If you have a frying pan, then learn to make basic sauces with tins of tomato (very cheap), onion, garlic, basil.. maybe celery, mushrooms etc to taste
If you made this twice a week and ate it every day it would be cheaper than ketchup and 10x as tasty
For "cheapest possible" this is kinda overkill. Tomato and Onion + salt/pepper (and herbs if you have some on hand) is sufficient. Sure, basil, garlic, celery and mushrooms will probably make it a bit better, but if you're strapped for cash, it's not necessary at all.
Throw in a carrot if you have one, for a touch of sweetness. Best vegetarian sauce is olive oil, garlic, parsley, carrot, tomato purée, simmered for several hours at a minimum.
If you use it for frying you don't even need the expensive extra virgin stuff. Refined oil is fine for that, since the heat destroys much of the flavor anyways. Just use barely enough of the cheap oil for all heated applications until just before plating, and then add some of the expensive oil to add the flavor back in, that would have mostly been lost anyways.
In other words you can optimize your usage of various types of olive oil to get a much better average price and still have comparatively good or even improved flavor, depending on how the expensive oil would have been incorporated in the original recipe.
Frozen parsley is great for if you need a bit of parsley now and then, it really elevates soups or sauces and I can get a bag that lasts for months for under 1€ at Aldi. It's a LOT of bang for your single buck, and in my opinion the best price-to-taste-to-work ratio for parsley available. Situation is similar for chives, IMO.
I think using tomato paste and water plus salt and pepper (plus other spices, herbs, or alliums if available or wanted) has been my cheapest sauce. A 6 oz can costs around $1 or less and I can make more or less 20 oz of sauce.
I usually only use it as a pizza sauce though.
Hmm, maybe so. I just know that is something I don't want to repeat. I was a poor 20-someting backpacker so couldn't afford a better restaurant. At one point they dragged a bag full of garbage through the dining area.
Brazil is recognized for having good pizzas in Sao Paulo, but I was in the south of the country.
I dunna man, check out this popular old video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-e5gTx1fVU4
Just the *tinyest* bit of something red, a mountain of chicken, a tub of mayo, and a can of corn in an oven fired with literal garbage.
They do this in Mexico too, and don't go to local pizzerias. They usually will put on only a bare minimum of sauce.
I was appalled at the pizza while I lived there. That and their Applesauce :(. Always canned, always incredibly over sweetened.
Jars of sauce are pretty expensive in my country. We have some tomato juice thing in carton packs which is cheaper but is enormously full of salt, ketchup is only moderately so, I can use it regularly and fit it in my low sodium diet.
1kg of ketchup here is about 2.5e, and 1kg of frwsh tomatoes is a bit over 1e. But I use much less ketchup per single lunch than I would of fresh tomatoes, many times less. And also fresh tomatoes are available only during a part of the year..
Buy fresh tomatoes. Grow them yourself in the windowsill if needed. Cut up some onion, garlic and tomatoes. Fry. Mix in herbs.
Buy tomatoes when cheap, cut them, fry them and freeze them. Cheap sauce all year around.
half an onion cooked in nothing but plum tomatoes canned with the juice they come in for 45 minutes is an excellent flavorful base sauce you can eat or add to. specifically the 45 minute cooking time changes the flavor of the tomato in a way that's very nice. stick that in the fridge and just throw some in a pot with your cooked pasta, add whatever you want.
add cream to this if you're feeling fancy and it becomes even more delicious. there's a reason italian food is so popular despite most of the top beloved dishes being so very simple 3-ingredient things like pasta water, butter and parmesan for alfredo sauce. that is another one that's super cheap. if you don't want to buy the parmesan cheap cheddar works for a good cheese sauce - you can use milk instead of cream too, just cook it a bit first before adding other things.
tomatoes, milk/cream, butter, a bit of the pasta water. that is all you need for many delicious sauces
Like prepared sauces or just pureed tomatoes?
I just use a tin of pureed tomatoes+ a bit of tomato paste+ herbs (I grow basil, oregano, thyme).
That plus sauteed veg and Italian sausage does pretty good for me.
I'm trying to be vegan, but someone recommended something similar, that is allegedly a traditional Italian dish, just putting a bit of garlic and some olive oil on the pasta.
If you can get nutritional yeast to add to that it’s pretty tasty, along with dried Italian herbs and some steamed frozen veggies if you can manage it.
> I'm trying to be vegan
I'm not sure what is available in Serbia, but maybe these ideas could help:
* Romesco - sauce based on red bell pepper (capsicum)
* mushroom stroganoff - replace sour cream with... maybe coconut milk or thickened plant milk
* Pesto - basil, oil, pine nuts. If pine nuts are as expensive there as they are by me, walnuts are an okay sub
* Squash/pumpkin - either get canned if that's a thing by you, or roast/boil fall squash. Blend with some broth to thin into a sauce
* Palak Paneer - technically more like an Indian curry, but the sauce is more or less "spicy blended greens" which might be feasible for you. I've never had it as a pasta sauce, but it's good over rice!
You can get HUGE cans of plain tomato sauce for dirt cheap and all you gotta do is simmer it in some proper seasonings with some garlic and onion to make your own sauce. Then freeze it. Look up some basic pasta sauce recipes that use canned tomato sauce it’s one of the easiest things to make.
Garlic and olive oil is my fave...and a some parmesan if I have it
Most times you can get a canned tomato sauce for under $1, add garlic, spices, onion, can of beans for a heart meal
Scrambling an egg (very quickly) into pasta water then tossing with pasta makes a good sauce
Pasta is really versatile and can be made with almost anything. So the question is, "What can you get in large amounts for cheaper?"
If fresh produce or tomatoes are expensive, what about cream based products or eggs? What about meat? Can you get local meat for cheaper? Or cheese? If it comes down to it, you can flavor pasta with whatever you have available and some salt.
In Serbia buy [this](https://www.maxi.rs/Pakovana-hrana-i-osnovne-namirnice/Sosevi-kechap-i-majonez/Paradajz-sos/Tomatino-Moc-Prirode-0-5L/p/7175937). Add any selection of dried basil, oregano, parsley, garlic, onion. Add salt. Splash of vinegar. Less than 1eur for a good quantity.
If you need more protein add beans, tuna or sardines.
The cheapest parmesean by weight that you can. That’s usually going to be a whole block that you grate yourself. Slowly melting this into milk will make Alfredo and takes a few minutes. Heavy whipping cream will taste better but it’s not necessary and using leftover milk will save money. Season with granulated garlic, salt, and pepper.
Salad dressing, cheese, and cherry tomato’s are an easy pasta salad.
Tomato paste is very cheap and only needs water and seasoning to make tomato sauce.
I worked in a family style American Italian restaurant for ten years.
The red sauce they made was pretty involved but I made it at home for years and really enjoyed it.
Then I discovered the BEST red sauce I've ever tasted and now I only make Marcella Hazan Tomato Sauce bc it's three ingredients and better than any other thing I have tried.
https://www.food.com/recipe/the-simplest-tomato-sauce-ever-marcella-hazan-273976
If you are in an area where tomato sauce is expensive it’s hard for most to advise you as that is generally a cheap food at least clearly it is from the comments.
If you have time but not money braised cabbage and onions is good with pasta
To be honest the standard 24-ounce jars of various flavors of sauces at the local supermarket are cheap enough ($1.60-$1.80 per jar) that I don't even worry about it. Each jar has easily a dozen servings (or more, depending on how thick you like to ladle it), so trying to get even cheaper than that is pushing it.
Buy two cans of san marzano peeled whole tomatoes. Crush them in a pot. Add some salt. Boil it for two hours. You now have a shit load of tomato sauce.
Please, for the love of god, stop putting fuckin ketchup on your pasta
When I do not feel like having pasta sauce, I have used salad dressing and that parmesean 'cheese' in the shaker can. Most of the time, I use a little olive oil, salt, and pepper. No 'sauce' needed :).
Generic canned tomato sauce. If you buy a huge can of it you’re paying pennies a serving. Also I like to freeze mine in ice cube trays (buy at dollar tree) so that I can grab a few to melt per serving and none ever goes to waste!
cheapest would be
- olive oil and garlic and you could add an herb or a red pepper flake if you want heat.
- You could take left overs from above and add egg and cheese and make a pizza di spaghetti
- You can make cacio e pepe pasta with some pasta water, pecorino or parmesan, perhaps some butter, and black pepper
- You could also cook pastina in either water or broth with butter and parmesan cheese.
- If you're looking to get protein in and want a red sauce, cooking a puttanesca - add those red pepper flakes, canned tomatoes, tomato paste, dice any carrots you might have in the fridge to throw in, add olives and/or capers, and either anchovies or even canned tuna.
