Ok Dopers, last summer, some type of critters were taking bites out of all my ripe tomatoes (and is the plural really spelled with an E?). But this year, they are all intact and beautiful, and HUGE? But what the heck am I to do with all of them? I just picked about 40 large beefsteak tomatoes and have no idea what to do with them. Please send me ideas and recipes!!
Local food pantry.
Its summertime gardening season…spread around the food !!!
You planted basil and peppers nearby, right? Because marinara!
You can use them in Capresse salads or bruschettas, both of which make for great antipasti.
Tomatoes also go well at the bottom of an egg muffin, especially when wrapped in capicola.
~Max
Make a very plain chunky tomato sauce, pour it into ziplock freezer bags (in portions you deem most useful in your kitchen), and freeze the bags. You can lie them flat one on top of each other, and they take up less freezer space.
Always call first before donating perishables, to make sure they can take them.
I second canning them, or freezing them if you don’t have the equipment. You can also cook them down into sauce, and you’d be surprised at how many maters it takes for enough sauce to make a meal.
Oh to have such a problem.
I actually checked your location to see if I could help out in some way. 
mmm
Few years ago, I made ketchup.
Tarte à la moutarde?
~Max
I’d gladly take them, but you’re on the opposite coast from me. A shame since I’m “Jones-ing” for homegrown tomatoes, big time.
I normally get the ample surplus of my neighbor, but alas, this year she didn’t put a garden in. I never had a green thumb, and running across them in farmer’s markets are too hit & miss.
Take them to a bad movie/play and chuck them at the screen/performers. That’s a thing people do, right? Or have cartoons lied to me?
I would never lie to you.
Ooooh. Whereabouts in CA might you be? I am in the Bay Area. bambi eyes
You can have some of mine, but you’re going to have to take squash too.
ETA: also in Bay Area
Last night I made an eggplant sauce for meatballs and pasta. It called for canned tomatoes but I used fresh and it came out great.
Now, does anyone have recipes for cherry tomatoes. I have two volunteer plants and if only half of the blossoms make tomatoes I’m going to be buried in them. I had a recipe that called for a ton but can’t find it, and Google searches haven’t yielded much of interest.
Interesting that I had the something eating the tomatoes problem last year also but not this year, but I moved the plants.
My dad used to make soup, and freeze it. He drank homemade tomato soup for breakfast (basically tomato juice) for the rest of the year.
I’m jealous. I have some green tomatoes, but judging by the rest of my garden, they will be eaten by critters before they ripen.
If you don’t want to go to the trouble of canning them yourself, I’d wager that you could barter some of them away to get the rest canned. I know several people in my area that will do this.
Spaghetti sauce. I make gallons and gallon in the fall, freeze it and eat it all winter/spring long. It keeps very well. This year, home-grown garlic is in the mix!
Want my recipe?