# You feel like spaghetti...however you must use a canned/jarred sauce. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 3, 2013, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-feel-like-spaghetti-however-you-must-use-a-canned-jarred-sauce/657378 "2013-05-03T01:27:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2013, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-feel-like-spaghetti-however-you-must-use-a-canned-jarred-sauce/657378/21 "2013-05-03T13:51:00Z")
None. Jarred sauces are overpriced, oversalted and usually overcooked. A can of tomatoes and some herbs/veggies accomplishes the same thing for a fraction of the cost. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2013, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-feel-like-spaghetti-however-you-must-use-a-canned-jarred-sauce/657378/22 "2013-05-03T14:02:55Z")
I can whip up a couple of different sauces with about the same effort as it takes to properly nuke a jar of sauce, so I may be in a minority on the convenience and speed front, but that said… I have yet to find a jar sauce I can tolerate. I’ve tried everything from the mid-tier grocery-store brands (Newman’s etc.) to supposedly hand-made, limited-production and -distribution stuff, and I’d honestly rather eat Spaghetti-Os. At least they aren’t pretending to be fresh, or tasty, or remotely healthy. All of the jar sauces have tinny, off flavors that are either flat or overpoweringly GARLIC! or CHEESE! or something - never balanced, never tasting anything like fresh. I’d rather not make any kind of pasta than use a prepared sauce. Period. ---
**Author:** ![Kimballkid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b5a626/32.png) [@Kimballkid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimballkid)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2013, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-feel-like-spaghetti-however-you-must-use-a-canned-jarred-sauce/657378/23 "2013-05-03T14:13:43Z")
You forgot to add an option for ‘Whatever’s on sale, I’m not picky’. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2013, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-feel-like-spaghetti-however-you-must-use-a-canned-jarred-sauce/657378/24 "2013-05-03T14:41:59Z")
Rao’s Arrabiata is the only one out of a jar that I’ve had and liked. It is horrendously over-priced, though, at something like $9/jar. I would never buy it myself, as making homemade pasta sauce is easy peasy, and I can control the taste exactly to my liking. ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2013, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-feel-like-spaghetti-however-you-must-use-a-canned-jarred-sauce/657378/25 "2013-05-03T14:43:57Z")
> [@Kimballkid](#): > > You forgot to add an option for ‘Whatever’s on sale, I’m not picky’. This. When they go on sale I pick up a few jars or cans and stick them in the cupboard. Sometimes I add my own ground beef or mushrooms or something, but hell it’s only spaghetti. I’m not going to get worked up over it. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2013, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-feel-like-spaghetti-however-you-must-use-a-canned-jarred-sauce/657378/26 "2013-05-03T14:50:03Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > Sometimes I add my own ground beef or mushrooms or something, but hell it’s only spaghetti. I’m not going to get worked up over it. I don’t think you have to “get worked up over it” to appreciate that making a decent marinara variant from some shelf and fresh ingredients is only a little more work and time, and vastly better tasting/better food (and often cheaper) than nuking a jar of stuff while the noodles boil. I like to have the sauce finished and simmering before I start the pasta water boiling - the timing works out for convenience and a better result - but you can put together a decent sauce in the same time it takes the water to boil and the noodles to finish. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2013, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-feel-like-spaghetti-however-you-must-use-a-canned-jarred-sauce/657378/27 "2013-05-03T14:55:24Z")
I agree with **Amateur Barbarian**. That said, there are a lot of people who actually _prefer_ the jarred stuff, so who knows. Could be a comfort food thing or maybe they simply like the more processed flavor (or whatever you want to call it.) My problem with most of the commercial sauces is they’re just too sweet for me. I almost never add sugar or anything sweet to my sauce. The only exception may be if I have particularly acidic tomatoes, but I tend to like things on the tart side. I perfer to start with plain tomato sauce (not a pasta sauce, but just plain pureed tomatoes) or crushed/diced/whole tomatoes and go from there. I also tend to like “fresher” tasting sauce that isn’t cooked as long (maybe 20 minutes), and most of the jarred sauces taste like they’ve been simmered for a long time. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2013, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-feel-like-spaghetti-however-you-must-use-a-canned-jarred-sauce/657378/28 "2013-05-03T15:04:16Z")
