From Garden to Table: Preserving Our Tomato Harvest

August 24, 2026 • By Lisa • 3 Min Read

We are blessed with an abundance of tomatoes this year! While a plentiful harvest is always a blessing, figuring out how to use and preserve everything before it spoils can feel overwhelming. Over the years we’ve found a simple system that works well for our family, and I’d love to share it with you. Sometimes we only have time to blanch a dozen tomatoes after dinner and that’s ok. Small efforts lead to big progress!

We grow three varieties of tomatoes, which I have listed below. Grow the types of tomatoes that your family enjoys! No matter which variety you have, blanching tomatoes is done the same way.

Golden Nugget Tomatoes

These are very sweet yellow cherry tomatoes that we use in salads. I have a great recipe for Tomato Salad. We love the color of these tomatoes and it produces a large yield.

Pineapple Tomatoes

These are beautiful, large yellow slicing tomatoes. We love them on burgers and sandwiches! They have a wonderfully sweet flavor and are also great for making recipes with fresh tomatoes.

San Marzano Tomatoes

These are a type of plum tomato that we use to make homemade tomato sauce.

In our opinion, San Marzano tomatoes make the best sauce because they are less acidic than many other varieties. Since we don’t always have time to make a large pot of sauce right away, we preserve the tomatoes by blanching and freezing them.

We do this in batches as the tomatoes ripen so the process isn’t overwhelming and nothing goes to waste. When we have time, we simply take the tomatoes out of the freezer and make homemade tomato sauce as needed. Check out our recipe for homemade tomato sauce here: 10 Easy Pantry Meals for Busy Families

Preserving Tomatoes by Blanching

Blanching and freezing tomatoes is a simple way to preserve your harvest until you’re ready to use them.

Instructions

Fill a pot with water (the size depends on how many tomatoes you are blanching at one time).
Wash your tomatoes.
Using a knife, carve an “X” on the bottom of each tomato.
Bring the water to a rolling boil.
Place the tomatoes into the boiling water.
Boil for 1 minute.
Remove the tomatoes with a slotted spoon and place them in a bowl.
Let them cool.
Peel off the skins.
Place the tomatoes in a freezer zipper bag, leaving about ¼ of the bag empty to allow for expansion.
Store in the freezer.
Continue adding blanched tomatoes to the same freezer bag as you harvest them, only starting a new bag when the first bag is about ¾ full. The extra space allows for freezer expansion.
Frozen tomatoes are best with cooked recipes – tomato sauce, cassaroles, soups, etc.