I'm happy to announce my very first giveaway on this blog. A couple of months ago I accepted this kit of canned organic tomatoes from the Northern California-based company Muir Glen to review on my blog. I have turned down many offers like this, mainly because I don't do ads and in general don't want to promote any products since my blog is about non-consumerism.But this product won me over for a number of reasons, and I encourage you to purchase this Internet-only package of delicious vintage variety organic canned tomatoes.
First of all, it's a consumable, so it's not something I refrain from buying while on The Compact. We still have to buy food, and since it's organic, all the better.
I was impressed with the packaging when it arrived. The cardboard around the box could easily be recycled, and the crate could be used to store items in the pantry or just about anything else you want to organize, or even as a container for a gift of food items.
Since we're eating organic and local produce from our CSA delivery, we haven't had any tomatoes for over three months and my husband is a big tomato lover. This came at just the right time to satisfy his tomato cravings.
Most of all, the tomatoes are just delicious. The kit comes with a recipe book and so far we've loved everything we tried, including fire roasted tomato soup, vodka pasta sauce, and fire roasted tomato and olive bruschetta. All the recipes are keepers, and we were particularly excited about the tomato soup because it's even better than our favorite that I've been making for years. I think it's because the tomatoes are so fresh. Muir Glen diced canned tomatoes won first prize in a taste test done by America's Test Kitchen.
This kit would make a perfect gift for a foodie, college student, or anyone craving tomatoes out of season. It's just $7, and includes four cans of diced organic tomatoes that were raised without using any pesticides and canned within hours of harvesting, along with the recipe book. Visit Muir Glen Reserve to place an order.
Muir Glen has provided me with another kit free of charge as a giveaway for one of my readers. All you have to do is leave a comment, and I'll randomly pick a winner. Your kit will be shipped to you immediately upon notification. Your comment can be about anything related to tomatoes- you can share your favorite canned tomato recipe, a growing tip, or just what you love about tomatoes or your favorite variety. If you can't think of anything, just leave a comment saying that you'd like the kit and you'll be entered.
I'll pick a winner on Friday, February 26th at midnight PST, so enter your comment by then and I'll announce a winner on Saturday February 27th. Good luck!
73 comments:
Tomatoes that taste good in the winter...I AM IN!!! I so miss that tomato taste in the dead of winter. I would LOVE this kit.
-jayce
jayce004(at)yahoo(dot)com
sounds yummy! thanks for the opportunity. - Lucy
my issue with muir glen is that the tomatoes are packaged in cans that are lined with bpa. i try to buy their glass jarred tomato sauce more often than i buy their canned tomatoes. but sometimes i need tomatoes, not Italian spiced pasta sauce. on the one hand it's bad to buy tomatoes in the winter that have been shipped from warmer climates and don't taste very good. on the other hand, bpa isn't good for us or the planet either. i suppose this summer i'll have to overcome my fear of canning and can some tomatoes myself in glass jars.
Julia- Do you know that for a fact about the BPA in the cans? I'm going to look into it. As far as growing and shipping- this was from last season, they were grown in California and canned the same day. You're right about the shipping- the downside if you're out of California and trying to eat 100% local, but they're not grown out of season.
I just want to second your positive review of the Muir Glen tomatoes. They are wonderful! Even better than the home canned tomatoes from my own garden.. and that's saying quite a lot.
Please enter me for the give-away☺
Angela,
Love your blog!
We grow our own tomatoes and I freeze sauces, have never tried canning the tomatoes themselves. I would love to win this to try them!
Thanks
Tammy
tlstickland (at) comcast (dot) net
I love tomatoes and am also on a CSA and eagerly awaiting this year's first crop... but those canned ones just might do the trick!
I love Muir Glenn tomatoes. They sell them at our huge local Harris Teeter.
My favorite summer recipe is tomatoes, feta, and fresh basil on toasted bread. Yum!
Thanks for the giveaway.
I love Muir Glen tomatoes - I buy them when on sale or at Big Lots.
Hope to win!!
i just googled muir glen and can and came up with a bunch of posts from 2009 written by people being disappointed that muir glen cans have bpa and that we should try to ask them to change that, so i assume that's still the case. i also learned they are owned by general mills, which i didn't know.
Sounds delicious!!!
Please enter me in the contest :)
jnicol08 (at) gmail (dot) com
I buy Muir Glen tomatoes because (1)they are organic (2)they are good, and (3)I can buy them on sale at Big Lots or another local grocery store, Amelias. I grow my own tomatoes in summer but in winter, I rely on canned so I do buy the Muir Glen. I have also bought their soups and they are good too.
Sorry, I left the above comment as anonymous and forgot my email - judys50@msn.com.
