Monday's Must Have: Tomato Paste in the Tube

   
Today's "Must Have" is pretty practical and not at all exciting... unless you just love Italian food--

which I do.

I love to make it. I love to serve it. AND, I love to eat it!

I have noticed that many recipes (whether Italian or not) often call for a small amount of Tomato Paste. At some point in the past, I realized I was buying a small can of tomato paste every time I need a Tablespoon and then having trouble deciding what to do with the rest. I hate waste-- and throwing away the rest of the can definitely felt wasteful.

Then I found this product, Amore Tomato Paste in the tube. This was a great little product for me, as I could squeeze out a small amount of this super-concentrated paste for sloppy joes, meatloaf or whatever, and then pop it back in the fridge for next time! It goes a long way and has proved to be very convenient as one of those, 'have on hand' items. Many grocery stores carry it on the top shelf, and it will usually cost about 2-3 dollars per tube.

I will say, that when I make marinara sauce, I do not use this, but use an entire small can of regular tomato paste merely because it is more cost effective. If you really want to plan ahead, you can buy a case of it here!  Twelve tubes for $26.77 comes out to a little more than $2.00 a tube! I definitely plan to do this if we move somewhere that does not carry it at a good price!

This may be a little silly for a "must have" but we have enjoyed having it on hand-- perhaps you will too!