It may seem a little strange, but I'm up to my ears in tomatoes this October! Most of the tomatoes in our garden this year stayed green, so I picked them little by little and stored them, single layer, in the pantry. As they ripened (yes, even the totally green ones turn red!), I froze them. Now that all the tomatoes are reddened up, it's time to can! Yes, I could just keep them in the refrigerator and use them for cooking as is, but: 

1. I often forget to defrost frozen food in time for cooking.

2. Canned food stays good in the pantry for years, whereas frozen food usually only lasts about one year. 

3. If I can the tomatoes, I don't have to worry if the power goes out.  

HINT: When canning frozen tomatoes, you can skip the blanching step, used to remove the tomato peel. Instead, just run the tomatoes under warm water and their skins peel off easily.  

NOTE: Previously frozen tomatoes should be used for canning sauces, not salsa or tomatoes all by themselves. This is because freezing changes the density of the tomatoes, which means they might not get heated thoroughly enough during canning to kill harmful micro-organisms.