by Texas Homesteader ~
Freezing garden tomatoes offers several benefits: Easier tomato peeling, less water when cooking them down and ease of preserving. Come see how I do it.
Garden Tomatoes Are Garden Favorites!
Tomatoes are the sweethearts of the vegetable garden, especially down here in the south. We eat tomatoes raw in salads, for garnishing main dishes, cooked into soups & stews and made into savory sauces.
My favorite way to put them into action is to make Fresh Garden Pico de Gallo. I can eat that stuff with a spoon, y’all!
Heck down here in the south, many even enjoy a dish called tomato pie! (or as it’s pronounced down here: tomatah pah)
But tomatoes often produce more than we can eat fresh. You don’t want any of that garden goodness wasted! So I make sure to preserve them to enjoy later.
Oftentimes I take the simplest way out, freezing the fresh tomatoes for later. Come see how I do it.
How To Preserve Fresh Tomatoes For Later
Now here at our Homestead I typically, very purposely over-plant tomatoes in the garden each year. That’s so I’ll have plenty to preserve for later.
Tomatoes are pretty prolific producers and oftentimes there’s quite an influx of tomatoes to be consumed at one time.
Some home gardeners eat them fresh as quickly as they can. Others preserve their tomato excess by canning them in a pressure canner.
I really enjoy a freshly-picked ripe tomato fresh from the garden, still warm from the sun. But RancherMan will only eat them in moderation when they’re served sliced raw. Yeah, #idontunderstandeither.
But I sure won’t allow these precious fruits to go to waste. So I have several ways to preserve tomatoes:
But I personally don’t enjoy the thought of firing up that canner during the heat and humidity that defines a typical Texas summer. So what’s a country girl to do to easily preserve fresh tomatoes?
Easiest Way To Preserve Fresh Tomatoes: Ease Of The Freeze!
My favorite and by far easiest way to preserve fresh tomatoes is by freezing them. Heck, then I can use them later in our favorite way – blender salsa! It’s a dry salsa mix that I have stored in the pantry. Mix it with garden tomatoes and BOOM! Salsa!
Easiest Heat-Free Way To Peel Tomatoes
And the beauty of freezing tomatoes is that when they are thawing the skin slips right off. That means there’s no need to stand over a steaming pot of water dipping raw tomatoes to skin them.
Less heat & humidity in the house during the summertime? That certainly works for me!
Previously Frozen Tomatoes Release More Water
Plus, if you decide to cook with those frozen tomatoes to make tomato sauce or pasta sauce, frozen tomatoes release much of the water in them as they thaw.
That means you’re not stuck simmering on and on (and ON) to get the tomatoes simmered to the perfect thickness. Now I don’t know about you, but easier and QUICKER in the kitchen is aaaaaalways a winner for me!
How To Freeze Fresh Garden Tomatoes
Preserving tomatoes by freezing is super easy. Since they won’t stay in the freezer long I don’t worry much about freezer burn. So I don’t use any specialty containers to freeze the tomatoes, just plain ole repurposed zipper bags.
Preparing Fresh Tomatoes For Freezing
To freeze the tomatoes I bring those freshly-picked orbs of crimson deliciousness inside from the garden.
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Quickly rinse tomato & blot dry
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Core tomatoes and cut them in half
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Place tomato halves into a bag, seal tightly & freeze
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What Type Of Bags To Use When Freezing Tomatoes?
I usually just use repurposed bread or tortilla bags to store them in the freezer since their stay in my freezer will be so short.
But if you want to store them longer you’ll probably need to be more mindful of their freezer diggs to keep them fresh tasting.
Does The Texture Of Tomatoes Change After Freezing?
As with many frozen foods, the texture of your tomatoes will be soft when thawed.
That means you won’t have the same texture for thawed tomatoes as you did fresh. So enjoying them in a salad the way you do fresh is not an option. Plan to use them in your cooking. (or blender salsa!)
How do you prefer to preserve your garden bounty of tomatoes?
~TxH~
This post categorized in 
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I freeze hole tomatoes too – they’re great for making tomato soup when the weather is cooler. For my excess cherry tomatoes, I’ve been dehydrating them – just cut in half and put in the dehydrator 10 hours or so – no oil, salt or anything else added. They’re almost like candy. 🙂
This year I had no extra tomatoes to put up! I do like to cook them down, skins and all, then blend and can for sauce. Thanks for sharing your post on Wildcrafting Wednesday.
Suzanne, salsa recipe is up on the blog today, check it out. Easy – fast – delicious. My favorite trifecta! LOL ~TxH~
I always freeze mine until I have enough to make it worth my while to can them. Freezing helps reduce the amount of juice that gets into the canned tomatoes.
Barb, that’s a good point. Instead of having to simmer tomatoes to remove some of the juice, freezing would do that for you. Love it! ~TxH~
I freeze my tomato sauce all the time, but never thought about freezing the tomatoes whole. It would solve my dilemma of not liking any “canned” salsa recipes. Just defrost and make my usual fresh salsa!
Sarah, it’s hard to beat fresh salsa, huh?? ~TxH~
I have done both freezing and canning in the past. This year I intend to can if they will just ripen!!! They are huge plants; much rain this year in Western PA but they are all still green in my garden . I can’t wait! 🙂
I’ll admit I’m jealous, as I don’t think I’ve been able to say “much rain this year” for several years. LOL Fingers crossed your tomatoes ripen soon. ~TxH~
Thank you for posting this! I’d actually asked in a previous post how you froze tomatoes. I’m definitely goin to try this as we are too busy to try canning right now. We’re prepping our house to put on the market so we can move to the country on a small plot of land. We want our daughters to be able to have more space to run and we want a few acres so we can have a large garden, chickens and bees. Love your blog and reading about life on the ranch but it makes me so jealous too as this is the life my husband and I are aiming for some day.
Sarah, depending upon how you use your tomatoes, freezing them like this is so very easy and keeps that summer heat out of the kitchen. Since we enjoy our tomatoes in salsa, we freeze them for a quick salsa that we eat often. No worries, the recipe will be posted Friday so if your crew likes salsa be sure to check it out! Congrats on your pending move – reach for the stars! ~TxH~
Wow, I never thought about using used tortilla bags to freeze things, but it makes sense because most have a zip opening. I also didn’t know that frozen tomato skins slip off when thawed! Thanks for all this information, I will put it to good use!
Vickie – I’m all about reducing the heat in the kitchen during our Texas summer heat! ~TxH~
I set up the coleman stoves and head out to patio for my summer canning. I live in Illinois, not as bad as Texas, but we get the heat & humidity too. I can set up a production line outside and then hose it all down when finished. Works for me.My friends do canning parties, share our labors and have fun as well.
Kelly, I’ve been eyeballing outside kitchen setups for this reason. I know it doesn’t have to be elaborate or expensive (or even permanent) and may very well be an option for me in the future. I love the idea of canning parties! ~TxH~