Maximize your Savings with Tomatoes

Tomatoes are not just a favorite flavor used in many dishes; they're also a cost-effective ingredient that can help you save money in several different ways. By learning how to make pasta sauce, pizza sauce, salsa, and preserve tomatoes through canning, you can cut grocery costs and maximize your savings with tomatoes. Let’s take a look at how you can turn a simple tomato into a way to help you save money.

Homemade Pasta Sauce

Why should you make your own? Store-bought pasta sauces can be expensive, and their flavors often don’t compare to homemade versions. Making your own pasta sauce from fresh tomatoes or even canned tomatoes is both economical and satisfying. You can control the ingredients and the additives.

How to Do It:

• Ingredients: Fresh tomatoes, garlic, onions, olive oil, salt, pepper, and herbs like basil and oregano. Italian seasoning can be used in addition to or in place of the basil and oregano. I usually add mushrooms and green peppers to mine.
• Directions: Sauté onions and garlic in olive oil until softened. Add chopped tomatoes, salt, pepper, and herbs. Simmer for 30 minutes to an hour, depending on how thick you like your sauce. Blend if desired for a smoother texture. We keep ours chunky on purpose.

We use fresh tomatoes for this sauce when we can. We grow our tomatoes but you could purchase them at the grocery or a farmers market if you cannot grow your own.

The taste difference is noticeable. With this method, you also control the ingredients and avoid the added sugars and preservatives in many store-bought sauces. We freeze this sauce and pull it out when we need to get dinner on the table quickly.

Delicious Pizza Sauce

Why Make Your Own? Pizza sauce is another item that’s often over-priced and bland. Homemade pizza sauce tastes better and allows you to experiment with flavors and adjust them to your liking.

How to Do It:

• Ingredients: Fresh tomatoes or tomato paste, garlic, olive oil, salt, pepper, and Italian seasoning (like oregano and basil).
• Directions: If using fresh tomatoes, cook them down with garlic and olive oil, then blend until smooth. If using tomato paste, mix with water, garlic, and seasoning. Simmer for a few minutes.

Savings: Homemade pizza sauce is far cheaper than pre-made versions, and we make large batches to freeze. This makes dinner easy to complete on busy nights. This is similar to our pasta sauce.

Homemade Salsa

Why Make Your Own? Salsa can be expensive when bought pre-made. It’s also a dish that’s easy to customize according to your family preferences.

How to Do It:

• Ingredients: Fresh tomatoes, onions, garlic, cilantro, lime juice, jalapeños (or other peppers), salt, and pepper.
• Directions: Dice tomatoes and onions, then mix with minced garlic, chopped cilantro, lime juice, and finely chopped jalapeños (or other peppers). Season to taste.

Savings: Making your own salsa ensures you’re using quality ingredients and can customize the heat level to your preference, all while saving money.

You can preserve salsa to extend the life of it. We keep a big batch in the fridge to use, but we also preserve some each year.

Preserving Tomatoes by Canning

Why Can Your Own? Canning is another way to maximize your savings with tomatoes from your garden or bulk purchases from a farmer's market. It allows you to enjoy fresh tomatoes year-round and can save money. Canning your produce means you know each ingredient in your canned tomatoes. If you are new to this type of preserving there are many online resources to help you feel more comfortable.

How to Do It:

• Ingredients: Fresh tomatoes, lemon juice (or citric acid), salt (optional), and canning jars.
• Directions: Blanch tomatoes to remove skins, then chop and cook them briefly. Pack hot tomatoes into sterilized jars, add lemon juice or citric acid, and process in a water bath canner according to safe canning guidelines. These guidelines are available online or I use a Ball Canning Guide. These guides are simple to follow.

Savings: Home-canned tomatoes are a cost-effective alternative to store-bought canned tomatoes, especially if you buy in bulk or grow your own. Plus, you can control the seasoning and additives in your preserved tomatoes. It is important to know what is in the food we eat and provide to our family.

Additional Tips for Saving Money

• Buy in Bulk: You can maximize your savings with tomatoes by purchasing tomatoes in bulk can be more affordable. Consider visiting farmer’s markets or buying directly from local farms. During the growing season, you can find these all over the place.
• Grow Your Own: If you have the space, growing your own tomatoes can significantly cut costs and ensure you have a fresh supply of your favorite varieties. If you do not have space for a traditional garden, you can use raised beds or containers for growing. Several tomato varieties can be grown successfully in containers.
• Batch Cooking: Make large batches of sauces and salsa to freeze or can. This will save you time and money in the long run. You save time because you can open a jar or take a bag from the freezer and be off to a great start with dinner.

Final Thoughts

Incorporating tomatoes into your cooking and preserving them through canning is a smart way to decrease your food budget while experiencing better flavor. By making pasta sauce, pizza sauce, and salsa from scratch and preserving tomatoes, you can cut grocery expenses and enjoy the satisfaction of using fresh ingredients. With a little effort and some planning, you’ll find that tomatoes are more than just a kitchen staple—they’re a key ingredient in saving money and eating healthier.