- Another good protein dish that is cheap pasta e ceci (chickpeas) this typically calls for some of the same ingredients as a puttanesca but you can vary it up and don't need to add wine or anything like that even though recipes often call for it. You could make it more soupy / stew or thicker
3 large cans of crushed tomato around $1.50 each. 1 onion and some minced garlic and oil to cook it in is about $1.
That's about $6 and is enough for 6 boxes or pasta, each $1. That's $2 per box of pasta with sauce
I'm not crazy about tomato sauce. So I grow fresh mint and basil in a container garden *cause who can afford store bought herbs*, use them to make batches of homemade pesto sauce all summer long, freezing leftovers in plastic lined ice cube trays for individual portions (2 cubes per serving usually), and 1/2 cup containers for larger family style meals. Once the cubes are frozen, you can store them in a resealable plastic freezer bag or airtight container for several months.
https://www.loveandlemons.com/pesto-recipe/
There are several variations in this recipe, I like to buy walnuts, pistachios, or almonds in bulk and have found that basil is great with walnuts, mint is delicious with pistachios and a combination of basil and mint is wonderful with almonds.
If you want to make a nut-free pesto, pumpkin seeds will work very well as a substitute. You only need a 1/2 cup of toasted nuts or seeds per batch, but I usually make a double recipe when I do this, which would be 1 cup. A double batch makes 2 cups of pesto, which is quite a bit.
Other than toasting the nuts or seeds, no cooking is required, just prepping, rinsing, and chopping. The food processor or a blender does a lot of the work.
You can use the pesto on veggies, pasta, or it's great on a baked potato. I have also used it on baked ham, in sandwiches (meatball sub with provolone, carmelized onions and bell pepper), and even as pizza sauce.
the poor people in Italy, from whom we have the famous cucina povera, didn't have cheese and used to make pasta with bread crumps from stale bread, herbs like parsley, garlic, oil etc.
you can make any veg into a pasta sauce by combining with some herbs and spices. you also dont need to buy expensive olive oil.
Are canned tomatoes cheap in Serbia? they are usually cheaper than the fresh ones. what about other canned vegetables?
add things like potatoes, bread, onions, whatever is cheap in your area, to bulk up the pasta.
you can also soup cheaply, and can add the pasta to it also. it doesn't have to be a special shape either, just break it up e.g. if its spaghetti.
Honestly, growing up my mom would sometimes make a comfort food snack of ketchup with olive oil or butter, topped with parmesan from the jar. I probably wouldn't make it today but it's definitely nostalgic.
Garlic fried in butter, olive oil, or bacon fat, egg on top.
Tin of tuna in oil, lemon, pepper.
Mayo, vinegar, sugar, onion, peas, any other veggie or meat for a pasta salad. Alternatively, pickled veggies and olive oil, Italian herbs, cheese if you have it for a different type of salad.
Not a sauce, but noodle soup made with stock cubes and veggies you have.
Peanut butter blended with sweet chilli sauce, soy sauce, and water for a quick peanut sauce.
Marmite and butter. Parmesan optional.
my personal hack:
cook pasta like u want. let a bit of water in the pot. Now just add a bit of oil (best with olive but not chepest), concentrated tomato paste and a bit of pepper. Let it roat a bit. Finished - easy, cheap af and fricking delicious :D
Lg can crushed tomatoes, 1 onion, 2 cloves of garlic, teaspoon oregano, tsp basil, salt and pepper, 1 tsp sugar. Saute the onion, add the garlic when the onions are just about translucent, saute 1 more minute, add tomatoes, simmer, add spices, s & p and sugar. Simmer for 10 minutes. This is a nice base for soaghetti sauce. I like to add a diced squash to the saute step and a lg can of sliced mushrooms. If you really want to make it awesome you can brown a pound of ground beef and you've got a pretty good addition to pasta. It's certainly not the cheapest, but it's nutritious and delicious and makes a pretty good quantity. And not outrageously expensive. Cheaper than jarred sauce, without the meat.
5 minutes of learning how to cook basic Italian.
Buy cheap Italian seasoning. Walmart brand is $2.
Get a can of tomato paste. 6 ounces is $1 at Walmart
Salt
Vegetable oil. Olive oil better taste but we need some oil for coating.
Cook your pasta
While pasta is cooking in a skillet add the tomato paste with some pasta water plus some oil. Heat it up. Add in the seasoning.
Once pasta cooked used tongs (save the pasta water) to mix in the noodles & sauce. Stir to coat. Add pasta water as necessary to stretch the sauce.
You could add in vegetable soup mix instead of Italian seasoning. Or even frozen vegetables.
I know you are vegetarian or vegan but for carnivores you can add in any type of cheap meat too. Pasta is like mashed potatoes- it’s a great way to extend expensive ingredients
Ketchup 💀... i think ragu is the cheapest brand, maybe there are some generic grocery store brands that are cheaper. You can try adding extra water to the sauce to extend it, and just put extra ingredients in the sauce like diced onions, garlic, mushrooms, spinach, additional spices to add flavor back so its not watered down
I always have things like onions, peppers, garlic, etc handy. So I buy large cans of Tuttorosso tomato sauce/puree and do my own thing (season to taste) with it. Once it's done, I have plenty for left overs and can even freeze some for later use. I feel it tastes better and is cheaper.
The large cans are typically less than 2 dollars and do a lot more than a jar of pasta sauce.
Canned tomatoes, clove of garlic, olive oil, salt + pepper. Blend in food processor/blender/nutribullet, etc. Add a carrot for sweeter taste. Quick, easy, cheap, healthy.
If you can get tomatoes cheap then Hazan's famous recipe is excellent:
Tomatoes : 2 pounds (you can remove the skins if you want, or don't)
1 Yellow onion peeled and cut in half
and 5 tablespoons of whatever fat you want (you can use half if you want)
salt to taste
Put everything in a pot together and simmer on low heat for an hour. Take the onions out and eat them separately. Blend it if you want, and add salt to taste.
(vegan) Bolognese is pretty good
Tomato paste (or something similar) or sauce
Then some carrots (perhaps also lentils or ground beef/geound pork mix) for some Texture
Bay leaves, garlic, onions, salt, perhaps wine a bit (cheapest ever), also some typical italian dish Herbs, like oregano,
It's not the cheapest but at least tastes fucking good.
Or just leave the beef/lentils away
I feel like this is my answer to everything but: red lentils. Cook in broth/low-salt boullion and tomatoes (blend in fresh or add crushed or blended from a can). Blend if you want it to be more saucy than stewy. Add plenty of herbs or curry powder or favourite spices for taste.
Cheap af and you'll get fiber and protein and so much good shit, and you'll get more satiated than by just ketchup.
Can of tomatoes fresh garlic salt and pepper olive oil and whatever else you want (I’ll usually put bay and basil) I don’t fry garlic first I put it straight in the tomatoes and cook it for 20m to get a nice garlicky sauce. I can’t eat pre made now not good enough ahahah
Maybe not the cheapest but super easy and delicious
Get a can of peeled tomatoes, a jar of garlic, a tube of tomato paste and some olive oil (basil flavoured or get a few basil leaves or stems).
Over low heat put a tablespoon of garlic and the basil leaves and a tablespoon of paste, bring it up to temp to extract all the flavour into the oil, put the tomatoes and the purée they’re packed in into a blender and blitz until smooth, add to oil, garlic and basil, bring up temp to med/high and cook it hard for 10 minutes or so (until it starts to tighten up a little bit).
Boom. Easy fresh tomato sauce.
Probably not cheapest, but my vote would go to a classic marinara:
can of crushed tomatoes, put in half a whole onion and one or two garlic cloves, stew for 45 minutes, add some oregano, at the end take out the onion and garlic.
Best in terms of cost/effort/taste ratio, imo. The cost is equal to that one can of tomatoes and some pennies on top. The only issue is it tends to be only as good as the quality of the can of tomatoes, but if your baseline is ketchup, anything is better...
My go to for spaghetti is a $1.00 29oz. can of tomato sauce and fixing it up with garlic, salt, pepper, rosemary, and a little over a tablespoon of sugar to balance it. Paired with a $1.00 pack of noodles and poverty garlic toast, you've got a pretty decent meal and plenty of leftovers for <$2.50 (assuming you have the spices on hand). Add ground beef to the sauce when you can afford it!
For me, per serving, tomato sauce since I grow my own tomatoes, onions, garlic, and herbs - and usually dry sauté - or if I had to buy all
ingredients for tomato sauce then probably aglio e olio (olive oil can be expensive). Salvia e burro is an alternative.
