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Frugal Cooking: Canned Spaghetti Sauce Vs. Homemade Spaghetti Sauce
As a frugal cook, I often make things from scratch rather than buying a mix or packaged food item. This works well in many cases, but in others, it's actually cheaper to buy the pre-packaged item. Recently, I decided to look at whether spaghetti sauce is cheaper from scratch or from a can.
Canned vs. Homemade Spaghetti Sauce: Price
Looking at price alone, it's actually an easy call. At Winco Foods, I bought 26.5-ounce can of Del Monte Mushroom Spaghetti Sauce for 78 cents. At most stores, in fact, I can find canned spaghetti sauce for one dollar or less per can.
For comparison purposes, I also purchased one 14-ounce can and one 8-ounce can of tomato sauce, and one four-ounce can of mushrooms (stems and pieces). This came to over a dollar - and that doesn't even include the onions, herbs and spices that I already had at home.
In terms of price alone, the canned spaghetti sauce is obviously the better buy. But for me, there's more to it than that.
Canned vs. Homemade Spaghetti Sauce: Taste and appearance
Do my family and I actually prefer the canned sauce or the homemade sauce? Based on taste and appearance, I would favor the homemade sauce. The canned sauce is overly sweet, and the mushrooms in the mushroom sauce are nearly invisible - they must be finely minced (probably leftover bits from something else). Homemade sauce has tasty chunks and pieces of mushrooms, and I control the herbs and spices, adjusting them to my family's taste.
Canned vs. Homemade Spaghetti Sauce: Ingredients
Canned spaghetti sauce and homemade spaghetti sauce have some common ingredients: tomato sauce, mushrooms, herbs and spices. The canned sauce contains only dehydrated onion, while I can chop and add fresh onion at home. My biggest concerns, however, are about salt and sugar.
Canned vs. Homemade Spaghetti Sauce: Price
Looking at price alone, it's actually an easy call. At Winco Foods, I bought 26.5-ounce can of Del Monte Mushroom Spaghetti Sauce for 78 cents. At most stores, in fact, I can find canned spaghetti sauce for one dollar or less per can.
For comparison purposes, I also purchased one 14-ounce can and one 8-ounce can of tomato sauce, and one four-ounce can of mushrooms (stems and pieces). This came to over a dollar - and that doesn't even include the onions, herbs and spices that I already had at home.
In terms of price alone, the canned spaghetti sauce is obviously the better buy. But for me, there's more to it than that.
Canned vs. Homemade Spaghetti Sauce: Taste and appearance
Do my family and I actually prefer the canned sauce or the homemade sauce? Based on taste and appearance, I would favor the homemade sauce. The canned sauce is overly sweet, and the mushrooms in the mushroom sauce are nearly invisible - they must be finely minced (probably leftover bits from something else). Homemade sauce has tasty chunks and pieces of mushrooms, and I control the herbs and spices, adjusting them to my family's taste.
Canned vs. Homemade Spaghetti Sauce: Ingredients
Canned spaghetti sauce and homemade spaghetti sauce have some common ingredients: tomato sauce, mushrooms, herbs and spices. The canned sauce contains only dehydrated onion, while I can chop and add fresh onion at home. My biggest concerns, however, are about salt and sugar.
Comments
Nice article! It would have been nice to your recipe for your homemade sauce at the end.
LOL, certainly not.
And never, never get store-bought meatballs also ;P
I'm somewhere in between. I like to start with the bottled stuff and then add my extra ingredients. Why reinvent the wheel, if it works?
Kathleen, I'm with you. Homemade is the best. You can control the ingredients. I tend to use less salt and sugar in everything I make.
Very useful article. Just last night I bought six jars of spaghetti sauce at Sam's Club. It was quite a bit more than a dollar a jar since it was Classico. My family does not like the less expensive brands.
At the time I thought that I should find a good recipe and make my own sauces. I know it won't cost any less but if I have to buy the pricier stuff anyway it might be worthwhile to have a fresher, healthier sauce that is exactly to our tastes.
Loved this comparison! I also buy the Del Monte canned spaghetti sauce but never really looked at the label. I agree with you on the flavor ~ which is why I use the canned sauce as a base, then add some of my own fresh veggies.
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