Sometimes you just want a Big Mac, you know? Same same with jarred sauce. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2013, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-feel-like-spaghetti-however-you-must-use-a-canned-jarred-sauce/657378/29 "2013-05-03T15:19:59Z")
I think I’ve only eaten homemade marinara sauce once in my life. It was good but too spicy for me. It certainly didn’t make me think “boy I am so glad someone spent time cooking this, and I’ll never go back to jarred again!” I grew up with Ragu but I switched to Prego in the past 10 years when I decided it tasted better meatless than Ragu does. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2013, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-feel-like-spaghetti-however-you-must-use-a-canned-jarred-sauce/657378/30 "2013-05-03T15:31:23Z")
I don’t know the name of the stuff we get. It’s expensive, they have a sicilian gravy, a vodka sauce, and a marinara. I’ll make sauce if I have time to do it right, but these sauces are fine for most meals. I made veal parmesan on Tuesday using the sicilian, it only took half an hour of prep time to get a pan full into the oven with the sauce coming right out of the jar. I would have had to start hours earlier to make a good sauce. ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2013, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-feel-like-spaghetti-however-you-must-use-a-canned-jarred-sauce/657378/31 "2013-05-03T15:33:30Z")
> [@Kimballkid](#): > > You forgot to add an option for ‘Whatever’s on sale, I’m not picky’. I agree with Kimballkid. Although sometimes I have a taste for one or the other of them. And I almost always add something. Spaghetti sauce needs at least chunks of meat, and no canned sauce I’ve ever seen has real chunks of meat. ---
**Author:** ![geneb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a88e4f/32.png) [@geneb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/geneb)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2013, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-feel-like-spaghetti-however-you-must-use-a-canned-jarred-sauce/657378/32 "2013-05-03T15:36:47Z")
I don’t normally choose the “you forgot” option in polls, but I am going to have to go for it in this one. I’m not a huge fan of spaghetti so I genuinely don’t give the slightest bit of a damn what kind of sauce is on the noodles. I’ll occasionally make a sauce and have spaghetti, but I usually prefer to make it into a pasta salad. ---
**Author:** ![BetsQ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/fbc32d/32.png) [@BetsQ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BetsQ)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2013, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-feel-like-spaghetti-however-you-must-use-a-canned-jarred-sauce/657378/33 "2013-05-03T15:38:10Z")
To be honest, I only put sauce on my pasta in order to get a serving of veggies. I prefer it with a little (OK, a lot) salt, maybe some butter or olive oil or parmesan cheese. We usually get Classico. I don’t even bother to heat it up. ---
**Author:** ![Cheesesteak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cheesesteak/32/3694_2.png) [@Cheesesteak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheesesteak)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2013, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-feel-like-spaghetti-however-you-must-use-a-canned-jarred-sauce/657378/34 "2013-05-03T15:53:30Z")
I love Victoria Marinara sauce. It’s nothing but tomatoes, olive oil, onion, garlic, basil, salt and spices. Everything I’d be putting into my homemade quickie marinara made from canned tomatoes. It has a light clean taste, and isn’t trying to mimic my mother’s sauce that’s simmered all day with sausage and meatballs. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2013, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-feel-like-spaghetti-however-you-must-use-a-canned-jarred-sauce/657378/35 "2013-05-03T15:56:00Z")
> [@ZipperJJ](#): > > I think I’ve only eaten homemade marinara sauce once in my life. It was good but too spicy for me. It certainly didn’t make me think “boy I am so glad someone spent time cooking this, and I’ll never go back to jarred again!” You’ve only had non-jar sauce once in your life, and that’s a big enough sample to write it off? Okay. I can understand having developed a taste and preference for the (IMHO, rather peculiar and off) jarred taste. I have a few such odd tastes myself. But I will never cease being puzzled why people, who pretty much have to eat two to three times a day, will spend their lives eating foods that are more expensive, less healthy, often less tasty in an absolute way, and only marginally more convenient than learning to cook equivalents or replacements, if only occasionally. People who have mastered any number of life and career skills have permanent disregard for acquiring any cooking skills beyond learning a few microwave settings… and it’s entirely to their detriment. I guess if you’re on the second or third generation of eating little beyond packaged food, it seems normal. Maybe it is, on some level. But they should really give basic cooking a thorough try before continuing to fill their basket with nothing but ready-to-eats. ---