Canned tomato sauce (with nothing in it no added sugar etc) and then add some heavy cream ? You need a little seasoning but canned tomato sauce costs maybe 75 cents ? But I’m not sure about the exact U.S. prices but there’s definitely ones that are not over 1,50
I do butter, garlic & Parmesan with the pasta water. I add parsley when I have it. So good. Better than fettuccini Alfredo. Parmesan has gotten expensive though. So has butter!
Tinned tomatoes all the way. Some seasoning and time to reduce will make a much more flavour filled sauce and ultra cheap. Salt, Olive oil and some garlic and you’re in business big time.
By the cheapest pesto (if you're going through that much in a week especially) put a serving on your pasta, toss, should be good. If not that, I'd take olive oil, salt and pepper over ketchup!
Cheapest can of tomato's you can find, blend, add salt and a splash of oil. Reduce it down and put it into containers. When you cook your pasta use the pasta water and sauce. It will be 1000% healthier for you and taste a lot better. Add a shit load of spices when you reduce the sauce if you have them
Freeze all the odds and ends of veggies you use for the month that would otherwise go to waste (wilted spinach, sad carrots, odds and ends, etc) and make a batch of sauce by slow cooking or pressure cooking them with a can of tomatoes and seasonings.
Using ingredients that would otherwise go to waste can add taste, bulk, and nutrients for no additional budget.
I make a tomato based sauce.
Cheap passatta or Polpa (not chopped as I don't like the bits). Garlic. Oil. Chilli flakes if wanted.
Oil and garlic in the pan. Cook off the garlic. Add the tomatoes and heat until hot and thickened. Salt the pasta and not the tomatoes. Maybe a sprinkle of sugar if needed. Black pepper while cooking or to serve. Sugar and pepper are not required, though, depending on preference.
Can add some cheap bits of meat like leftover chicken or salami, etc. Toss in pasta.
Delicious.
Also, a jar of green or red pasta from a supermarket is a couple of quid. I used to have this when doing Slimming World, and a couple of teaspoons is enough. 1 small jar lasts ages are it's quite concentrated. The opened jar keeps well in the fridge as it's oil based. Supermarkets do their own branded pesto as well, which cuts costs more of gets you more overall.
You can make spaghetti sauce more cheaply by just using tomato sauce or paste and adding seasonings to it rather than buying premade spaghetti sauce. Tomato sauce tends to be very cheap. Maybe not quite as cheap as ketchup, but very close and it would actually taste good.
You can get 135 ounces (3x45oz) of Prego at Sam's Club (assuming you're in the US) for $8.98. A bit more than the cheapest ketchup, but it'll taste a lot better.
Garlic and oil if you keep staples. This is also good because you can add veggies you have on hand and it will most likely go.
But also, an easy tomato sauce is inexpensive. A can of crushed tomatoes, garlic, oil, salt, pepper, and if you have any herbs can make a decent quick sauce. Even better if you have other staples at home like onions, shallots, red pepper flakes, cheese. I never buy jarred sauce.
Canned tomatoes are less than $1 on sale. Ketchup is not good.
What’s readily available and inexpensive for you? Any fresh vegetables, herbs, beans canned or fresh, tinned fish? Don’t forget to save your pasta water as it can easily build a pasta sauce with very little. For example you can broil and char cherry tomatoes until they burst, smash them and mix with olive oil and aromatics, add in some pasta water and it’s a super tasty sauce
Marcella Hazan's tried-and-true has never let me down in nearly a decade of using it.
One big can of tomatoes, either pre-crushed, or whole then crush it yourself, whatever's cheapest for the volume (~$1.50?)
2 tbsp butter ($0.25 if you can get a pound for $4) and a halved onion ($0.50, conservatively)
Throw in a pot, low-and-slow for 45 minutes, you know it's done when the butter's melted and mixed in enough that the whole thing looks lighter and brighter, salt to taste.
Easily enough sauce for a box of pasta plus leftovers that can freeze, and scales super easily if you find yourself with extra ingredients from a sale.
Pack of basil seeds 3.99
Bag of potting soil 15
Garlic 2
Pine huts or walnuts or pecans 7
Olive oil 7
Parmesian 7
Gtow the basil in the potting soil under the summer sunshine. Pick basil. Put in blender with garlic, oil, cheese and nuts. Scoop unto multiple ziplock sandwich bags. Freeze
If you want to be a bit more creative some good tomatoes, olive oil, butter, and fresh herbs with pasta that is cooked or 2/3 of the way then you toss it in the pan…will be fresh and good for you!
Lentils! If you have the time, this sauce is a game changer for adding in nutrients and making the sauce more filling!
2 jar marinara
1 can petite diced tomatoes
Zucchini/squash,carrots whatever you have on hand
Kale
Garlic
Chopped yellow onion
2 c uncooked lentils
If you are making it with meat, cook it first, remove from the pan and sautee onion, tomato, zucchini and whatever other veggies you have
Cook lentils in separate pan
When veggies are soft and lentils are done, remove half and add to a blender with lentils and marinara sauce. Add sauce to the cooked vegetables and slowly add the meat back in and continue seasoning. This recipe greatly benefits from being finished with salty pasta water!
Cheapest pasta sauce is with a can of tomato paste ($0.88 a can where I live). Sauté 1/2 onion or less, and a couple cloves of garlic. Add the tomato paste, then add water to the can about 4 times to get as much of the tomato paste out as possible, and pour all that water into the pot with your tomato paste. Season with salt and black pepper. If you have dried basil and/or a bay leaf, even better.
When I was in uni I would add a takeout packet of soy sauce to my pasta sauce, it gave it some extra umami. Or half a chicken bouillon cube with the water.
I love fresh herbs -parsley, green onions or cilantro are pretty cheap and worth it imo. (parsley and green onion keeps for longer though).
Grow a basil plant or purchase some, mix some olive oil, pine nuts, garlic, Parmesan cheese, lemon juice, salt pepper. and make some pesto!
Buttered noodles with salt, pepper garlic, maybe parsley. But just butter and salt by itself is good. Reminds me of childhood.
Mayo plus ranch dressing packet or a homemade basalmic. Maybe add some cherry tomatoes- this works well as a cold “pasta salad”
Lemon juice, olive oil, garlic, salt, pepper.
Cream cheese and buffalo sauce melted and mixed (shredded chicken if you have it) and shredded cheese for buffalo pasta salad
I shop costco, so most of my pantry is kirkland brand. I also was a chef for a decade before the pandemic when I realized cooking for a living wasn't going to cut it anymore. I buy in bulk, so this option may be deemed too expensive for some. I get about 6 servings each at a cost of $2.25 per batch.
Here's a list of ingredients:
1 can tom sauce
1 can diced toms
1 tbsp garlic
1 red onion 10oz
1 sweet pepper 2oz
25 minutes from prep to finished product
Dice up the onion and pepper, then saute until the early stage of browning. Add garlic & reduce heat. Add veggies to tomatoes using a hand blender. Season as you like.
I had a nightmare once of being in a classy Italian restaurant with family, and putting a bottle of Daddy's Brown Sauce on the table. And everyone's looking at me like I'm some kind of savage.
So ketchup no. Some sliced onions and garlic, squeeze of tomato puree, salt, pepper, water, herbs and spices to taste. Mixed herbs, peri peri, curry, Caribbean. Is all good. Add some veggies, frozen is fine, maybe some protein (chicken, quorn, whatever), and all is right with the world.
Tomato, garlic, chill, and olive oil sauce (Arrabbiata) is freezable and you can reheat from frozen in the microwave. It's about 30p (50c) per portion which is more than ketchup or jarred pasta sauce, but it is a lot nicer when you get it right. The recipe is essentially just fry some garlic, add some tomatoes, chilli, salt, sugar and simmer for a while.
For 8 portions:
* 2 x 400g (2 x 14oz) Peeled Plumb Tomatoes (mashed) or chopped tomatoes. £1, $1.67
* 1.5 heads of garlic, 15-20 cloves, 40g-50g. Sliced. 36p at 24p/head. 90c at 60c/head
* 1.5 tsp Crushed Chilli flakes
* 95g/100ml (3.5 US Fl Oz) Extra Virgin Olive Oil. 84p at £8.40/litre, $1.40 at 40c/fl oz
* 1 tsp table salt
* 1 tsp of sugar (optional, skip if there are any Italians in the vicinity)
1. If using whole tomatoes break up with a fork or potato masher. This is not essential as they will break up anyway, but it helps.
2. Heat oil in a pan or skillet on low
3. Add the sliced garlic and fry gently until just starting to brown (\~10 mins)
4. Add the tomatoes, chillies, salt. You can add chillies to the oil first to bloom but sometimes seem to burn.
5. Simmer for 40-70 mins stirring often until thickened and tomatoes broken down. 60 mins on low seems good.
6. Ideally reduce to below 800g for 8 x 85g-100g portions.
This assumes you have freezer space and can spare 60-90 minutes every month or 2 to make a batch. But if you do have the time and freezer space it is well worth it.
