Need pasta sauce recommendations taste/cheap

Blackphoenix626

Hi so basically ive been buying the packet carbonara (add water n microwave) for the longest time now and pot noodles and after doing some price checking it would seem buying pasta in bulk/kg is cheaper than pot noodles and the other kind.

Thing is I havnt a clue what type of sauce to buy and whats the best value. I Am just looking at the dolmios stir in's and their E2 a pack, id say it would work out cheaper to buy the jars.

What I will be doing is adding sauce to 150g of pasta along with chicken and mix veg.

Theres 1012 results in tesco for sauce's so id appreciate any advice on value for money and taste obviously.

Doesn't necessary have to be in a jar, maybe theres even other sauces that would go well like reggae reggae sauce, or sauces in Lidl?

Again looking for value for money and taste.

Cheers now.

Whistlejacket

Quick pasta sauce:

1 tin of chopped tomatoes
1 dessert spoon of olive oil
1 tsp of dried basil
1 tsp of dried oregano (or fresh chopped herbs if you prefer)
1 tablespoon of balsamic vinegar
1 tsp of sugar
A pinch of chilli powder
Salt, black pepper

Optional extras:
Some pine nuts
A chopped and fried streaky rasher or two
Cold meat e.g. leftover chicken
Sausages fried and chopped into it
Some olives
If you like garlic you can fry gently some in the oil in the saucepan before adding the other ingredients.
Other herbs you can try are mixed herbs, parsley, rosemary, thyme etc.

Put all the ingredients bar the salt and pepper in a saucepan, give them a stir and heat gently while you're boiling the pasta.
Add salt and pepper to taste.
Drain the pasta and mix with the hot sauce.
Grate some parmesan cheese on top.
It's very quick and much better value than jars of sauces. All the ingredients keep for ages in the press.

wmpdd3

I learned to make pasta sauce before I learned to boil an egg, and it was recent enough!


MUCH Cheaper than any jar.

If you think its not like the one you usually get add sugar, that's the only difference between the homemade and jar!

to make pasta bake, I add a big spoon of mascapone cheese.

If I have to buy pasta sauce I buy Tesco sauce for meatballs, 1.51 for a large jar.

thegreatiam

Blackphoenix626 wrote: »

Theres 1012 results in tesco for sauce's so id appreciate any advice on value for money and taste obviously.

Doesn't necessary have to be in a jar, maybe theres even other sauces that would go well like reggae reggae sauce, or sauces in Lidl?

Again looking for value for money and taste.

Cheers now.

If you are only interested in value for money and taste then learn how to make pasta sauce your self.

It's cheaper by a looooong way. and you can adjust the taste to suit your self.

Carbonara sauce is literally 2 eggs and grated cheese. eggs are about 15c each.

Its the italian version of bacon and eggs, and is really easy to make.

take 2 egg yolks, whisk.
add salt/pepper and a hand full of finely grated cheese (Parmesan is authentic but you can use any cheese you like)
mix it all up
stir into cooked pasta while it cools.

Fry bacon (optional:onions and garlic, peas, green beans or whatever veg you are using) stir in with egg mixture.

If you wish you can add milk or cream and just stir it into the pasta over a low heat until its warmed through, but imho that's no way near as nice.

tomato and beef based sauce recipes are a little more involved, but extremely easy.

This style of cooking is ludicrously simple, just look up basic cheap recipes online and follow the instructions.

Dont be fooled into thinking that its complicated or difficult.
Dolmio and lloyd grossman want you to think its hard and time consuming so you buy their sauces. but it genuinely is comically easy.

Blackphoenix626

Sorry I guess I should of said ive no need for recipes, id love to if I had the time but I dont.

Just want a sauce to add from a jar, thanks.

MissFlitworth

I like red pesto & a drop of cream added to pasta as a really quick sauce. Jar of pesto will last a while in the fridge and you only need a tablespoon or so with pasta so it isn't bad value.

Also, and this is probably teetering on the line of being a recipe but there's zero cooking involved, handful of cherry tomatoes cut in half and squished slightly with a fork, half a tin of tuna, glug of olive oil, salt, lemon juice and black pepper all scraped (including tomato juices) into a bowl of hot pasta and mixed through it. I also throw in capers but not everyone loves that. Halfway between a pasta salad and a pasta in sauce.

awec

Blackphoenix626 wrote: »

Sorry I guess I should of said ive no need for recipes, id love to if I had the time but I dont.

Just want a sauce to add from a jar, thanks.

My favourite jarred pasta sauce is the Newman's Own Tomato and Basil one. You can get it in Superquinn, sometimes it's hard to find in Tesco / other places.

http://www.newmansown.com/products/newmans-own-organic-tomato-basil-sauce/

thegreatiam

Blackphoenix626 wrote: »

Sorry I guess I should of said ive no need for recipes, id love to if I had the time but I dont.

Just want a sauce to add from a jar, thanks.

in the time it takes you to open a carbonara jar and heat it up. i can make a carbonara for a fraction of the cost that will taste better.

