Store brand pasta sauce ruined my cheap spaghetti night and I need to know who else has been burned

I made my go-to under five buck dinner last Tuesday: a box of store brand spaghetti and a jar of store brand marinara. Total was like $3.80. But the sauce was watery and tasted like sweetened ketchup, not tomatoes. I ended up having to toss half the meal. So is store brand sauce a gamble for everyone, or did I just pick a bad brand? What cheap jar has actually worked for you guys?

3 comments

3 Comments

oliviat178d ago

OH MAN, I heard you LOUD and clear on this one. I grabbed a jar of Great Value basil marinara last month thinking I was being smart, and it was basically sweet tomato water with some sad flakes floating in it. I ended up having to dump in a whole can of tomato paste and like three cloves of garlic just to make it taste like something I'd actually eat. The store brand Ragu knockoff near me is ALWAYS a disaster, but the Aldi version of Classico actually works out pretty well most of the time. I swear they must water down the cheap stuff on purpose or something because there's no way it should be THAT thin.

lucaslee7d ago

Man, that's rough. A buddy of mine tried the same thing with a store brand Alfredo once and it came out looking like watery milk with gray chunks. He ended up tossing the whole thing and ordering pizza instead because there was no saving it.

hugo_schmidt7d ago

Wow, @lucaslee, I always figured cheap brands would be fine but this has really changed my mind.