Family Tomato Sauce Day, Part 1: Starting a New Family Tradition

There are a lot of tomatoes in my freezer right now.

And I mean a lot.

Our garden has been generous this summer, so lately I have found myself standing at the kitchen sink washing tomatoes, dropping them into hot water, slipping off their skins, and getting them ready for the freezer.

I’ve never done this before.

There is no treasured tomato sauce recipe written in my grandmother’s handwriting tucked inside an old recipe box. I don’t have childhood memories of my mother lining jars across the kitchen counter every August.

This is all new to me.

But while I was standing there working my way through yet another pile of tomatoes, I started thinking about a friend of mine.

She’s Italian, and every August, her family has Tomato Sauce Day.

The whole family gathers together and spends the day making tomato sauce.

I’ve always loved the idea of it.

Not just the sauce.

The gathering.

A whole day set aside when everyone knows where they’re supposed to be and what they’re going to do. There is work to be done, of course, but they’re doing it together.

And somewhere along the way, I started wondering:

Why couldn’t we do that?

Maybe Traditions Don’t Have to Be Old

We tend to think of family traditions as things we inherit.

Grandma’s Christmas cookies.

The same Thanksgiving stuffing we’ve eaten for generations.

A favorite vacation spot.

The ornaments that come out every December.

Those traditions are precious because they connect us to the people and places that came before us.

But every old family tradition was new once.

Somebody made those cookies for the first time.

Somebody planned that first trip.

Somebody said, Let’s do this again next year.

And maybe that’s one of the ways a family legacy is created.

Not only by preserving the traditions we’ve been given, but by being intentional about starting new ones worth passing down.

So that’s what I’m going to try.

We’re going to have our own Family Tomato Sauce Day.

I have absolutely no idea yet whether this will become something our family does every August.

That’s part of the fun.

For Now, I’m Just Saving the Tomatoes

At this point, there are no beautiful jars of homemade sauce lined up on my counter.

There are bags and containers of tomatoes accumulating in my freezer.

I’ve been cleaning them, skinning them and freezing them as they ripen so they’ll be waiting for us when we’re ready.

And now I need to figure out everything we’re going to need to turn all those tomatoes into sauce.

The jars.

The equipment.

The ingredients.

And, perhaps most importantly, how we’re actually going to do this.

I’ve got some homework to do.

And that’s where Part 2 of this little adventure begins.

I’ll take you along as I figure out what we need and get everything ready for our very first Family Tomato Sauce Day.

Then, in Part 3, we’ll actually gather everyone together and make the sauce.

And we’ll find out whether this crazy idea of mine has the beginnings of a family tradition.

From the Porch

I’ve been thinking lately that legacy isn’t only about what we leave behind.

It’s also about what we choose to begin.

Sometimes we inherit traditions from generations before us.

And sometimes we see something beautiful in the way another family gathers and think:

I’d like a little more of that in our family, too.

So we begin.

We plant the garden.

We save the tomatoes.

We invite the family.

We make the sauce.

And perhaps years from now, someone will remember an August day when the kitchen was hot, the counters were covered with tomatoes, and everyone was together.

But I’m getting ahead of myself.

Right now, the tomatoes are in the freezer.

And a new tradition is just beginning.

We are living tomorrow’s memories today.

— Chicks on the Road

Want to Start Your Own Tomato Sauce Day?

Maybe our family won’t be the only one starting a new tradition this summer.

I’ve created a free Family Tomato Sauce Day printable with the supplies, ingredients and basic steps we’ll be using as we prepare for our first Sauce Day.

If you’ve got tomatoes piling up on the kitchen counter—or you’ve simply been looking for a reason to gather a few people you love—perhaps this is your year to begin, too.

Download a Free Family Tomato Sauce Day Printable – click the photo

Print it, tuck it into your recipe binder, and make it your own.

And if this becomes something your family looks forward to every August?

Well, that’s how traditions begin.

A Note About Canning Safety: The canning information in this resource is based on research-tested home food preservation guidance from the National Center for Home Food Preservation and USDA. Home-canning recommendations can change and processing requirements may vary based on jar size, canning method, and elevation. Always review and follow the current official instructions before canning.

National Center for Home Food Preservation — Standard Tomato Sauce