Its not time youre short of its effort.

If you just want a pasta sauce from the jar just buy one you like the taste of, none can tell you what youll like except you. just but a cheap one and try it, if you dont like it dont buy it again.

if you want low cost and tasty then you have to make your own, which is slightly more effort.

if you want low cost but convenient then you'll have to sacrifice taste,

If you want convenience and taste then you're going to have to buy an expensive jar.

convenience, taste, low cost. pick two.

Blackphoenix626

thegreatiam wrote: »

in the time it takes you to open a carbonara jar and heat it up. i can make a carbonara for a fraction of the cost that will taste better.

Its not time youre short of its effort.

If you just want a pasta sauce from the jar just buy one you like the taste of, none can tell you what youll like except you. just but a cheap one and try it, if you dont like it dont buy it again.

if you want low cost and tasty then you have to make your own, which is slightly more effort.

if you want low cost but convenient then you'll have to sacrifice taste,

If you want convenience and taste then you're going to have to buy an expensive jar.

convenience, taste, low cost. pick two.

Somehow I cant see how making pasta sauce from scratch is less time consuming than pouring a packet into a container which takes a second.

tricky D

It takes time, additional time, to go to the shops. You can multi-task making the sauce while the pasta is on the boil so no extra time needed. You can actually easily save time. Making your own wins in just about every way: cost, time, taste, freshness, free from additives and bulking agents, therapy from cooking. All those bought sauces taste rubbish anyway.

thegreatiam

Blackphoenix626 wrote: »

Somehow I cant see how making pasta sauce from scratch is less time consuming than pouring a packet into a container which takes a second.

I just gave you the recipe for carbonate sauce. Its eggs. mixed with cheese.

If you cant see how cracking 2 eggs and stiring them into your cooked pasta is the same if not faster than opening a carbonara sauce packet, pouring it into pasta and warming it up then you just being obtuse.

Pointless asking for suggestions as to which prebought food to buy on a recipe forum if you ask me.

just read the reviews on tescos website.

Overflow

Blackphoenix626 wrote: »

Somehow I cant see how making pasta sauce from scratch is less time consuming than pouring a packet into a container which takes a second.

If you really wanted to save time I would make it from scratch. You can stock up on tins of chopped tomatoes and the herbs you need. Then you only have to the shop once a month or so. If you made a big pot of your sauce you could freeze it down in batches.

Much more tastier, much cheaper and much more time efficient.

Loire

Blackphoenix626 wrote: »

Somehow I cant see how making pasta sauce from scratch is less time consuming than pouring a packet into a container which takes a second.

Any of the sauces above can be made whilst the pasta is cooking

thegreatiam

here you go, use this. Its exactly what youre after

http://www.tesco.ie/groceries/Product/Details/?id=252044959

440g bottle for 60c. cant complain.

Time: 4-5 minutes

Instructions: Empty contents of jar into a saucepan. Heat gently for 4-5 minutes, stirring frequently. Do not allow to boil. Pour over freshly cooked pasta and serve.

Loire

thegreatiam wrote: »

here you go, use this. Its exactly what youre after

http://www.tesco.ie/groceries/Product/Details/?id=252044959

440g bottle for 60c. cant complain.

Time: 4-5 minutes

Instructions: Empty contents of jar into a saucepan. Heat gently for 4-5 minutes, stirring frequently. Do not allow to boil. Pour over freshly cooked pasta and serve.

No offence meant to the OP and I'm probably out of line as this IS what the OP asked for, but I can't help reading the ingredients from that jar in reverse order and wondering why anyone would bother buying such said jar when it's so easy, cheap, healthy and tastier to make your own.

MissFlitworth

OP you're probably not going to get too many people who post here regularly who eat an awful lot of pasta sauce from jars or at least eat enough pasta sauce from jars that they can give you a proper comparison and review, it's just the nature of the forum. [Although, if you like rice the jars of curry sauce that come with a little pocket of spices on the top of them in Aldi are getting rave reviews in the What did you have for dinner thread at the moment]

This site seems to have reviews on different types of sauces and stuff, might be handy

http://www.dooyoo.co.uk/sauces-soups/

eviltimeban

Another nice one I do sometimes is:

Tin of chopped tomatoes
Dash of red wine vinegar
Chopped basil (OK so that takes a *little* effort)
Garlic (chopped or if you're looking for no effort squeeze it out of one of those puree tubes)
Baby leaf spinach (fresh / in a bag - not the frozen kind).

Lash the tomatoes, red wine vinegar, basil and garlic into a saucepan. Let it cook for a few minutes then chuck in the spinach leaves. You can nearly use a whole bag as it shrinks down to nearly nothing. All that takes, what, 2 - 3 minutes?

