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Maturemomg
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| Posted: May 24 2007 at 9:27am | IP Logged
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Okay, another thread has digressed into some posts about preserving....
Ds has an heirloom tomato seedling business. Being frugal, I cannot let anything go to waste. SO after he has sold 300+ plants, there are still about 75-100 left. MUST plant them, right???
So far I have 58 in the ground, and another 20 or so to go.. Some lady called and said she wanted 20 plants, bless her heart, that means 20 more I don't have to plant.
(I digress, but this reminds me of the time I bougt a bunch of seed potatoes, 5 different varieties. I had planned on a 25' row of each, but had LOTS of left over eyes. Again, MUST not waste, so they get planted and we end up with about 5 times as many rows of potatoes as planned! Okay for planting, and we have space, but HARVEST was a bear!)
Anyway, this is my plan with tomatoes. Tried it last year on a small basis and it worked fine.
I have a Vita-Mix (super blender with spout, but any good blender will do).
The VitaMix will get set up outside (in the garage or shed) on an old table. Tomatoes will be harvested as ripe- the orange ones, striped ones, Amish paste, Brandywines, whatever I planted (I do have a list). A few will be used for fresh eating, some may be used in salsa production. But ALL the rest (of what will end up being over 80 plants) will be directly tossed into the VitaMix (they should be clean, I don't spray, blossom end removed). Put in whole, unwashed (unless dirty, but they are trellised so usually aren't dirty), skin and all. Whiz for a few seconds or half minute or whatever, dump in quart or gallon size freezer zip-lock bags, then freeze flat on a cookie sheet. No blanching, no extra HEAT on a hot summer day, no fuss, mess is outside!
Now, we do have 2 big freexers, but they cost LITTLE to run much of the time as they are in the unheated back porch (dh once put an electrcial meter on them- one is an ancient monster I figured would be very spendy to run as it is not "energy-efficient". Not so, about $.10 per day in winter!)
Anyway, you can use these tomatoes for soups, sauces, stews, most anyplace you would use canned tomatoes.
MUCH MUCH MUCH easier than canning (been there, done that with sometimes 35 quarts a day- what was I thinking that year??? with 150 tomato plants???)
Now, my dh lvoes tomatoes, so we eat lots of them. this is a quick and easy way to do tomatoes- lots or a few.
Other things:
We don't grow potatoes much anymore. I can get them (clean), organic, from my lcoal grocery store for about $30.-40/#. Not worth my time and labor to plant and dig and clean spuds for that. I will use my efforts for things that are MORE spendy organically. Raspberries and strawberries are REALLY easy and REALLY spendy organiclly bought. Asparagas is another one. Snow peas. If you're going to grow thins, look at what you family likes, then at what is easiest to grow, and most costly organically in the stores.
We could grow our own wheat, for example, but that is hard and tme consuming and I can buy wheat ready to use for not much.
Greens are another one that are easy.
And your ideas? Waht has worked for you???
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Paula in MN
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| Posted: May 24 2007 at 12:31pm | IP Logged
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You put the "blended" tomatoes in a ziploc bag and then freeze on a cookie sheet? Sounds like what I do with blueberries and rhubarb.
Do you use the same amounts for soups, sauces, etc, as if you were using fresh tomatoes? I really like this idea, and I'm thinking for me it might be easier to freeze in certain quantities, like 2 cups per bag.
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 Paula
A Catholic Harvest
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Maturemomg
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| Posted: May 24 2007 at 4:47pm | IP Logged
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Ahem... your question, Paula, implies that I MEASURE ingredients!
With most of the things I use the tomatoes for it is not critical the exact amount- spaghetti sauce, etc.
Yours in Christ,
Kathy
If I DID measure, I woudl make it equal a can of chopped tomato s, 2 c. sounds nice! A quart size bag would be bigger, which is fine for us. And a few gallons (gallon size) for major spaghetti sauces days.
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Paula in MN
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| Posted: May 24 2007 at 5:09pm | IP Logged
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Paula
A Catholic Harvest
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CAgirl4God
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| Posted: May 24 2007 at 10:46pm | IP Logged
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Hi Kathy 
what kind of weather do berries need to be grown in?
and we are going to try tomatoes when we move. I would have to do a container garden because we will be in a townhouse this time around.
but the kids really want to plant and I really want to save some $$$ lol.
any suggestions?
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Jamie, married to John
JC, Nugget, Christina & Judy
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Angel
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| Posted: May 25 2007 at 7:14am | IP Logged
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Wow, that's a lot of tomato plants! I would be tempted to compost a lot of them, but your freezing plan sounds so much easier than canning!
--Angela
Three Plus Two
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Maturemomg
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| Posted: May 25 2007 at 8:43am | IP Logged
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Jamie, berries CAN be grown in containers, but they are pretty much things that need more space than that. I think they have developed varieties that do well in most climates.
Yours in Christ,
Kathy
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Topic: Food growing & Processing Thoughts/Ideas