**Author:** ![Motorgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e36b37/32.png) [@Motorgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Motorgirl)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2013, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-feel-like-spaghetti-however-you-must-use-a-canned-jarred-sauce/657378/36 "2013-05-03T16:23:28Z")
Rao’s Marinara. One of the few that aren’t sweeter than I like, and really, shockingly good. It’s no wonder it costs $8 a jar (on sale). There are also a few others I don’t mind if I doctor them up. Classico & Rinaldi’s. though Rinaldi is a little too thin IMO. I am surprised to realize I’ve never tried Newman’s Own. ETA - we don’t use jarred sauce very often. We’re more likely to whip up a quick simple tomato sauce, but jarred sauces can be very useful. ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2013, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-feel-like-spaghetti-however-you-must-use-a-canned-jarred-sauce/657378/37 "2013-05-03T16:24:11Z")
Yeah, but we’re talking spaghetti here, not haute cuisine. There are some very nice jarred sauces out there. There are probably a over dozen brands, each with 3 or 4 flavours available at my usual grocery store. That’s like 40 or 50 different choices. One that stood out for me recently was [Healthy Choice, Italian Style Vegetable](http://www.healthychoicecanada.ca/product/italian-style-vegetable-3-19.aspx?lang=en). The web page doesn’t render properly for me here at work, not sure why, but it’s a very decent jarred sauce, and as long as I can buy something like this I’m not spending extra time in the kitchen for what amounts to a comfort food meal for peasants really. I’ll spend time making Indian food or on large holiday meals or something exotic: spaghetti? The less time spent the better. YMMV. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2013, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-feel-like-spaghetti-however-you-must-use-a-canned-jarred-sauce/657378/38 "2013-05-03T16:40:49Z")
I don’t understand the “it’s just spaghetti” line of reasoning. You can say that with pretty much any food. It’s just curry. It’s just a steak. It’s just hamburger. It’s just a taco. Etc. There’s nothing particularly more “low-brow” about spaghetti than there is any other day-to-day food you would cook in your kitchen. For me, spaghetti is a showcase for my garden: fresh tomatoes, fresh basil or parsley, fresh chile peppers, some garlic, and parmesan cheese and I’m in heaven. It never feels like convenience food to me (although it’s not inconvenient to make from scratch.) For me, it’s special occasion food. I don’t eat a lot of it (partly because I can just eat so much of it), but when I do, I’m going to take care with it. I’m not saying _you_ should feel that way about it, but I personally don’t grok the “it’s just XXXX” argument. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2013, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-feel-like-spaghetti-however-you-must-use-a-canned-jarred-sauce/657378/39 "2013-05-03T17:04:26Z")
Pasta is just the vehicle for the sauce, much like a bun is a vehicle for a burger. “It’s just spaghetti”? Really? Pasta dishes can be as complex or as simple as any other dish. If your idea of spaghetti is to just splork a jug of Ragu on top of overcooked noodles, then you’ve missed out on some of life’s best eating. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2013, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-feel-like-spaghetti-however-you-must-use-a-canned-jarred-sauce/657378/40 "2013-05-03T17:11:54Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > Pasta is just the vehicle for the sauce, much like a bun is a vehicle for a burger. “It’s just spaghetti”? Really? Pasta dishes can be as complex or as simple as any other dish. If your idea of spaghetti is to just splork a jug of Ragu on top of overcooked noodles, then you’ve missed out on some of life’s best eating. And, without _battre un cheval mort_, even simple meals can be cheaper and tastier by substituting a little bit of acquired skill for unwrapping and nuking effort. And often made in about the same amount of time. But then, I’m slowly growing accustomed to the notion that, for an increasing number of people, “eating” has little or nothing to do with “cooking” any more. (Accustomed, but not understanding.) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-feel-like-spaghetti-however-you-must-use-a-canned-jarred-sauce/657378.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-feel-like-spaghetti-however-you-must-use-a-canned-jarred-sauce/657378.md?page=3)