mommato3boys Posted January 26, 2013 Share Posted January 26, 2013 I purchased Roma tomatoes for 57cents a pound this week. I only picked up 5lbs because I wanted to try making my own tomato paste before laying the money out for a bunch of tomatoes and make a big mess. I have come to the conclusion that unless I grow the tomatoes myself it is not cost worthy to make your own tomato paste. Out of 5lbs which were about 15 tomatoes I took 5 tomatoes and made a quart of salsa and used the rest and make paste. So for about 1.90 (tomatoes only) I got about two cans of tomato paste. By the time you factor in the gas used to cook the tomatoes down I could get about 4 cans of organic paste for less than that. What is your opinion? Quote Link to comment
Ambergris Posted January 27, 2013 Share Posted January 27, 2013 In normal times, it's not worth your time. But in abnormal times, knowing how to do it could be invaluable. So make it for the practice and buy it for routine eating. Quote Link to comment
Jeepers Posted January 27, 2013 Share Posted January 27, 2013 My opinion is...you did the math! (Did that sound snarky? I don't mean it that way.) It's good that you know how to make it from scratch if the need ever arises; in the meantime I'd buy it already made. I've had that experience with homemade things too. I don't mind the time spent so much as the money spent. Quote Link to comment
mommato3boys Posted January 27, 2013 Author Share Posted January 27, 2013 I don't mind the time either but when I did the math I was very disappointed. But I know I can do it and that in itself was worth the time and money! Quote Link to comment
ScrubbieLady Posted January 27, 2013 Share Posted January 27, 2013 Did you cook it down on the stovetop or in the oven? Jackie Clay says she cooks hers down in a roaster in the oven set low. Quote Link to comment
mommato3boys Posted January 27, 2013 Author Share Posted January 27, 2013 Did you cook it down on the stovetop or in the oven? Jackie Clay says she cooks hers down in a roaster in the oven set low. Stove top...I had bread in the oven. Quote Link to comment
kappydell Posted March 10, 2013 Share Posted March 10, 2013 Its well worth knowing hot to do sincer you can do so much with the finished product. But right now, it is cheaper to buy - of course, now that we let the cat out of the bag, who knows....? Quote Link to comment
CoM Posted March 16, 2013 Share Posted March 16, 2013 I am not making my own spaghetti sauce from home grown tomatoes anymore. It takes 45-50 pounds of tomatoes to make 7 qts of sauce. It is very labor intensive and takes 6-8 hours of simmering down the sauce to reach a nice thick consistency. I have decided to buy my tomato sauce & paste to make my sauce, then can it. I also buy the #10 cans of tomato sauce and dehydrate it til crisp, then grind it to make tomato powder. The powder can later be rconsituted to the desired thickness for sauce or paste and takes up a lot less space. I will use my home grown tomatoes to can stewed tomatoes. Quote Link to comment
The WE2's Posted March 17, 2013 Share Posted March 17, 2013 I am not making my own spaghetti sauce from home grown tomatoes anymore. It takes 45-50 pounds of tomatoes to make 7 qts of sauce. It is very labor intensive and takes 6-8 hours of simmering down the sauce to reach a nice thick consistency. I have decided to buy my tomato sauce & paste to make my sauce, then can it. I also buy the #10 cans of tomato sauce and dehydrate it til crisp, then grind it to make tomato powder. The powder can later be rconsituted to the desired thickness for sauce or paste and takes up a lot less space. I will use my home grown tomatoes to can stewed tomatoes. I'm with you CoM...there's lot of different types of foods that are just plain cheaper to buy and then store, by dehydration or vacume sealing etc. Quote Link to comment
Jeepers Posted March 17, 2013 Share Posted March 17, 2013 I'm in the same camp. I can around 7 quarts of tomatoes each year and about the only thing I use them for is when I make a big pot of chili. It's cheaper for me to buy them already canned for sauces etc. especially when I figure in the water and gas it takes. Not to mention the time. Quote Link to comment
Nichole Posted March 20, 2013 Share Posted March 20, 2013 I decided the same thing after making tomato sauce for the first time last year. Now like most of you it seems, just canning them for stewed tomatoes in soups, etc. I really have to factor in the time it takes to do the sauce too. Trying to fit in long periods of time to allow tomatoes to simmer is nearly impossible for me because of my work schedule. For now I will enjoy them fresh and stewed! Quote Link to comment
The WE2's Posted March 20, 2013 Share Posted March 20, 2013 At Aldi's I've stocked up on the diced tomatoes that have various seasonings already in them...they're wonderful to add to their cans of chili beans and some fried up hamburger, the results of which are chili! I also like to blend them up in my magic bullet for a nice sauce on my pizza's. Quote Link to comment
