Freezing Roasted Tomatoes

How to freeze your roasted tomatoes. Or, how I spent my summer.

This method takes up less freezer space than fresh freezing tomatoes; check your space and production levels, then pick your poison.

Step 1 Label freezer bag

You've got a ton of fresh tomatoes from your garden or from your quality local supplier, have roasted them, and need to store them for the winter.

Acquire a box of heavy-duty quart freezer bags. You want to be able to thaw the tomatoes in one-use shots, so don't go for bigger bags unless you're into seriously large-scale cooking.

Label and date the bag with a waterproof marker before you get started, then flip the top inside out to avoid getting goo in the zipper opening. Cook's Illustrated says that regular zip bags work better than the ones with slide closures, and the thicker the bag the better. Thicker bags block evaporation better, while bags don't seal properly directly under the slider.

*It's very important to label and date your freezer bag. Years from now, when your grandchildren chisel this out from under layers of ice, they'll want to know whether this bundle requires special hazardous waste disposal. It will also save costly carbon-dating.

Comments

[vataty]

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[wazzup105]

I often oven-dry my tomatoes, and just toss them in a box in the freezer.. the worst that could happen is that they dry out even more (which is a win taste-wise anyways :)) Also because they are dry you can pull out just one of the box (having some today on a sandwich with cheese :))

[jakerobinson]

good idea... last year i didn't grow enough to do anything but eat them up.... but going to a farmer's market or commericial grower and asking for '2nds' is a good idea... I cook curry about once per week and roasted tomatos really brings out the flavor but they are so expensive to buy at the grocery store.. good idea - thanks for this lesson...cheers,

[fungus amungus]

I think you're going to need a bigger freezer. Walk-in?

[canida]

*grin* Of course- where else am I going to cure the proscuttio?

[Jafafa Hots]

What I need is instructions on how to roast the tomatoes.

[canida]

The tomato roasting Instructable can be found here. I've got several more uses for roasted tomatoes up; just click my username to see my other Instructables.

[Crash2108]

"How to put things in a bag"

[canida]

Yup. With suggestions on bag selection, decoration, and placement.