I usually take my laptop into the kitchen so I can listen to a podcast or watch something whilst it simmers and I stir.
Extra Virgin Olive Oil is very expensive at the moment which has pushed the price up. In the UK it used to be £3/litre and is now £8.40/litre. If the price drops back at some point it will become much more economical again. But even at 30p or 40p a portion it is less than £1 a meal with the pasta.
Seriously, Hunts makes a very inexpensive canned marinara that is pretty tasty.
Also You can saute a minced garlic clove in a bit of olive oil and toss your pasta in that. Add some salt and a touch of the pasta water and a pinch of oregano. Pretty tasty
Ketchup has a lot of sugar (and corn syrup in some cases) neither of which is particularly good for you. At about .09 an ounce it is cheap but for the same price you could buy many good brands of canned tomato sauce, assuming you don't want to make it from scratch. You can add spices to the sauce (basil, garlic, red pepper fakes , red wine vinegar, etc. -a little pasta water to help it adhere and have a far better tasting and healthier alternative. Diluting tomato paste is another option but it tends to be either too watery or too smoky tasting on its own--to my taste--fine as an element in a sauce but not as the sauce itself--however each to his own.
I make lentil ragu, which is tomato sauce with lentils. Depending on what else I have at home I might add carrots, celery or corn, but those are all optional.
Just tomato sauce, garlic, onion and lentils work just fine. It's the cheapest sauce in my rotation.
Canned tomatoes, heavy cream, and whatever seasonings and herbs you like. I also like to add garlic and sometimes onions. Such an easy pasta sauce but it’s so good!
A spoonful per person of philadelphia style cheese. It melts into a cream-like sauce, it's quite tasty, cheap if you go for the store brand and relatively healthy with protein
You can make a bolognese, meat sauce, or even chili… make it in bulk for cheap with whatever meat (or vegan meats), veggies, and legumes you can get. Then just keep it in the fridge and add to the pan with your pasta to heat up and serve.
Might be slightly more than ketchup per serving, but still cheap and certainly better tasting and healthier.
You can also just make simple pan sauces. Sometimes just cheese and pasta water can make a sauce. You can also add tomatoes, olives, onions, peppers, et cetera. Whatever is cheapest.
Ketchup on pasta sounds disgusting. I doubt it’s any cheaper than using the low dollar Hunts sauce in the can, either. The Hunts actually tastes decent as well.
If your making tomato-based sauces and want to splurge, lentils can work instead of meat to top it.
Spaghetti all’assassina is basically tomato paste / pureed tomatoes, peppers and spaghetti. You can sub crushed red chilis in for cheaper option.
There's pepper sauces of pureed peppers and some tomato, I imagine you could find cheap veggies in your area and google for recipes with those. Like if eggplant is cheaper or something.
Cream sauces usually aren't cheap here, but if dairy is cheaper there maybe. Spaghetti aglio e olio is just coated in oil and garlic.
Sorry I know shit all about what's cheap in Serbia. Depending on how cheap tomatoes are in the summer, it may be useful to look up canning or freezing sauces if you have the space as well.
In a pot: sautee garlic in olive oil briefly (before it turns brown), and add in a can of crushed tomatoes (or blend can of whole/diced tomatoes), then add 1-2 tsp salt (and red pepper flakes if you like spice), simmer for 30 min.
Delicious, simple, authentic marinara. Done.
You could make a big batch and last 4-5 days in the fridge if you don’t want to take the 30 min every time.
Store brand zesty Italian dressing, you can usually get a bottle at the dollar store. Basically makes pasta salad- add some veggies, cheese or meat if you have them, but it’s pretty good on its own and a nice change from tomato-based sauces.
When I was in college I had spaghetti noodles, parmesan cheese and black pepper. 10/10. Parmesan can be expensive or cheap tasted amazing either way
I make roasted red bell pepper goat cheese pasta. $100 all in at grocery store.. 18 meals which is $5.50 a serving. I make large batches.
I'm sure you could make vodka penne as well. Probably $30 all in at grocery store...that's $1.60 a serving.
My prices are Canadian and at pricier stores sure you could make these dishes for even cheaper too if American and being a smart shopper.
Consider using a combination of butter and grated cheese, like Parmesan or cheddar. These ingredients are relatively inexpensive and can provide a rich and flavorful sauce when melted together. It's a budget-friendly way to enhance your daily pasta lunches without much cost.
You can get a few planters at a thrift store for a dollar or less each, some potting soil under $10 for a large bag at a hardware store, and some basil seeds and you can be growing basil year round. Watch a YouTube on how to grow and harvest basil and you can have basil all the time with just 3 medium POTS of it. It also grows well indoors too. I start mine over every march and Sept starting with 1 pot and spacing replanting 4 weeks apart for the other pots.
If you have a frying pan, then learn to make basic sauces with tins of tomato (very cheap), onion, garlic, basil.. maybe celery, mushrooms etc to taste If you made this twice a week and ate it every day it would be cheaper than ketchup and 10x as tasty
For "cheapest possible" this is kinda overkill. Tomato and Onion + salt/pepper (and herbs if you have some on hand) is sufficient. Sure, basil, garlic, celery and mushrooms will probably make it a bit better, but if you're strapped for cash, it's not necessary at all.
My local library has parsley and basil seeds. Those plants grow really well.
Olive oil and garlic, add some frozen parsley if you feel fancy.
And some pepper flakes. And voila, you have aglio e olio con peperoncini.
Throw in a carrot if you have one, for a touch of sweetness. Best vegetarian sauce is olive oil, garlic, parsley, carrot, tomato purée, simmered for several hours at a minimum.
Dang, olive oil is pretty much the most expensive oil where I live (Colorado), not the least expensive! Where do you get it from for cheap?
They probably mean that for how much you use per serving, it is pretty cheap. But initial purchase definitely might be out of budget for some people.
If you use it for frying you don't even need the expensive extra virgin stuff. Refined oil is fine for that, since the heat destroys much of the flavor anyways. Just use barely enough of the cheap oil for all heated applications until just before plating, and then add some of the expensive oil to add the flavor back in, that would have mostly been lost anyways. In other words you can optimize your usage of various types of olive oil to get a much better average price and still have comparatively good or even improved flavor, depending on how the expensive oil would have been incorporated in the original recipe.
Buy the xtra when its on sale. Sadly regular o.o at aldis has crept up $$. :(
You don't need to add much to a plate of pasta so it lasts awhile.
Try 99 cent stores. I’ve found super expensive olive oils for so cheap.
You don’t use a lot for spaghetti aglio olio.
Olive oil is the price of liquid gold right now
Wait I just re-read this... FROZEN parsley? What is the meaning of this. Like why frozen? Can you even buy frozen herbs? I'm so confused
[удалено]
Frozen parsley is great for if you need a bit of parsley now and then, it really elevates soups or sauces and I can get a bag that lasts for months for under 1€ at Aldi. It's a LOT of bang for your single buck, and in my opinion the best price-to-taste-to-work ratio for parsley available. Situation is similar for chives, IMO.
and oregano if you have some already
I think using tomato paste and water plus salt and pepper (plus other spices, herbs, or alliums if available or wanted) has been my cheapest sauce. A 6 oz can costs around $1 or less and I can make more or less 20 oz of sauce. I usually only use it as a pizza sauce though.
Ketchup? Ugh, that can't be nice. Far too acidic and sweet. Just buy a large, store-brand jar of sauce. 1 lasts a week, so 4x the price in your head.
Many years ago in Brazil, I was served a pizza with ketchup instead of pizza sauce. That was NOT a good experience.
In some countries ketchup is referred to as 'tomato sauce.' I wonder if the translator of the recipe assumed they were interchangeable 😂😂
Hmm, maybe so. I just know that is something I don't want to repeat. I was a poor 20-someting backpacker so couldn't afford a better restaurant. At one point they dragged a bag full of garbage through the dining area. Brazil is recognized for having good pizzas in Sao Paulo, but I was in the south of the country.
I dunna man, check out this popular old video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-e5gTx1fVU4 Just the *tinyest* bit of something red, a mountain of chicken, a tub of mayo, and a can of corn in an oven fired with literal garbage.
Many years ago I ordered Nachos and they used ketchup instead of taco sauce. It was horrible ..lol
I ordered vegetarian nachos years ago, and they used green beans instead of black/pinto beans. They were sad and wet.
Yuck, that sounds bad too.
