Store brand pasta was ruining my cheap spaghetti night for years

I always grabbed the 88 cent store brand spaghetti thinking I was saving money. But my wife pointed out last month that my sauce was watery and I was adding cornstarch to thicken it. Then I tried Barilla on sale for 1.29 and it actually holds the sauce, no extra junk needed. So I was wasting like 40 cents on cornstarch anyway. Has anyone else had store brand noodles fall apart on them like that?

2 comments

2 Comments

matthewkim12d ago

So did you actually weigh the boxes to see if the store brand was even giving you the same amount of pasta? I got burned by that once, the no name brand looked similar but the box was slightly lighter. Ended up paying more per ounce than the name brand on sale. That watery sauce problem you had, was it the pasta boiling off too much starch into the water or just not holding onto anything?

-1

grantschmidt12d ago

Wait hold on, they actually stiff you on the weight too? I figured the store brand was just cutting corners on ingredients, not flat out shorting the box. That's some next level penny pinching right there, makes me want to go check my pantry right now. About the watery sauce, I think it was more the pasta not holding onto anything, like the surface was too smooth or something. The water got cloudy but the noodles just felt slick, almost like they were coated in wax or some crap. Never had that with Barilla or even the cheap stuff at Aldi.