Evaporated milk is now available in re-closable aseptic packages like this:
At my grocery store it’s right there next to the traditional funky cans. It does seem to a be a product aimed more at Latino purchasers, so it may not be commonplace where you live.
Packaged that way you don’t have to use a full can at a time or fuss with how to repackage half a can of lunused iquid. Just screw the cap back on and pop it in the fridge.
Very handy.
Thanks, I’ll check in Food City, a chain that caters to Hispanics here.
Spaghetti sauce in a Jar came out on the 1980’s. Prego is a major brand.
It makes any cook cry. A basic tomato meat sauce is so simple. The combination of various seasonings varies from family to family. My family always used a bay leaf. I dislike chunks of tomatoes. We substitute tomato puree instead of diced tomatoes.
We cook up a big pot of sauce and freeze.
I admit I’ve never made or eaten homemade pasta. Only the stuff from the grocery.
I’ve made a lot of these things at home. Some of them, like ice cream and every form of bread/pasta, are so much better when made fresh that I hate myself for not making the effort more often. Others, like pickles, beans, and hummus are utterly indistinguishable from the prepackaged stuff, such that I’m annoyed at having expended the effort even once. Still others, like (vegetarian) sushi and cheese, are such unmitigated disasters when I attempt them that I’d rather not talk about it.
Does buying a big bag of party ice count?
Umm,
The First Factory
By 1946, Assunta, Giovanni and their famous sauce had made quite a name for themselves. Their operation outgrew their kitchen and the first RAGÚ factory opened in Rochester, NY“That’s Italian”
In the 70’s RAGÚ brand launched the famous ad campaign, and with two simple words defined an entire generation of home cooking. These classic commercials are still a reminder of our rich heritage.
About | RAGÚ®
I forgot Ragu. Your right, Prego came in 1981. It’s from Campbell Soup.
Site: Prego - Wikipedia
Yogurt, good yogurt, is easy to make, but yogurt making devices are hard to find. I had one once, and it was super, then gone. It’s easy to buy it in the store.
The whole point of the sauce in a jar is it take 5-10 minutes to heat. Making an equivalent sauce from scratch takes 2 hours minimum and I prefer mine to take 4 hours.
Yes, there are tomato-based pasta sauces you can make from scratch in 20 minutes which taste great. But which don’t have the long-simmered flavor nor texture.
Many years ago at my grandparent’s 50th anniversary party a longtime family friend told this story that would have taken place probably in the late 60s or early 70s:
When our daughter was young, my wife always used to make homemade spaghetti sauce. It took 3 days to make, with the chopping, the simmering, the spices. She was very proud of her 3 day sauce.
One day our daughter was visiting <tofor mom> and they had spaghetti for dinner. Our daughter came home very excited. “Mom, Mrs. E makes the best spaghetti sauce I have ever tasted. You have to get her recipe. It’s amazing.”
Well, my wife called Mrs. E to find out what magic she wrought with her spaghetti sauce. “You have to give me your sauce recipe. My daughter says your sauce is better than my 3 day sauce and it’s the best she’s ever eaten. What is your secret?”
“Well, there’s no secret. I just open up a jar of Ragu.”
…
We never had 3 day sauce again.
We usually start our tomato sauce right after breakfast. That’s 8:00 and it’s ready to use by noon. That gives a rich flavor.
I have tried Ragu and Prego. I wasn’t very impressed. It wasn’t bad. it’s ok for a last minute pasta meal.
I wouldn’t make a 3 day sauce. I’m not that committed. 
I almost always start with a commercial sauce, then add home grown Basil and Oregano, maybe Onion powder. I often add Garlic as well, but the jars we currently buy are super garlicky already.
My grandparents were born in Italy and came here (USA) as children. My grandma’s sauce was amazing. I can get pretty close to hers, but no matter who makes it, it’s always not quite the same. I let it simmer for a couple of hours or sometimes make it in a crockpot so it’s cooking for close to 8 hrs. I can’t imagine a 3-day sauce!
If I make spaghetti and meatballs, lasagna, spaghetti and meat sauce I always make homemade sauce. But I have some hot dish (casserole) recipes that call for spaghetti sauce and when making them I always buy jarred sauce. But when I take that jar off the grocery store shelf, I feel soooo guilty.
I feel the same way about pizza sauce. I like to make pizza at home, but the sauce has to be made in batches large enough to cover at least six or seven good-sized pies, which neither I nor a guest could possibly eat. So I either use supermarket sauce or just order pizza from outside.
The same goes for lasagna, spaghetti sauce, chili, or anything made in batches of more than four portions, which is the maximum number I have room to store and eat in a week.
Here’s the one I use:
I mentioned the fresh pasta and pasta sauce way back in # 4, so I feel your pain. My fix is using my slow cooker, especially at the end of the summer season when I have baskets of my MiL’s garden tomatoes and no way to use them fresh (and I’m almost sick of them).
Quarter them (no need to even skin) and toss them in the pot along with other garden fresh herbs and aromatics (and a touch of wine to bring out the acidity). Overnight in the slow cooker, and then stick blend in the morning, portion out, and freeze. Just used the last of last years this week, and we’re about 3 weeks from the freshies coming in. 
I was going to buy a jar of this walnut ice cream topping. Then I looked at the ingredients for walnuts in syrup. It’s walnuts and corn syrup.
I’ve made four. I don’t think I’d dare to do it these days, though; since the fancy-cake-decorating craze really took off about ten or twelve years ago, standards for what qualifies as an “impressive-looking” wedding cake as opposed to a “wreck” have reached a level seldom attainable by home bakers.
(My cakes all tasted good, however.)
I lived with an oddball who was stuck on widdle babba food that his mummy made for him. Kraft Mac & Cheese out of the box, ONLY. (In fact, brand names only.). Spongy white bread, Wonder bread preferred. I, who had been cooking for decades, tried making many things from scratch, and some passed inspection. But I labored over making a pot of spaghetti sauce once and it flopped. Too many ‘chunks’ in it, and it just didn’t taste like the stuff out of a can or jar he ate on big thick pasta since he could wield a fork and spoon.
I will just chime in to say we have gone the opposite of the OP on the pasta sauce - my wife decided last year to try just making the sauce herself and it has been awesome - we have not purchased jarred pasta sauce since. It is so much tastier, and without the sweetness that dominates the jarred sauces (even the ones with “low sugar” still seem sweet to me). She makes a large pot of it and freezes most of it for later. We experimented using non-brand-name canned tomatoes and tomato paste, and a few dried spices from our cabinet, and it was still way better than the jarred stuff, with minimal effort/labor involved. Not going back!
My husband does something similar with frozen pizzas. Shave a little good parmesan and sprinkle some home-grown basil on top, and it’s almost grownup food.
