Freezing Leftover Tomato Paste

Ever since this post about freezing things other than water in ice cube trays, I have been obsessively doing just that! I have zipper baggies of half and half cubes, several varieties of broth cubes, and fruit juice cubes. No leftover wine cubes yet- only because I am still trying to figure out what leftover wine is.

In the past week I've made two dishes with tomato paste, each using about a tablespoon. I understand it should last about a week in a sealed container in the fridge. Since I have no tomato paste plans for the near future (and detest food waste), I decided to try the ice cube thing.

If you've tried this, you're laughing at me right now. Because you already know that putting tomato paste into an ice tray is a very messy procedure. What was I thinking?

Dollop Method of Freezing Tomato Paste

Then I remembered reading somewhere that you could place dollops, approximately one tablespoon each (you'll see why I say approximately when you try it...), onto a piece of freezer paper and freeze until firm. Then you put the frozen lumps in a freezer bag and pull them out as you need them. Each tablespoon is about a half an ounce of paste.

Martha's Method of Freezing Tomato Paste

I also ran across Martha Stewart's method, whereby you freeze it in the can and cut into slices.

Since I'm the Home Ec Dropout, and not Martha Stewart, I chose to freeze it into sloppy little dollops. Maybe not as pretty, but just as frozen and safe from spoilage!

How to Avoid Having to Freeze Tomato Paste...

I've recently learned that tomato paste is sold in a tube, sort of like toothpaste. I think I'll check it out next time I shop for groceries! If it's not cost prohibitive, that sounds like great alternative.  

How do you deal with leftover tomato paste? Or do you manage not to have any? Either way, I'd love to hear about it.