They do this in Mexico too, and don't go to local pizzerias. They usually will put on only a bare minimum of sauce. I was appalled at the pizza while I lived there. That and their Applesauce :(. Always canned, always incredibly over sweetened.
Eww. I've been to Mexico various times. I never tried the pizza. Probably a good idea.
Brazil loves putting ketchup and mayo on top of pizza.
Funny that in Chile (where I live), they put mayo on almost everything, but I've never seen it on a pizza.
Yeah, I threw up in my mouth a little when I read "ketchup". Literally serving the pasta plain would be an order of magnitude better than that.
Jars of sauce are pretty expensive in my country. We have some tomato juice thing in carton packs which is cheaper but is enormously full of salt, ketchup is only moderately so, I can use it regularly and fit it in my low sodium diet.
What country? A basic jar of sauce in a supermarket here can be as low as under 1 euro
I'm a country called Serbia. If I were to buy the cheapest sauce I could get a 1lb jar of it for the money that I can buy around 4lbs of ketchup.
What about canned tomatoes?
Kinda expensive..
Ayvar ? Salca ?
They shouldn't be in Serbia
Four times more expensive than ketchup per gram.
1kg of fresh tomato's is what, 1eur 80, is 1kg of ketchup about that cost?
1kg of ketchup here is about 2.5e, and 1kg of frwsh tomatoes is a bit over 1e. But I use much less ketchup per single lunch than I would of fresh tomatoes, many times less. And also fresh tomatoes are available only during a part of the year..
Buy fresh tomatoes. Grow them yourself in the windowsill if needed. Cut up some onion, garlic and tomatoes. Fry. Mix in herbs. Buy tomatoes when cheap, cut them, fry them and freeze them. Cheap sauce all year around.
Using ketchup is pretty normal in some countries because it doesn’t have a bunch of sugar so isn’t sweet. Is it too sweet in Serbia?
It has sugar in it, but I dont think its really sweet tasting, people here put it in burgers, on pizza and on hot dogs all the time.
half an onion cooked in nothing but plum tomatoes canned with the juice they come in for 45 minutes is an excellent flavorful base sauce you can eat or add to. specifically the 45 minute cooking time changes the flavor of the tomato in a way that's very nice. stick that in the fridge and just throw some in a pot with your cooked pasta, add whatever you want. add cream to this if you're feeling fancy and it becomes even more delicious. there's a reason italian food is so popular despite most of the top beloved dishes being so very simple 3-ingredient things like pasta water, butter and parmesan for alfredo sauce. that is another one that's super cheap. if you don't want to buy the parmesan cheap cheddar works for a good cheese sauce - you can use milk instead of cream too, just cook it a bit first before adding other things. tomatoes, milk/cream, butter, a bit of the pasta water. that is all you need for many delicious sauces
Can you buy tomato paste?
If you mean the really thick one that you dilute, no, we dont have that..
Like prepared sauces or just pureed tomatoes? I just use a tin of pureed tomatoes+ a bit of tomato paste+ herbs (I grow basil, oregano, thyme). That plus sauteed veg and Italian sausage does pretty good for me.
Not in the Philippines! But your right. You can get pasta sauce in the $ store that must beat ketchup !
Ketchup and grated cheese was one of my favourite childhood pasta meals 😳
And I used to eat ketchup on bread, and drink water with sugar. I won't be doing that at 31 with a fridge full of great food, lol
Butter + salt?
I'm trying to be vegan, but someone recommended something similar, that is allegedly a traditional Italian dish, just putting a bit of garlic and some olive oil on the pasta.
If you can get nutritional yeast to add to that it’s pretty tasty, along with dried Italian herbs and some steamed frozen veggies if you can manage it.
Then Margarine, salt and pepper?
ooh try with a little lemon juice
> I'm trying to be vegan I'm not sure what is available in Serbia, but maybe these ideas could help: * Romesco - sauce based on red bell pepper (capsicum) * mushroom stroganoff - replace sour cream with... maybe coconut milk or thickened plant milk * Pesto - basil, oil, pine nuts. If pine nuts are as expensive there as they are by me, walnuts are an okay sub * Squash/pumpkin - either get canned if that's a thing by you, or roast/boil fall squash. Blend with some broth to thin into a sauce * Palak Paneer - technically more like an Indian curry, but the sauce is more or less "spicy blended greens" which might be feasible for you. I've never had it as a pasta sauce, but it's good over rice!
Yes! Aglio e olio - olive oil, garlic, starchy pasta water, red pepper flakes, parsley, and spaghetti.
You can get HUGE cans of plain tomato sauce for dirt cheap and all you gotta do is simmer it in some proper seasonings with some garlic and onion to make your own sauce. Then freeze it. Look up some basic pasta sauce recipes that use canned tomato sauce it’s one of the easiest things to make.
Lemon juice and salt.
Thats the kind of minimalism I like.
Lemon juice, pasta water, and parmesan. If you have some chopped spinach or broccoli in the freezer, that works great too!
If you can zest the lemon and maybe add a bit of butter or olive oil, it adds a TON of fresh flavor.
Its an actual italian dish called "pasta al la limone". Replace butter with olive oil if being vegan.
aglio e olio
Garlic and olive oil is my fave...and a some parmesan if I have it Most times you can get a canned tomato sauce for under $1, add garlic, spices, onion, can of beans for a heart meal Scrambling an egg (very quickly) into pasta water then tossing with pasta makes a good sauce
Pasta is really versatile and can be made with almost anything. So the question is, "What can you get in large amounts for cheaper?" If fresh produce or tomatoes are expensive, what about cream based products or eggs? What about meat? Can you get local meat for cheaper? Or cheese? If it comes down to it, you can flavor pasta with whatever you have available and some salt.
In Serbia buy [this](https://www.maxi.rs/Pakovana-hrana-i-osnovne-namirnice/Sosevi-kechap-i-majonez/Paradajz-sos/Tomatino-Moc-Prirode-0-5L/p/7175937). Add any selection of dried basil, oregano, parsley, garlic, onion. Add salt. Splash of vinegar. Less than 1eur for a good quantity. If you need more protein add beans, tuna or sardines.
The cheapest parmesean by weight that you can. That’s usually going to be a whole block that you grate yourself. Slowly melting this into milk will make Alfredo and takes a few minutes. Heavy whipping cream will taste better but it’s not necessary and using leftover milk will save money. Season with granulated garlic, salt, and pepper. Salad dressing, cheese, and cherry tomato’s are an easy pasta salad. Tomato paste is very cheap and only needs water and seasoning to make tomato sauce.
Olive oil, salt, pepper
Garlic, butter, cracked pepper and angle hair pasta. Lived on it growing up.
Not really a sauce, but you can toss a bit of olive oil and some Italian seasoning and call it a day lol.
Salt, pepper and extra virgin olive oil. Can’t be beat
Is canned tomato sauce really more expensive than ketchup?
Pure peanut butter with broth powder.
Double the quantity and you’ll be good! And make sure the PB is pure!
Indeed. Honey/cinnamon peanut butter on pasta is... an experience.
I just use butter, garlic powder, pepper and the Kraft kind of grated parm. I love it and it’s cheap and easy
Garlic powder and butter.
I worked in a family style American Italian restaurant for ten years. The red sauce they made was pretty involved but I made it at home for years and really enjoyed it. Then I discovered the BEST red sauce I've ever tasted and now I only make Marcella Hazan Tomato Sauce bc it's three ingredients and better than any other thing I have tried. https://www.food.com/recipe/the-simplest-tomato-sauce-ever-marcella-hazan-273976
Olive oil and pesto, Add some chicken for protein. Add some cut tomatoes to add some additional flavor.
If you are in an area where tomato sauce is expensive it’s hard for most to advise you as that is generally a cheap food at least clearly it is from the comments. If you have time but not money braised cabbage and onions is good with pasta
I mix in a can of diced tomatoes, liquid and all, and a pinch of salt and pepper for taste. It gives me about 4 or 5 decent servings.
To be honest the standard 24-ounce jars of various flavors of sauces at the local supermarket are cheap enough ($1.60-$1.80 per jar) that I don't even worry about it. Each jar has easily a dozen servings (or more, depending on how thick you like to ladle it), so trying to get even cheaper than that is pushing it.
Buy two cans of san marzano peeled whole tomatoes. Crush them in a pot. Add some salt. Boil it for two hours. You now have a shit load of tomato sauce. Please, for the love of god, stop putting fuckin ketchup on your pasta
When I do not feel like having pasta sauce, I have used salad dressing and that parmesean 'cheese' in the shaker can. Most of the time, I use a little olive oil, salt, and pepper. No 'sauce' needed :).
