Have you ever cleaned out the refrigerator only to find old leftovers rotting in the back? Not only is it gross, but it’s a huge waste of food and money. We love finding ways to save leftover food for later that won’t cause it to get moldy and ultimately lead to throwing it away.

One food that we’ve unfortunately had to toss more than once is tomato paste. Tomato paste is essential for some recipes, but the recipes that call for it usually don’t require very much. While a can of tomato paste isn’t very big, it’s definitely bigger than we need for just one recipe.

What do you do with leftover tomato paste? Instead of doubling or tripling a recipe to use it up, we’d love to save it for later, but like we already mentioned, that sometimes leads to moldy food in the back of the refrigerator. Nobody wants that.

Thankfully, TikTok user Dustin Todd Rennells has shown us a super easy way to save that leftover tomato paste for later in the freezer.

The problem with the freezer is that items like tomato paste would usually freeze as one big chunk and we’d have to defrost the entire thing in order to use it again. That would create the original problem with possibly having too much on hand and the rest getting thrown away. Rennells has figured out a way to solve this problem.

Watch the video below to see a very easy way to save tomato paste for later in the freezer so that you won’t have to defrost it all at once.

@dustintoddrennells##kitchenhack ##lifehack ##tomatopaste ##cooking ##food ##HomeTour ##athome♬ original sound – Dustin Todd Rennells

When we first saw this hack we couldn’t believe how easy it was and how it would completely solve any leftover tomato paste problems going forward. We’re definitely going to try this hack.

One TikTok user chimed in offering a slight variation to Rennells hack. “If you want to keep it separate while it’s freezing might I suggest Bobby pins.”

Another TikTok user asked why you can’t keep tomato paste in the refrigerator in the can, and Rennells answered, “The acid in the tomatoes, once mixed with air, leeches metal out of the can.” 

Are you going to try this tomato paste TikTok hack? How do you usually save tomato paste for later?