How on earth am I going to store this!

I've always worked on about a quarter pint per person when it comes to sauce, best thing to do is cook up a little pasta as a trial, chuck a measured amount of sauce at it and see how that works for you..adjust as you see fit.

Storage, forget containers..too bulky. Use zip loc bags, portion up and stack them in freezer one on top of the other..FLAT!

Maximises space and quick to defrost too.

Good luck ! and...






Never shop with a glass in hand...

Steve...

 

6kg is rather a lot of pizza sauce topping! heeheehee.

Defnitely heed @Steve R idea about the freezing things flat. Ziploc freezer bags are the best. In regard to how much sauce you need for a pizza, this is totally down to two factors. How big will your pizza be, and how saucy do you like it?

I make my own pizza bases and freeze them part-cooked, with sauce and toppings on. Mine are about 20cm x 15cm (to fit a small baking tray!), thin based, and take about 2 tablespoons of topping sauce.

 

If restricted to freezing stuff like that, save Tetra Pak cartons, such as 250ml, or 1L, and fill with one, two, three, etc. freezer bags of whatever you want with all air excluded and stacked inside, allowing some room for expansion. That should create the most effecient shapes for freezer storage.

Another storage solution is to use a pasteurising boiler and bottle (AKA canning) the stuff. I use one of these Stainless Steel Digital Pasteuriser which I use for preserving apple/pear/elderberry/raspberry/loganberry/blackberry/strawberry/etc. juices, tomato sauce, plus other fruit/veg. NB You may need to increase acidity before pasteurising.

 

You do not need to pay that extra amount to purchase "zip-locked" bags; *any* freezer bag will do (just tie a knot in it) if you suck out the air through a straw (free from most fast food places). Lay them flat and proceed as above.

Of course, storing just the spiced tomato sauce is one way of using it. However, you could use a good amount of it to make up a basic "minced beef" sauce (freeze portions a la flat freezer bag method, or Scrungee Tetra Pak method).
That spiced beef sauce will then make: bolognaise sauce; chilli sauce; enchilada base; lasagne base; calzone filling; pizza topping; heck, it would even make a tasty "stew" base which could ring the changes with a) dumpling topping; b) savoury scone topping; c) French bread slice with toasted cheese topping: or, a spicy cottage pie, spicy sloppy joes; and, if you get so bored after all of those options, mix it with a high proportion of breadcrumbs (better still, a packet of sage and onion stuffing) and turn it into a spiced beef meatloaf!! As a meatloaf, it could be served as it is after being baked or: serve it with a tomato sauce; bake it with a mashed potato topping.
That spiced beef sauce would also go a treat as a topping for a jacket potato; but, when you are down to the last tablespoon or two, it would also go great as a filler for a "toastie" (served with a green salad on the side).

Bear in mind that the ideas above could work equally well with chicken.

A spiced tomato base would be great for making a chorizo and chickpea goulash!

A spicy tomato base would also work well with red lentils to make a spicy dhal (served with rice). It could also work as a base for making a tasty curry (be it vegetable, meat, fish or poulty).

When all else fails, a spicy tomato base turns a humble fish finger into a bit of a cordon bleu meal, with a cheese topping, for the savvy chef who isn't afraid to take humble ingredients, serve them with flair and forget that it is a meal on the frugal spectrum because it simply tastes ... good!!!

In a nutshell: haven't the foggiest idea how you could use it up