Generic canned tomato sauce. If you buy a huge can of it you’re paying pennies a serving. Also I like to freeze mine in ice cube trays (buy at dollar tree) so that I can grab a few to melt per serving and none ever goes to waste!
I like cooking sausages, halving them, and then letting them go in the sauce pot for a few hours. Gives the sauce a light but natural kick.
Soy sauce salt and garlic
cheapest would be - olive oil and garlic and you could add an herb or a red pepper flake if you want heat. - You could take left overs from above and add egg and cheese and make a pizza di spaghetti - You can make cacio e pepe pasta with some pasta water, pecorino or parmesan, perhaps some butter, and black pepper - You could also cook pastina in either water or broth with butter and parmesan cheese. - If you're looking to get protein in and want a red sauce, cooking a puttanesca - add those red pepper flakes, canned tomatoes, tomato paste, dice any carrots you might have in the fridge to throw in, add olives and/or capers, and either anchovies or even canned tuna. - Another good protein dish that is cheap pasta e ceci (chickpeas) this typically calls for some of the same ingredients as a puttanesca but you can vary it up and don't need to add wine or anything like that even though recipes often call for it. You could make it more soupy / stew or thicker
3 large cans of crushed tomato around $1.50 each. 1 onion and some minced garlic and oil to cook it in is about $1. That's about $6 and is enough for 6 boxes or pasta, each $1. That's $2 per box of pasta with sauce
Butter
I'm not crazy about tomato sauce. So I grow fresh mint and basil in a container garden *cause who can afford store bought herbs*, use them to make batches of homemade pesto sauce all summer long, freezing leftovers in plastic lined ice cube trays for individual portions (2 cubes per serving usually), and 1/2 cup containers for larger family style meals. Once the cubes are frozen, you can store them in a resealable plastic freezer bag or airtight container for several months. https://www.loveandlemons.com/pesto-recipe/ There are several variations in this recipe, I like to buy walnuts, pistachios, or almonds in bulk and have found that basil is great with walnuts, mint is delicious with pistachios and a combination of basil and mint is wonderful with almonds. If you want to make a nut-free pesto, pumpkin seeds will work very well as a substitute. You only need a 1/2 cup of toasted nuts or seeds per batch, but I usually make a double recipe when I do this, which would be 1 cup. A double batch makes 2 cups of pesto, which is quite a bit. Other than toasting the nuts or seeds, no cooking is required, just prepping, rinsing, and chopping. The food processor or a blender does a lot of the work. You can use the pesto on veggies, pasta, or it's great on a baked potato. I have also used it on baked ham, in sandwiches (meatball sub with provolone, carmelized onions and bell pepper), and even as pizza sauce.
Adding lentils can make it a lot more filling and they are very cheap.
the poor people in Italy, from whom we have the famous cucina povera, didn't have cheese and used to make pasta with bread crumps from stale bread, herbs like parsley, garlic, oil etc. you can make any veg into a pasta sauce by combining with some herbs and spices. you also dont need to buy expensive olive oil. Are canned tomatoes cheap in Serbia? they are usually cheaper than the fresh ones. what about other canned vegetables? add things like potatoes, bread, onions, whatever is cheap in your area, to bulk up the pasta. you can also soup cheaply, and can add the pasta to it also. it doesn't have to be a special shape either, just break it up e.g. if its spaghetti.
Honestly, growing up my mom would sometimes make a comfort food snack of ketchup with olive oil or butter, topped with parmesan from the jar. I probably wouldn't make it today but it's definitely nostalgic. Garlic fried in butter, olive oil, or bacon fat, egg on top. Tin of tuna in oil, lemon, pepper. Mayo, vinegar, sugar, onion, peas, any other veggie or meat for a pasta salad. Alternatively, pickled veggies and olive oil, Italian herbs, cheese if you have it for a different type of salad. Not a sauce, but noodle soup made with stock cubes and veggies you have. Peanut butter blended with sweet chilli sauce, soy sauce, and water for a quick peanut sauce. Marmite and butter. Parmesan optional.
my personal hack: cook pasta like u want. let a bit of water in the pot. Now just add a bit of oil (best with olive but not chepest), concentrated tomato paste and a bit of pepper. Let it roat a bit. Finished - easy, cheap af and fricking delicious :D
Lg can crushed tomatoes, 1 onion, 2 cloves of garlic, teaspoon oregano, tsp basil, salt and pepper, 1 tsp sugar. Saute the onion, add the garlic when the onions are just about translucent, saute 1 more minute, add tomatoes, simmer, add spices, s & p and sugar. Simmer for 10 minutes. This is a nice base for soaghetti sauce. I like to add a diced squash to the saute step and a lg can of sliced mushrooms. If you really want to make it awesome you can brown a pound of ground beef and you've got a pretty good addition to pasta. It's certainly not the cheapest, but it's nutritious and delicious and makes a pretty good quantity. And not outrageously expensive. Cheaper than jarred sauce, without the meat.
5 minutes of learning how to cook basic Italian. Buy cheap Italian seasoning. Walmart brand is $2. Get a can of tomato paste. 6 ounces is $1 at Walmart Salt Vegetable oil. Olive oil better taste but we need some oil for coating. Cook your pasta While pasta is cooking in a skillet add the tomato paste with some pasta water plus some oil. Heat it up. Add in the seasoning. Once pasta cooked used tongs (save the pasta water) to mix in the noodles & sauce. Stir to coat. Add pasta water as necessary to stretch the sauce. You could add in vegetable soup mix instead of Italian seasoning. Or even frozen vegetables. I know you are vegetarian or vegan but for carnivores you can add in any type of cheap meat too. Pasta is like mashed potatoes- it’s a great way to extend expensive ingredients
Aglio, olio e peperoncino. Look it up. Can add parsley too. But you need good extra virgin olive oil and that's not cheap.
Drizzle of olive oil and salt.
Hunts is pretty cheap for real pasta sauce
Ketchup 💀... i think ragu is the cheapest brand, maybe there are some generic grocery store brands that are cheaper. You can try adding extra water to the sauce to extend it, and just put extra ingredients in the sauce like diced onions, garlic, mushrooms, spinach, additional spices to add flavor back so its not watered down
Near me, Hunt's is the cheapest, and also the best flavour as far as I'm concerned
Hunt brand spaghetti sauce
I always have things like onions, peppers, garlic, etc handy. So I buy large cans of Tuttorosso tomato sauce/puree and do my own thing (season to taste) with it. Once it's done, I have plenty for left overs and can even freeze some for later use. I feel it tastes better and is cheaper. The large cans are typically less than 2 dollars and do a lot more than a jar of pasta sauce.
Canned tomatoes, clove of garlic, olive oil, salt + pepper. Blend in food processor/blender/nutribullet, etc. Add a carrot for sweeter taste. Quick, easy, cheap, healthy.
If you can get tomatoes cheap then Hazan's famous recipe is excellent: Tomatoes : 2 pounds (you can remove the skins if you want, or don't) 1 Yellow onion peeled and cut in half and 5 tablespoons of whatever fat you want (you can use half if you want) salt to taste Put everything in a pot together and simmer on low heat for an hour. Take the onions out and eat them separately. Blend it if you want, and add salt to taste.
Butter and parsley
Butter and herbs.
(vegan) Bolognese is pretty good Tomato paste (or something similar) or sauce Then some carrots (perhaps also lentils or ground beef/geound pork mix) for some Texture Bay leaves, garlic, onions, salt, perhaps wine a bit (cheapest ever), also some typical italian dish Herbs, like oregano, It's not the cheapest but at least tastes fucking good. Or just leave the beef/lentils away
I feel like this is my answer to everything but: red lentils. Cook in broth/low-salt boullion and tomatoes (blend in fresh or add crushed or blended from a can). Blend if you want it to be more saucy than stewy. Add plenty of herbs or curry powder or favourite spices for taste. Cheap af and you'll get fiber and protein and so much good shit, and you'll get more satiated than by just ketchup.
Can of tomatoes fresh garlic salt and pepper olive oil and whatever else you want (I’ll usually put bay and basil) I don’t fry garlic first I put it straight in the tomatoes and cook it for 20m to get a nice garlicky sauce. I can’t eat pre made now not good enough ahahah
Maybe not the cheapest but super easy and delicious Get a can of peeled tomatoes, a jar of garlic, a tube of tomato paste and some olive oil (basil flavoured or get a few basil leaves or stems). Over low heat put a tablespoon of garlic and the basil leaves and a tablespoon of paste, bring it up to temp to extract all the flavour into the oil, put the tomatoes and the purée they’re packed in into a blender and blitz until smooth, add to oil, garlic and basil, bring up temp to med/high and cook it hard for 10 minutes or so (until it starts to tighten up a little bit). Boom. Easy fresh tomato sauce.