Thanks Judy
Oh, I love Muir Glen, especially in the winter when my garden is lacking!
My husband is Italian and he can make about 100 different things from canned tomatoes! All delicious! Yay for Muir Glen!
I would LOVE to win this...tomatoes are my favorite, and we go through a ton of them! (The little crate is adorable, also).
Last night I tried a delicious Ina Garten recipe involving angelhair pasta and a sauce of olive oil, garlic, herbs, and sauteed cherry tomatoes. It was absolutely heavenly.
This year I hope to grow and can my own tomatoes; I have grown them before but never in enough quantitites to can. The new variety I am trying is Furry Yellow Hog Tomtato (Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds). Meanwhile, I would LOVE to try the Muir Glen canned tomatoes. Thanks for giving us the opportunity.
dorking at acsalaska.net
I love Muir Glen tomatoes, we use the diced ones all the time.
This looks like a nice gift box.
I love tomatoes. With an Italian husband who loves most pasta and the sauces that go with them this looks to be a lovely set of goodies.
msgb245 at gmail dot com
love muir glen but rarely buy them due to cost. (am broke these days).
so this would be a great treat!
My favorite variety of tomatoes are the little yellow pear tomatoes. I'm going to try & grow some in my garden this year. I would love to be entered into the contest, thank you!
Jenn H
My grandmother used to can (in glass Mason jars) all of the tomatoes that my grandfather grew in his garden, so I grew up eating spaghetti sauce made from home-grown tomatoes. Now I live in the city, and have no outside space to grow tomatoes, so I use canned tomatoes. Good to stock up on when they're on sale!
We had a terrible tomato summer in Ohio this past season! Would love some freebies!
I love tomatoes and miss them so much this time of year---I am now dying to try this pack and hope I win :)
last year i grew "spoon tomoatoes"--the size of blueberries. they were so sweet. i enjoy your blog and would love to be entered into your contest.
marla - tomatoes the size of blueberries!!
love that!! have never come across those before.
definitely looking for them when tomato season returns.
ang - that's amazing you have been turning down free stuff. a pure journalist at heart. kudos!
-steph
ooooh, i love these! please enter me in the contest! <3
hamgoddess (at) comcast (dot) net
I lost all my tomatoes last summer to late blight! :( I was so excited to try my hand and freezing and canning!
Muir Glen has def helped me through the winter. Hubby and I use their yummies to make chili!
I *LOVE* Muir Glen's products! I use their diced tomatoes and their whole plum tomatoes for anything I need "maters" for. :-) My favorite recipes are salsa and my own Bison Tomato Sauce (recipe on my blog) using their diced tomatoes. YUM!
I just love that little crate. So perfect for all kinds of storage.
i love tomatoes! i've never even heard of Muir Glen - but would love to try them!
I should just write ditto. I love the fire roasted tomatoes and whenever they're on sale, I stock up.
Growing tip - I just started my seedlings. I sprout my tomatoe seeds in one of those the left over roasted chicken plastic containers, peat pods to for the soil, and put them on top of my dvr for heat to sprout. I buy my seeds at Seeds of Change and this year I bought Zapotec, Thelossinki and Arkansas Traveler. The Zapotec and Arkansas sprouted within a week.
I just bought 8 cans of muir organic tomatoes. I can my own, but don't have diced or crushed tomatoes...and last week I made a great butter chicken recipe with these. yummo!
Canned tomatoes = my husband's super-awesome chili, so yes please.
Ship to Canada? Well, worth a try anyhow :D
Would love a chance to win!
Sounds good. A long way to send canned tomatoes,but, what the hell!
Oh my they sound delicious! We just moved from Alaska to Indiana so the only "real" tomatoes I've had in the past 5 years usually came out of a can! I will definitely have to check out the site as well.
Thank you for this opportunity!
I can a ton of my own tomatoes every summer but last year we had blight in the northeast...this is my go to canned tomatoe for fresh of the vine taste...
susan
It shouldn't take a giveaway for me to finally post something...but here I am! I love your site and I love tomatoes! Thanks!
We love Muir Glen products. i always feel a little better about eating them rather than regular canned tomatoes. Would love to win. Thanks for the opportunity.
There are many, many things I love about living in the Canadian Arctic. However one thing I have had to give up is field grown tomatoes. We try growing them in our greenhouse but the taste just isn't the same. So a few cans of these choice tomatoes would be like a gift from heaven!
I love Muir Glen products. They just taste better and I feel better about using organic products.
No need to enter me in the contest. I just wanted to second how good they are compared to the other brands.
I love tomatoes and have had really bad luck growing them myself. This kit would be great!
We love tomatoes and would love to have this kit! Love your blog!
