years.

I need to save this post for next year my dh tomatoes died this year but he said he is going to to do a raise garden next year.

I do something similar as what has alraedy been posted. I peel them then buzz them in a food processor...I then dump each batch into a large bowl until I am done (or the bowl is full) Then I use a big soup ladle to measure out ~ 2cups into a zip lock bag, then I add in some fresh basil, oregano, or parsley.

Then when I am ready to make sauce I just saute some garlic in olive oil and dump the bag in.

ALSO if you have alot of green tomatos at the end of the summer I will post a link to a thread talking about what to do with them.

You all are lucky...........I have one piddly pathetic cherry tomato plant in a pot..............it isn't doing anything. It has some tomatoes on it, but they aren't ripening.

This is about an easy way to pickle green tomatos...they are really good on some crusty italian bread with a fresh cheese, or on sandwiches.

Italian Pickled Green Tomatos

We had tons of tomatoes, made salsa and spaghetti sauce that I canned using jars from Freecycle!! I also blanched, seeded and chopped a bunch of tomatoes and put them in the freezer in ziploc bags. I've done it before, it works great, but I usually take the time to blanch and seed them. I'm jealous though, my tomato plants have a ton of new tomatoes, but they are all baby green ones!! Who knew that tomato plants in the south would start putting out new flowers and tomatoes in the middle of the summer!

With the basil rather than putting the whole plant in stems and all (which I have done in the past and it works fine) was put the leaves in the food processor with just a bit of olive oil to get it going then put it in butter containers in the freezer, just scrape a bit off the top when you want to use it.