Using Canned Tomato Paste to Make Tomato Sauce and Juice

Tired of juggling tomato pastes, sauces and never having tomato juice when you occasionally need it?  Or, going to the store and staring dazedly at the various brands and accidentally buying one with added sugar?  I've done this trick for years and it puts an end to always having the wrong tomato product on hand at all times!


Pick a good quality, 6 oz., sugar free brand of tomato paste and buy a few on sale if possible.  I love Kroger's Simple Truth Organic brand.

If you need tomato paste you're ready, but if you need sauce instead empty the paste into a jar (I usually use a pint jar for sauce).  The illustration uses a quart jar, so it will be half full.

Fill the jar up with water to equal 2 cups.  This is two cups of top quality tomato sauce.  But suppose you need tomato juice instead?

Just fill a quart jar with the contents of 1 (6 oz) jar of tomato paste and add water to the top.  Now you have as good a jar of tomato juice as you can get from a can, add a little salt and you could drink it, make soup, or whatever!

The price for making the sauce won't be much difference, unless you count having to run to the convenience store for sauce while the meat is browning : ). Not sure about the juice because I haven't bought that in years and forgot to check at the store, you will probably save money on that though...

Carb wise I compared on the paste and sauce and for my brand it came out about the same~!

The savings here is mainly time and space, but also, money because you can buy the paste on sale and keep it on hand easily.  Not to mention it's a small stress saver, because otherwise it is always niggling away in the back of your mind when you read a recipe... that you just might not have the right tomatoes for this dish...........................................................................!