@wisco50 We use our cucumbers to make potato/cucumber/onion soup in winter, to eat with grilled cheese sandwiches. All I do is peel them (the peels go to my daughter's 70 lb tortoise or to the guinea pigs) slice them on a mandolin slicer and bag them. If I have extra onions, I slice and add to the bag. When ready to make soup I just dump the whole block in the kettle, add potatoes & veg broth & cook. My MIL taught me this 50 years ago. She also used to take them out of the freezer, thaw in salt water, then drain & marinate with sliced onions, vinegar, sugar, oil, salt & pepper as what they called "winter salad" - not as crunchy as fresh, but a great change from canned beans and corn.

Tomatoes, I do "lazy Mom" style - wash, dry, remove core & any bad spots, quarter the large ones. Then simply bag & freeze - no blanching, peeling or anything. When its time to make chili, rice & beans or any other dish, I take out as many as I need and toss them in the pot - as they thaw the skins float to the top and I pick them out. I freeze the Italian paste-type tomatoes the same way, but separately for making spaghetti sauce. I learned this from my Mom about 60 years ago when she & Dad were raising 6 kids & working two jobs each, no time to can!

SSue