We LOVE tomatoes—a little olive oil, a little basil, sometimes a bit of mozzarella—YUMMMMMM! Please enter me to win!!
skkorman AT bellsouth DOT net
I cook with tomatoes as often as possible for their health benefits (and taste!) and would love to try Muir Glen.
dlhaley[at]hotmail[dot]com
I have tried these tomatoes before, but mostly in sauce. I would love to try the Tomato Soup recipe. Please enter me in the giveaway.
I have always loved tomatoes, they make the beginnings of a lot of really god things. I'm not strictly organic, but have recently started using a lot of fresh organics. On the other hand, I have my own chickens; I often visit the produce department to see if there is anything they are thwowing away. Last week, I saved a big box of tomatoes from being tossed. Many of them simply had a spot or two that made them unappealing to leave in the produce dept, people only want to buy the perfect ones. But anyone that has ever grown their own, knows there is a lot of good tomato that can still be used. I made a big batch of tomato soup which I'v never done before and it was really good. The chickens got the scraps as well as a lot of fresh tomatoes, very much appreciated this time of year in our northern climate.
Muir Glen is my favorite brand of canned tomatoes. Count me in for the drawing!
I love Muir Glen tomatoes. I use them for homemade salsa and tomato sauce. Yum!
I am also concerned with the bpa, but until summer when I can start canning my own stuff, I'll continue to use canned Muir Glen.
I love Rachael Ray's tomato and spinach soup. It uses canned tomatoes.
Breaking up the link into two lines so it will fit:
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/rachael-ray/
tomato-and-spinach-soup-recipe/index.html
Our tomatoes never ripened this year. So we ended up making lots of green tomato salsa and of course, fried green tomatoes.
I'd love to get my hands on these canned toms...even though I've been moving away from canned lately due to bpa concerns...but I can't give it up completely!
We like Muir Glen and I have been wanting to try these for a while. Thank you for the great giveaway!
I'd love to win that!
-Sierra
sierra.keaster@gmail.com
I've never tried Muir Glen tomatoes. I am very interested!
Yummy! thanks for the giveaway!
These tomatoes sound delicious & versatile in creating recipes!
I love your blog. I haven't completely given over to organic foods yet, and because we go through about ten cans of tomatoes(sauce/diced,stewed,etc) a week in the off season, I can't justify the cost. In the summer, we eat freshly grown from our garden, or our family's garden.
However, your blog has inspired me to not buy anything knew, and although I have had a few slips off the wagon, I am definitely buying a lot less than I was.
Thank you for the giveaway opportunity! I'd love to win. angelalittlegott at gmail dot com
The year my daughter was born, our first year in our house with a back yard, I wanted a garden. So my husband built a hutch sort of thing and planted tomatoes and peppers and I don't remember what else in early April, shortly after the baby and I came home from the hospital.
A few peppers put in an appearance, but almost nothing else grew. In December we finally got a home grown tomato- bright red, but small, and with a very tough skin. My dream of picking juicy tomatoes all maternity leave summer long had already withered, like most of our other plants.
I like the Muir Glen Tomatoes. I like to mix them with a little garlic, dill and feta and serve them over pasta. It is fast and easy.
Thanks for the offer!
Yum the recipes look immense, please post the fire roasted soup...
I can't enter the comp as am in Egypt right now :)... But wish i could.
Thanks,
Forest.
http://frugalzeitgeist.com
I use canned tomatoes all of the time in the winter time. To me they taste better than the off season ones.
Thanks!
Based on your recommendations and what the other readers had to say, I went and ordered a couple of the kits. I love tomatoes and can't wait to try the new recipes!
I'll enter! I've got a couple recipes earmarked that call for canned tomatoes, would be curious to check out the recipe book in the "kit" and could put that attractive crate to good use. I'm assuming if we use our Google log-ins that you can see our email address?
Oh I love Muir Glen tomatoes, although the only recipe I really used canned tomatoes for is the sweet potato chili that I think I shared on here awhile ago. Other than that I'm still learning my way around the kitchen. I do wish I had a little garden so I could grow and can my own!! That's a dream of mine :)
- Carmen
Oooh, that would be fun to win! I love to use canned tomatoes to make a pink sauce (a creamy tomato sauce).
I always enjoy your blog and appreciate the encouragement that you give all of us that are trying to live more simply. I'd love to try the Muir Glen tomatoes, I have given up canned spaghetti sauce due to the sugar and high fructose corn syrup that most brands contain so I have been buying more canned tomatoes.
Yum Muir Glen! And what a cute crate! Thanks for offering this.
Heather
sstein278@earthlink.net
I think I caught this just in time to enter the giveaway! I love to grow my own tomatoes and always like to try new varieties. I'll be posting info about where I get my seedlings soon.
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