Tuesday, July 24, 2012

Make your own tomato sauce - It's easy!

Hello fellow DIYers! let's pop into the kitchen for a bit.

I decided to take a break from the renovations to share one of my money saving tips...make your own tomato sauce! Not only does it taste so good and fresh, but  making a huge batch of sauce to portion and store in your freezer will save you time and money!

I have been doing this for a few years now, and I kept telling Ian that I wanted to stock the fridge shortly after I moved in. So this past Sunday I finally took the time after painting our dumpster table (post coming soon) to make the sauce.

Don't be intimidated. Or feel that you can't make sauce if your Grandmother isn't a feisty little Italian woman from Sicily. It is really easy.

 I am not an expert and I am sure there are tons of other recipes out there. I was given this recipe a few years back and it seems to work just fine for us. My point to the post is that you should make your own sauce to save money and have the convenience of reaching into your freezer whenever you need sauce. Feel free to explore other recipes, this is just what I do...

Ingredients

  • 4 tbs of minced garlic
  • 1 cup of olive oil
  • A bunch of basil and oregano - I usually make a big batch of sauce during the summer when I have fresh herbs planted. It tastes better and is again, cheaper. You can plant herbs for about $2-$3 and have them on hand whenever you need. If you don't have any fresh herbs the dried will work.
  • 2 small cans of tomato paste
  • 2 large cans of tomato sauce
  • 1 can of diced tomatoes - I buy the cheapest can of the above ingredients I can find. Each can is less than $1!
  • BBQ - Just a little. It depends on how sweet of a sauce you like. You'll know.

Saute all of your dry ingredients with the oil in a pan on low until is breaks down a bit. 
In a large pot, throw together all of your canned ingredients (do not add the BBQ yet).
  • Boil for 2 hours.
  • Add the BBQ 
  • Simmer for 45 mins.  
Turn off the heat and allow your sauce to cool. Then divide it up into containers and freeze. I break mine up  into serving portions for spaghetti dinners and a few larger containers for lasagna and ziti nights. 

Enjoy your savings and impressing everyone with the sauce you made from scratch!




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