What's your favorite jarred red sauce?

[Cerise]

Originally Posted by Robo410

classico tomato basil was the jarred sauce I used to doctor. Then I bought cans of san marzano and made my own and it was an OMG moment. Then I bought bushels of tomatoes (2nds even) at the farm and made my own by roasting and using a food mill. In an emergency I could go to canned tomatoes again but not to jarred sauce. Gun to my head I would recommend the classico, but...

I agree.

And, doctored up:

[CWS4322]

I did a search for the nutritional analysis of homemade marinara sauce per serving vs. canned...11.2 - 15 mg sodium for homemade vs. 320 - 430 mg for the canned varieties I searched. If that isn't an argument for continuing to make my own, I don't know what is. Small wonder I found the canned stuff used last night so salty.

[grizzly adams]

I started making my own sauce since I retired 11 years ago and very rarely would I but jarred. Recently I was in a rush and decided to buy a jar of "Clasico with sweet basil." I really liked it and found myself getting lazy and buying it the last three times I made Italian dishes.

[buckytom]

what does ben franklin think of classico sauces, grizzly?

[Whiskadoodle]

Two years ago we had the snow falls and cold to end all, and I got caught w/ my pants down. And that ain’t pretty, so to speak. Last winter I “stocked up” . Could have worn shorts and flip flops most of the winter. Well, almost. Bought 4 jars Prego. I still have 3. I like prego, esp when it’s doctored up. I also bought some cans san marzano tomatoes, whole , don’t know how many. They are all gone. I guess I will buy some more of these for re-stocking as we ( meaning I) seem to prefer these the most .

Mostly, at this time of year, I like to chunk up some tomatoes, toss with some pasta, a little garlic, maybe some crisp cooked zuke slices, broccoli, green beans, whatever veggies. . Most everything is al dente, crisp and the tomatoes are straight off the vine. Toss in whatever fresh herbs and a little romano or parm or asiago. The only thing that gets cooked the most is the pasta. No two meals are alike and it is so good. Wish it were like this all year.

[no mayonnaise]

I kinda like Emeril's Roasted Gaaahlic and Gia Russa Vodka Sauce.

But these days I've been really honing my own tomato sauce down to what I think is perfect. For some reason I'm on a marinara kick and I just keep making batch after batch and giving it to people as a pseudo focus group, testing different formulas. So I haven't really bothered with jarred much. It's difficult to go back to a jarred sauce because you can just taste all the salt and sugar in it and it really puts the benefits of making your own in perspective.
I really enjoy the idea of knowing exactly what went into the sauce and that there's no "extra junk."

[Addie]

I prefer Prego Garden Chunky. It just doesn't pay for me to make my own anymore. I only use a couple of spoonfuls each time. I don't like a lot of gravy on my pasta. I use it mainly to keep the strands of pasta separated. I don't trust jar sauces that have meat in them. And if I want homemade gravy, I go to my daughter's house or she sends me a plate. She is a Pastene Devotee! Wouldn't dream of using any other canned tomato.

[CWS4322]

Originally Posted by no mayonnaise

It's difficult to go back to a jarred sauce because you can just taste all the salt and sugar in it and it really puts the benefits of making your own in perspective.
I really enjoy the idea of knowing exactly what went into the sauce and that there's no "extra junk."

+1

[Addie]

Originally Posted by CWS4322

+1

As least Prego has no corn crap in it.

[bakechef]

I have a store brand that I really like and have been eating it for years, a couple different stores carry it under their own label. It has simple ingredients. It's a good lazy day sauce, or something quick when I run out of homemade in the freezer. Trader Joe's roasted garlic marinara is excellent too.

[taxlady]

We prefer making our own tomato sauce, but we do buy jarred sauce for "quick and easy". We get a couple of different brands of organic tomato sauce, because most of the other ones have soy and I'm not supposed to have soy.

[Dawgluver]

Another vote for Emeril's Roasted Gaahhhlic, doctored up. Also doctor up Hunt's in a can.

[PrincessFiona60]

Bertolli Marinara, I do not have to do anything to that aside from adding mushrooms, sausage or burger. It's just right for pizza's and any dish we like with sauce.

[Addie]

So last night Son #2 called to say he had a run at the airport. Did I have anything quick to eat. He had an hour to kill before the plane landed. I threw some Italian sausages in the pan and put on the water for some Angel Hair pasta. I tossed in enough pasta for him to eat while he was waiting for the plane to land and some for later to eat at home. A couple of spoonfuls of jarred Prego and he was on his way. He too, doesn't like a lot of gravy on his pasta. After he left there was just enough gravy in the jar for one more helping of pasta. And I had my supper.

[CWS4322]

Originally Posted by CWS4322

I did a search for the nutritional analysis of homemade marinara sauce per serving vs. canned...11.2 - 15 mg sodium for homemade vs. 320 - 430 mg for the canned varieties I searched. If that isn't an argument for continuing to make my own, I don't know what is. Small wonder I found the canned stuff used last night so salty.

The nutritional analysis for the recipe cites 980 mg of sodium / serving--small wonder I found it almost overwhelmingly salty. It also had parm. cheese and mozz. in it, so it wasn't just the marinara sauce that contributed to the sodium content, but the marinara sauce definitely had more sodium than my homemade marinara sauce.

[letscook]

Homemade -but in a pinch
Classico or prego but really like Paul Newman but not the cost.

[Addie]

If you use the whole jar of the red sauce, sure you are going to get a lot of sodium. But I have always had the person put their own amount on their pasta. Just enough sauce to keep the strands separate, and the rest in a bowl for each person to put the amount they want on their pasta.

I also don't want a sauce that has a lot of other products in it. A simple marinara sauce has tomatoes, spices. That's it. And I don't expect any jarred sauce to taste like a homemade from scratch.

[CharlieD]

If I make fresh tomato sauce, nobody in the family would eat it. So to avoid the problem I usually just doctotr the regular tomato sauce. Keeps everybody happy. But for wife I buy Barilla brend, they are actually pretty darn good.