Mt_Rider Posted March 22, 2013 Share Posted March 22, 2013 I'm having to go the other way....sort of. Up until I was eating Darlene's baked ziti last fall I thought I had acquired an allergy to tomatoes. When I'd eat pizza, spaghetti, etc, I'd get a sore stomach. Not life threatening but defintely to be avoided. But with some trepidation, I ate some of Darlene's yummy dish. .....Just a bit at first. No reaction. So I ate more. No reaction. So we enjoyed that several times ...and homemade pizza too! Then on the last night I was there, we ordered pizza delivered. It was yummy but then......my stomach told me I'd made a mistake. What???? So it turns out that Darlene is making her sauce from scratch [although not always with tomatoes from her huge garden]. SOMEthing they put into jars of pasta sauce at the grocery... SOMEthing they use in the sause at pizza places, Italian places, ..... does not agree with me. BUT...it means I'm not allergic to tomatoes themselves. And our favorite Italian place makes their own sauce that doesn't bother me. What a great discovery!!!! Folks with allergies might want to double check (carefully, if you have serious reactions!!!!!) what they think they know. You might find a way around by eliminating the extra stuff that's in the "prepared" foods. So now I can make spaghetti by purchasing cans of tomatoes [stewed, diced, etc] after CAREFULLY INSPECTING the ingredients. If there is ONLY tomatoes - and possibly salt and-or water. ===================== Not arguing with anyone's math but I thought this might be a good place to put my new revelation. A different way to do the math besides numbers. MtRider --- looking at buying tomato seeds again this year. Quote Link to comment
The WE2's Posted March 22, 2013 Share Posted March 22, 2013 I make my own speghetti sauce, my own pizza sauce & my own taco sauce...not because of allergies, but I just don't like the taste of most of them. I absolutely do NOT like pizza's that have an inch of tomato paste or ??? I like Taco Bell's taco sauce so I finally made one of my own that taste almost like their "mild" that I used to buy in a bottle that cost an arm and a leg! I normally use the same pizza sauce for my speghetti. So glad you've found you can enjoy something you love! Quote Link to comment
ScrubbieLady Posted March 23, 2013 Share Posted March 23, 2013 What do you cook with tomato paste that does not take additional water or other liquids? If you are going to add water when you use the paste, why make paste? Quote Link to comment
Canned Nerd Posted March 24, 2013 Share Posted March 24, 2013 I don't know about anybody else but Tomato Paste to me has more intense flavor than just using sauce. Quote Link to comment
The WE2's Posted March 24, 2013 Share Posted March 24, 2013 I don't know about anybody else but Tomato Paste to me has more intense flavor than just using sauce. I like to add broths instead of water to thin it down, and yes it is alot more intense in flavor, and you can mix it to the liquidity you want. Quote Link to comment
out_of_the_ordinary Posted March 24, 2013 Share Posted March 24, 2013 (edited) I can't have tomatoes because I'm currently dealing with a sensitivity to salicylates. Anyway, when I was growing up, all of our spaghetti sauce was what Mom canned. Mostly from the tomatoes from our garden. When my parents quit canning/gardening (Mom went to work), I would not eat spaghetti anymore. She didn't tell us the 1st supper time it was store-bought sauce in the spaghetti, but we knew from the 1st bite. Yuck! Even though she tried "doctoring it up" with spices and such, I thought it was gross. I grew up on a lot of home-canned foods. I've never had anything from the store that comes even close to the flavor and quality of stuff my parents canned at home. So although store-bought stuff may be less expensive, it's just not the same. Edited March 24, 2013 by out_of_the_ordinary Quote Link to comment
Jeepers Posted March 24, 2013 Share Posted March 24, 2013 My mom had a recipe that used tomato paste and no liquid. She took a pound of hamburger, an onion, a can of paste, and a packet of sloppy joe spices (probably McCormick) fried it all up and we ate it on buns. This was in the 60's before we ever heard of Manwich. Quote Link to comment
mommato3boys Posted March 25, 2013 Author Share Posted March 25, 2013 Instead of paste I will probably just dry them and then grind them up and make a powder. That way I still get the fresh tomato taste with nothing added except what I add. Quote Link to comment
The WE2's Posted March 25, 2013 Share Posted March 25, 2013 My mom had a recipe that used tomato paste and no liquid. She took a pound of hamburger, an onion, a can of paste, and a packet of sloppy joe spices (probably McCormick) fried it all up and we ate it on buns. This was in the 60's before we ever heard of Manwich. Many, many years ago I friend did her "hamburger" with this method, but her "twist" was after everything was cooked, she'd dump in several cups of mozarella cheese and let it melt. Then she'd use an ice cream scoop and put a scoop on each bun. VERY tastey! I have no idea of the recipe portions, but knew what she used. Quote Link to comment
The WE2's Posted March 25, 2013 Share Posted March 25, 2013 Instead of paste I will probably just dry them and then grind them up and make a powder. That way I still get the fresh tomato taste with nothing added except what I add. Grinding them up and vacume sealing them in jars works wonderful. All you do is add water or broth and you've got your paste. I dehydrate my tomatoes and when I get ready to use them for something like that, I grind them and add broth (sometimes water) to re-hydrate them. I get tons of tomatoes in just one qt. jar...LOL Quote Link to comment
Mt_Rider Posted March 25, 2013 Share Posted March 25, 2013 This has been a very interesting thread! MtRider Quote Link to comment
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