Meanwhile, cook some tagliatelli. When its done, mix with the sauce and serve with a dollop of ricotta on the top.

thegreatiam

worst thing is if you took out the unnecessary ingredients (Firming Agent (Calcium Chloride) ,Sweetener (Saccharin) Modified Maize Starch ,Vegetable Oil)

you are left with tomato puree, tomato, water, Dried Onion ,Garlic Powder, Dried Basil ,Dried Oregano ,Black Pepper ,Ground Fennel

If you threw all of that in a pan with no recipe and just warmed it up you'd have a tastier sauce.

thegreatiam

pesto is also nice and easy.

pine nuts and fresh basil leaves in a blender, little oil and some cheese and whiz it.

salt and pepper to taste and mix with cooked pasta

Add tomato to this for a red pesto.

I add peppers and chillis on occasion, or use different types of nuts.

eviltimeban

If the OP does want a sauce with no cooking effort, then get I would second a pesto but would recommend red pesto. Its really good, and goes very well if you're having a tortellini dish (and I would recommend you check out the range in Fallon & Byrne).

There's NO effort in red pesto - you just stir it into the pasta.

ncmc

Aldi do quite a nice red pesto and mascarpone in a jar. I'm not sure how much it is, but it isn't much more than a euro. However it is quite salty and VERY oily. I end up having to pour a lot of the oil out which is a bit finicky. I agree with the others, it's so easy and cheap to make a simple pasta sauce. I make a batch and freeze it in portions.

I have tried a lot of the carbonara sauces from jars and they NEVER taste like real carbonara. I guess it's the nature of the ingredients that are hard to replicate and keep fresh in a jar. You would definitely be better off following the recipe from earlier.

BanzaiBk

Some very tasty looking sauces posted, thanks!

colferma

Hi all,

Does anyone have any opinions on this? I know nothing beats making your own but has anyone found a tomato sauce worthy of the name yet? Grossman, Oliver and all them don't cut the mustard but if anyone has recommendations they'd be much appreciated.

Thanks,

M

Dizzyblonde

Threads merged.

Nekarsulm

try as many as you can. I usually keep a few Aldi and lidl sauces in the press, each brand have several different recipes to try. Centra have an own brand sauce which is quite good as well. You can always chop an onion and a few peppers into the pan and give a quick fry before dumping in the sauce, for a bit of variety. the most expensive is not always the nicest, I find.

hawkwind23

only after eating some carbonara pasta

as stated a few times

couple of eggs , salt, pepper and cheese mix together and blend into the pasta with a dollop of cream.

why would anyone eat the packet stuff?

Blackphoenix626

Lidl sauces are very good, Kanpur Garden's jalfrezzi, rogan josh and tikka massala are all nice and only like 95c for 500g. 3 jars do me the week.

The only thing they dont have is the typical uncle ben chip shop flavour curry, I know the ones I mentioned are curries but I mean the curry you get at a supermacs taste. I still buy one jar of that in tesco but its E2.32 for 500g

Must see if centra have one!

Loire

Blackphoenix626 wrote: »

Lidl sauces are very good, Kanpur Garden's jalfrezzi, rogan josh and tikka massala are all nice and only like 95c for 500g. 3 jars do me the week.

Never had Indian sauces with pasta before :pac:

thegreatiam

wasnt going to post this recipe but I just made it and while I was making it I kept thinking of this thread.

got home and didnt have much in the way of dinner, a chicken I had roasted in the slow cooker the other day, some pasta (penne) and a bag of spinach which might be almost on the turn, butter and eggs and spices.

this is what I did, boiled water, put the pasta in the pan with a chicken stock cube

while that was cooking I separated the bad leaves of spinach, and broke the cooked chicken into pieces.

warmed a frying pan and added about 100g of butter.

melted it, added crushed garlic, let it cook for a minute or two

whisked 2 eggs added to pan, let sit for 30 second then stirred, added the chicken to warm through. let this cook while the pasta cooks, dont let the eggs clump.

drained the pasta,

added the pasta to the frying pan, added the spinach, gave one or two stirs and added salt and pepper.

eat.

difficulty, 3 cooking time, same time as cooking the pasta.

suggestions, add finely diced onion when you add the garlic. maybe some thinly sliced chilli.

can use rocket or basil as well as spinach.

PhoenixParker

A little (decent quality) mustard and creme fraiche is quite nice stirred into pasta. It's two jars instead of one, but works well.

It'd go well with the chicken and mixed veg, or if you're in a hurry/don't want another saucepan to wash, some deli ham might work well but get your veg from somewhere!

If you're cooking the chicken and mixed veg anyway, just throw a tin of tomatoes or a carton of passata over the top with a teaspoon or two of basil. That'll give you a sauce very similar to the jars. Tip - add a spoon of sugar too, it takes out some of the acidity of the tomatoes.

Or, while pasta with an egg by itself is a bit too plain, if you have the chicken and mixed veg and pasta, then crack an egg over it when it's all hot in the saucepan together. Mix it quickly and well and it'll be fine without being whisked before. Pepper and salt to taste.

Blackphoenix626

Loire wrote: »

Never had Indian sauces with pasta before :pac:

Your missing out