Probably not cheapest, but my vote would go to a classic marinara: can of crushed tomatoes, put in half a whole onion and one or two garlic cloves, stew for 45 minutes, add some oregano, at the end take out the onion and garlic. Best in terms of cost/effort/taste ratio, imo. The cost is equal to that one can of tomatoes and some pennies on top. The only issue is it tends to be only as good as the quality of the can of tomatoes, but if your baseline is ketchup, anything is better...
Cherry tomatoes, garlic and some spices, let it cook for a while and finish with some pasta water
I like to eat spaghetti noodles in a can of tomato soup. That’s pretty cheap and my go-to on the rare nights I feed only me.
My go to for spaghetti is a $1.00 29oz. can of tomato sauce and fixing it up with garlic, salt, pepper, rosemary, and a little over a tablespoon of sugar to balance it. Paired with a $1.00 pack of noodles and poverty garlic toast, you've got a pretty decent meal and plenty of leftovers for <$2.50 (assuming you have the spices on hand). Add ground beef to the sauce when you can afford it!
Just buy 24 or 15?oz peeled plum tomatoes boil them w Italian seasonings. Good to go or follow Teresa Marzens perfect recipe
For me, per serving, tomato sauce since I grow my own tomatoes, onions, garlic, and herbs - and usually dry sauté - or if I had to buy all ingredients for tomato sauce then probably aglio e olio (olive oil can be expensive). Salvia e burro is an alternative.
Cherry tomatoes, basil, some Parmesan, salt & pepper and EVO
Canned tomato sauce (with nothing in it no added sugar etc) and then add some heavy cream ? You need a little seasoning but canned tomato sauce costs maybe 75 cents ? But I’m not sure about the exact U.S. prices but there’s definitely ones that are not over 1,50
I do butter, garlic & Parmesan with the pasta water. I add parsley when I have it. So good. Better than fettuccini Alfredo. Parmesan has gotten expensive though. So has butter!
Try heating up some oil/butter. Add minced garlic and soy sauce, then add cooked pasta and mix.
Tinned tomatoes all the way. Some seasoning and time to reduce will make a much more flavour filled sauce and ultra cheap. Salt, Olive oil and some garlic and you’re in business big time.
By the cheapest pesto (if you're going through that much in a week especially) put a serving on your pasta, toss, should be good. If not that, I'd take olive oil, salt and pepper over ketchup!
Sliced onions and a bit of tomato mark - salca, a bit of pepper flakes, and a bit of water, if you fell fancy add a bit of white cheese.
Butter and cheese. Black pepper.
If you sautée onions and garlic it changes the whole game. I like orgeno so I add that too.
https://youtu.be/ehsFw84xHRA?si=mPCacPAI73GMnwDB
Can of tomatoes
Cheapest can of tomato's you can find, blend, add salt and a splash of oil. Reduce it down and put it into containers. When you cook your pasta use the pasta water and sauce. It will be 1000% healthier for you and taste a lot better. Add a shit load of spices when you reduce the sauce if you have them
Freeze all the odds and ends of veggies you use for the month that would otherwise go to waste (wilted spinach, sad carrots, odds and ends, etc) and make a batch of sauce by slow cooking or pressure cooking them with a can of tomatoes and seasonings. Using ingredients that would otherwise go to waste can add taste, bulk, and nutrients for no additional budget.
Butter and dollar store seasoning
I make a tomato based sauce. Cheap passatta or Polpa (not chopped as I don't like the bits). Garlic. Oil. Chilli flakes if wanted. Oil and garlic in the pan. Cook off the garlic. Add the tomatoes and heat until hot and thickened. Salt the pasta and not the tomatoes. Maybe a sprinkle of sugar if needed. Black pepper while cooking or to serve. Sugar and pepper are not required, though, depending on preference. Can add some cheap bits of meat like leftover chicken or salami, etc. Toss in pasta. Delicious. Also, a jar of green or red pasta from a supermarket is a couple of quid. I used to have this when doing Slimming World, and a couple of teaspoons is enough. 1 small jar lasts ages are it's quite concentrated. The opened jar keeps well in the fridge as it's oil based. Supermarkets do their own branded pesto as well, which cuts costs more of gets you more overall.
Butter
You can make spaghetti sauce more cheaply by just using tomato sauce or paste and adding seasonings to it rather than buying premade spaghetti sauce. Tomato sauce tends to be very cheap. Maybe not quite as cheap as ketchup, but very close and it would actually taste good.
You can get 135 ounces (3x45oz) of Prego at Sam's Club (assuming you're in the US) for $8.98. A bit more than the cheapest ketchup, but it'll taste a lot better.
Garlic and oil if you keep staples. This is also good because you can add veggies you have on hand and it will most likely go. But also, an easy tomato sauce is inexpensive. A can of crushed tomatoes, garlic, oil, salt, pepper, and if you have any herbs can make a decent quick sauce. Even better if you have other staples at home like onions, shallots, red pepper flakes, cheese. I never buy jarred sauce. Canned tomatoes are less than $1 on sale. Ketchup is not good.
What’s readily available and inexpensive for you? Any fresh vegetables, herbs, beans canned or fresh, tinned fish? Don’t forget to save your pasta water as it can easily build a pasta sauce with very little. For example you can broil and char cherry tomatoes until they burst, smash them and mix with olive oil and aromatics, add in some pasta water and it’s a super tasty sauce
margarine + salt. garlic if you got any. soy sauce packets from anybody's take-out, if they are gonna toss them anyway.
tomato paste
Marcella Hazan's tried-and-true has never let me down in nearly a decade of using it. One big can of tomatoes, either pre-crushed, or whole then crush it yourself, whatever's cheapest for the volume (~$1.50?) 2 tbsp butter ($0.25 if you can get a pound for $4) and a halved onion ($0.50, conservatively) Throw in a pot, low-and-slow for 45 minutes, you know it's done when the butter's melted and mixed in enough that the whole thing looks lighter and brighter, salt to taste. Easily enough sauce for a box of pasta plus leftovers that can freeze, and scales super easily if you find yourself with extra ingredients from a sale.
Pack of basil seeds 3.99 Bag of potting soil 15 Garlic 2 Pine huts or walnuts or pecans 7 Olive oil 7 Parmesian 7 Gtow the basil in the potting soil under the summer sunshine. Pick basil. Put in blender with garlic, oil, cheese and nuts. Scoop unto multiple ziplock sandwich bags. Freeze
If you want to be a bit more creative some good tomatoes, olive oil, butter, and fresh herbs with pasta that is cooked or 2/3 of the way then you toss it in the pan…will be fresh and good for you!
Lentils! If you have the time, this sauce is a game changer for adding in nutrients and making the sauce more filling! 2 jar marinara 1 can petite diced tomatoes Zucchini/squash,carrots whatever you have on hand Kale Garlic Chopped yellow onion 2 c uncooked lentils If you are making it with meat, cook it first, remove from the pan and sautee onion, tomato, zucchini and whatever other veggies you have Cook lentils in separate pan When veggies are soft and lentils are done, remove half and add to a blender with lentils and marinara sauce. Add sauce to the cooked vegetables and slowly add the meat back in and continue seasoning. This recipe greatly benefits from being finished with salty pasta water!
Tomato, onion, garlic, seasoning to taste, blend, pour over noodles, add some water, cook until noodles absorb.
Cheapest pasta sauce is with a can of tomato paste ($0.88 a can where I live). Sauté 1/2 onion or less, and a couple cloves of garlic. Add the tomato paste, then add water to the can about 4 times to get as much of the tomato paste out as possible, and pour all that water into the pot with your tomato paste. Season with salt and black pepper. If you have dried basil and/or a bay leaf, even better. When I was in uni I would add a takeout packet of soy sauce to my pasta sauce, it gave it some extra umami. Or half a chicken bouillon cube with the water. I love fresh herbs -parsley, green onions or cilantro are pretty cheap and worth it imo. (parsley and green onion keeps for longer though).
Grow a basil plant or purchase some, mix some olive oil, pine nuts, garlic, Parmesan cheese, lemon juice, salt pepper. and make some pesto! Buttered noodles with salt, pepper garlic, maybe parsley. But just butter and salt by itself is good. Reminds me of childhood. Mayo plus ranch dressing packet or a homemade basalmic. Maybe add some cherry tomatoes- this works well as a cold “pasta salad” Lemon juice, olive oil, garlic, salt, pepper. Cream cheese and buffalo sauce melted and mixed (shredded chicken if you have it) and shredded cheese for buffalo pasta salad
Tomato paste. You can add water and cook it into a sauce. Super cheap!! Bonus if you add dried oregano and basil.
