Yeah, I’m just wired differently though. Sometimes I think I just want a jar of pre-made sauce, and here is what always happens:
No, you’re definitely not alone, although personally I’m not on your Rao team. I know it’s frequently been highly rated, and I know the restaurant has a stellar reputation (no idea if what they serve in the restaurant resembles the mass-market sauce). But I’m not very fond of the Rao sauce, but that’s a very subjective personal opinion that apparently many disagree with. I also dislike the vast majority of pasta sauces found in the supermarket. In fact I have on occasion poured a supposedly “premium” brand down the sink after tasting it.
There are currently two brands of pasta sauce that I like. One is store-made by Pusateri’s, an upscale Italian grocery, the simple version that I always buy they simply call Semplice and it’s basic but deeply mellow and totally delicious. I don’t have any at the moment so can’t give you the ingredients list.
The other is Stefano brand sauce, which has the quality of coming from Montreal, Canada’s food mecca. There are two varieties that I quite like, the marinara and, just for a change, the sausage & mushroom variety.
The marinara lists the ingredients as Italian whole peeled tomatoes, crushed tomatoes, extra virgin olive oil, garlic, onions, sea salt, and herbs.
The sausage and mushroom sauce lists the ingredients as Italian whole peeled tomatoes, mild Italian sausage, crushed tomatoes, mushrooms, onions, sea salt, garlic, spices, citric acid, and herbs.
Of course the secret is all in the quality of the ingredients, the preparation, quantities, simmering, and of course “spices” and “herbs” can mean anything. But those are my two faves, with perhaps a slight edge to the Pusateri’s Semplice. It’s just harder to get because it’s not locally available.
Oh, crap. I hope Campbell’s doesn’t dick up a good product.
I like everything I’ve tried by Rao’s. I only recently tracked down their frozen pizzas, and those are good, too. And my favorite frozen entree is Rao’s chicken parmigiana.
Better stock up on jars of their sauce and their frozen meatballs before the quality falls off.
My wife is addicted to their tomato sauce. (I also like it, but have cut way back on pasta lately). This is a shame - no good can come from it.
Make lemons from lemonade?
Metaphorically speaking…
Campbell Exec: The people have spoken! We’ll sell Rod’s in cans and save millions.
Jr Exec: You mean Rao’s?
CE: That’s another thing, ‘Rao’ is too ethnic.
There are a ton of pasta sauces that have similar basic ingredients, don’t cost as much as Rao’s and to me are as good or better.
None however compare to Mrs. J.'s homemade sauce which we freeze in meal-sized containers.
Not in my experience. Around here, Rao’s sells for around $7.99, although you can find it cheaper on sale. There are a few other high end sauces that are around $10, some decent and some absolutely not. I have yet to find a cheaper sauce that holds a candle to Rao’s. YMMV.
Campbell’s owns the Prego® brand. It was one of the product lines made at the ex-Campbell’s Soup factory where I used to work.
I don’t believe him. You don’t get to be the CEO of a national soup company without breaking a few eggs.
I am inclined to agree with you.
You can make a lot of changes without technically changing a recipe. Soon:
“Campbell’s has not and will not change the recipe. If you look at the label you’ll see the same simple ingredients you’re used to. We have however made certain adjustments to leverage our existing robust supply chain and pass savings along to our loyal customers.”
Substitute “profits” for “savings” and “stockholders” for “customers”.
Well sure, but I was positing a “what they’ll say” rather than a “what they’ll mean.”
Yep. There are canned tomatoes and then there are canned tomatoes. The variance in quality (and price) can be rather wide.
Guess I better stock up on Rao’s sauce before they start adding corn syrup and rancid flavored garlic powder.
It is literally the only jarred pasta sauce I actually like. That said, I’m too cheap to buy it. I’ve bought it once. My mother-in-law has bought it a few times when staying over. As convenient as jarred sauce is, I always have the ingredients on hand to make my own, which takes maybe five minutes tops of work and cooks up in the time I make the pasta. (Sorry for being that guy, but for me and my situation, it just is as good or better and easy when I make it. Perhaps that one food item I would say that about.) So there’s no place in my life for it, even factoring in convenience. But it is absolutely fantastic and what pasta sauce should taste like, and it amazes me no other brand seems to be around that follows anything other than the “sugar-it-up” formula. There are so many people I’ve met for whom Rao’s is the only worthwhile sauce to them. You’d think there’d be a little competition at a lower price point? I mean the stuff goes for like up to $10 a jar at my local groceries. I think I heard at Walmart you might be able to get it at half that per unit, which is much closer to where I think it should be priced, but I’m rarely at Walmart to take advantage of it.
I’ve not tried their other products outside their sauces. If they’re as good as the sauces, that’s the products I’d most likely buy for their convenience. I’ll have to keep an eye out in the hopes of finding something more in my price range.
As discussed above, try some of their frozen products: meatballs in sauce, meat lasagna, chicken parmigiana, and pizza. The latter is very hard to find, at least around here.