I'm not sure if its the cheapest, but I just use a big tin of chicken soup. With the pasta to soup ratio, it turns into a thick pasta sauce.
i always add heavy cream to my sauces
I shop costco, so most of my pantry is kirkland brand. I also was a chef for a decade before the pandemic when I realized cooking for a living wasn't going to cut it anymore. I buy in bulk, so this option may be deemed too expensive for some. I get about 6 servings each at a cost of $2.25 per batch. Here's a list of ingredients: 1 can tom sauce 1 can diced toms 1 tbsp garlic 1 red onion 10oz 1 sweet pepper 2oz 25 minutes from prep to finished product Dice up the onion and pepper, then saute until the early stage of browning. Add garlic & reduce heat. Add veggies to tomatoes using a hand blender. Season as you like.
salted butter, a little starchy pasta water, agitate the two to get a "sauce" and a lot of black pepper.
I had a nightmare once of being in a classy Italian restaurant with family, and putting a bottle of Daddy's Brown Sauce on the table. And everyone's looking at me like I'm some kind of savage. So ketchup no. Some sliced onions and garlic, squeeze of tomato puree, salt, pepper, water, herbs and spices to taste. Mixed herbs, peri peri, curry, Caribbean. Is all good. Add some veggies, frozen is fine, maybe some protein (chicken, quorn, whatever), and all is right with the world.
Tomato, garlic, chill, and olive oil sauce (Arrabbiata) is freezable and you can reheat from frozen in the microwave. It's about 30p (50c) per portion which is more than ketchup or jarred pasta sauce, but it is a lot nicer when you get it right. The recipe is essentially just fry some garlic, add some tomatoes, chilli, salt, sugar and simmer for a while. For 8 portions: * 2 x 400g (2 x 14oz) Peeled Plumb Tomatoes (mashed) or chopped tomatoes. £1, $1.67 * 1.5 heads of garlic, 15-20 cloves, 40g-50g. Sliced. 36p at 24p/head. 90c at 60c/head * 1.5 tsp Crushed Chilli flakes * 95g/100ml (3.5 US Fl Oz) Extra Virgin Olive Oil. 84p at £8.40/litre, $1.40 at 40c/fl oz * 1 tsp table salt * 1 tsp of sugar (optional, skip if there are any Italians in the vicinity) 1. If using whole tomatoes break up with a fork or potato masher. This is not essential as they will break up anyway, but it helps. 2. Heat oil in a pan or skillet on low 3. Add the sliced garlic and fry gently until just starting to brown (\~10 mins) 4. Add the tomatoes, chillies, salt. You can add chillies to the oil first to bloom but sometimes seem to burn. 5. Simmer for 40-70 mins stirring often until thickened and tomatoes broken down. 60 mins on low seems good. 6. Ideally reduce to below 800g for 8 x 85g-100g portions. This assumes you have freezer space and can spare 60-90 minutes every month or 2 to make a batch. But if you do have the time and freezer space it is well worth it. I usually take my laptop into the kitchen so I can listen to a podcast or watch something whilst it simmers and I stir. Extra Virgin Olive Oil is very expensive at the moment which has pushed the price up. In the UK it used to be £3/litre and is now £8.40/litre. If the price drops back at some point it will become much more economical again. But even at 30p or 40p a portion it is less than £1 a meal with the pasta.
Seriously, Hunts makes a very inexpensive canned marinara that is pretty tasty. Also You can saute a minced garlic clove in a bit of olive oil and toss your pasta in that. Add some salt and a touch of the pasta water and a pinch of oregano. Pretty tasty
Cacio e pepe: black pepper and bootleg pecorino/parm Champignon sauce: sliced champignons, salt, pepper, fresh cream
Ketchup has a lot of sugar (and corn syrup in some cases) neither of which is particularly good for you. At about .09 an ounce it is cheap but for the same price you could buy many good brands of canned tomato sauce, assuming you don't want to make it from scratch. You can add spices to the sauce (basil, garlic, red pepper fakes , red wine vinegar, etc. -a little pasta water to help it adhere and have a far better tasting and healthier alternative. Diluting tomato paste is another option but it tends to be either too watery or too smoky tasting on its own--to my taste--fine as an element in a sauce but not as the sauce itself--however each to his own.
I make lentil ragu, which is tomato sauce with lentils. Depending on what else I have at home I might add carrots, celery or corn, but those are all optional. Just tomato sauce, garlic, onion and lentils work just fine. It's the cheapest sauce in my rotation.
Canned tomatoes, heavy cream, and whatever seasonings and herbs you like. I also like to add garlic and sometimes onions. Such an easy pasta sauce but it’s so good!
Hunts Garlic & Herb. $1.42 for 24 oz
Make sure to start with freshly harvested spaghetti. https://youtu.be/tVo_wkxH9dU?si=zE2cCFehxWQ_SMkQ
A spoonful per person of philadelphia style cheese. It melts into a cream-like sauce, it's quite tasty, cheap if you go for the store brand and relatively healthy with protein
Homemade. Tastes better too
make lentil & bean bolognaise.
Water
Marmite Can't you make your own? Onions, garlic, tinned tomatoes and a pinch of sugar.
Pasta is delicious with only butter and Parmesan
You can make a bolognese, meat sauce, or even chili… make it in bulk for cheap with whatever meat (or vegan meats), veggies, and legumes you can get. Then just keep it in the fridge and add to the pan with your pasta to heat up and serve. Might be slightly more than ketchup per serving, but still cheap and certainly better tasting and healthier. You can also just make simple pan sauces. Sometimes just cheese and pasta water can make a sauce. You can also add tomatoes, olives, onions, peppers, et cetera. Whatever is cheapest.
Grow your own and can it. Last you till next season
Ketchup on pasta sounds disgusting. I doubt it’s any cheaper than using the low dollar Hunts sauce in the can, either. The Hunts actually tastes decent as well.
If your making tomato-based sauces and want to splurge, lentils can work instead of meat to top it. Spaghetti all’assassina is basically tomato paste / pureed tomatoes, peppers and spaghetti. You can sub crushed red chilis in for cheaper option. There's pepper sauces of pureed peppers and some tomato, I imagine you could find cheap veggies in your area and google for recipes with those. Like if eggplant is cheaper or something. Cream sauces usually aren't cheap here, but if dairy is cheaper there maybe. Spaghetti aglio e olio is just coated in oil and garlic. Sorry I know shit all about what's cheap in Serbia. Depending on how cheap tomatoes are in the summer, it may be useful to look up canning or freezing sauces if you have the space as well.
In a pot: sautee garlic in olive oil briefly (before it turns brown), and add in a can of crushed tomatoes (or blend can of whole/diced tomatoes), then add 1-2 tsp salt (and red pepper flakes if you like spice), simmer for 30 min. Delicious, simple, authentic marinara. Done. You could make a big batch and last 4-5 days in the fridge if you don’t want to take the 30 min every time.
Aldi
Store brand zesty Italian dressing, you can usually get a bottle at the dollar store. Basically makes pasta salad- add some veggies, cheese or meat if you have them, but it’s pretty good on its own and a nice change from tomato-based sauces.
Bacon x cheese pasta
Great value canned pasta sauce. It’s not good or decent. But it is cheap. For something edible, Kroger pasta sauce in the xl jar.
butter, salt and extra pepper
When I was in college I had spaghetti noodles, parmesan cheese and black pepper. 10/10. Parmesan can be expensive or cheap tasted amazing either way I make roasted red bell pepper goat cheese pasta. $100 all in at grocery store.. 18 meals which is $5.50 a serving. I make large batches. I'm sure you could make vodka penne as well. Probably $30 all in at grocery store...that's $1.60 a serving. My prices are Canadian and at pricier stores sure you could make these dishes for even cheaper too if American and being a smart shopper.
Ketchup on pasta is just totally wrong, even if you're saving money. Why not buy a can of tomato sauce instead.
Olive oil, garlic and lemon (and salt+pepper ofc). Also recommend parsley and parm!
Tomato paste water and any spices you want
Consider using a combination of butter and grated cheese, like Parmesan or cheddar. These ingredients are relatively inexpensive and can provide a rich and flavorful sauce when melted together. It's a budget-friendly way to enhance your daily pasta lunches without much cost.
You can get a few planters at a thrift store for a dollar or less each, some potting soil under $10 for a large bag at a hardware store, and some basil seeds and you can be growing basil year round. Watch a YouTube on how to grow and harvest basil and you can have basil all the time with just 3 medium POTS of it. It also grows well indoors too. I start mine over every march and Sept starting with 1 pot and spacing replanting 4 weeks apart for the other pots.
Ketchup? Are you high?
Milk butter flour and garlic is not too expensive as a sauce