Tomato sauce rip off?

Last night I was at the grocery store picking up some ingredients to make a pasta dish. I needed a can of tomato paste, so I swung by the sauces aisle to pick it up.

As I’m walking down the aisle, I take a look at some of the prices of pasta sauces, mostly tomato based marinara sauces. It seemed like I was walking down deathrow with my pants down. Sure at first it’s the skinny lacky that doesn’t have much to hurt you with, but as you start slowly going further and further down, you run into huskier, beefier, more endowed men.

To start things off, you have the ghetto store brand, which was going at the price of 10 for $10. And then you start getting into the national brands, like Ragu, Prego, Essentia, etc… These sold for $2 – $4/bottle. That’s the normal price I expect to pay for tomato sauce.

After the national brands, you run into the more “herbal” sauces. I guess these sauces can charge more than the national brands because they use better tomatoes or something. Or fresher herbs. Or they claim to have a special secret recipe. Okay. Maybe $8 for a bottle of tomato sauce is kind of pricey, but I guess when you’re trying to impress that one girl, you’ll be willing to go that extra step hoping that she’ll be able to taste that hint of basil in the sauce that you’re using to try and cover up that burnt pasta you made because you can’t even boil water correctly.
And then… here comes Bubba! Ok… Now let me pause for a moment. This sauce claims to use the finest tomatoes in Italy. Served at the finest restaurants in Italy. That’s what they claim this product has.

But you know what? IT’S JUST TOMATO SAUCE! Yes. The only thing in that jar is: crushed tomatoes. My goodness, if you’re going to spend $12 on canned tomatoes, I’m willing to sell you my broken hard hat for a mere $24.55. It even comes with authentic scratch marks from different build sites. Used by hardworking men all around the world!

So I gave up looking for tomato paste. I just walked over to the fresh veggie aisle and picked up 6 tomatoes for a whopping $2.33, 1 bundle of oragano and 1 bundle of basil for $0.50 each, bringing my homemade sauce to a nice $3.33. Sure beats spending $12 on just tomatoes. And with my saved money, I can spend it to take the girl out to watch a movie. Because honestly, when was the last time you had a girl say to you, “Oh wow Tony! This sauce tastes great! It tastes like you used ‘organic peeled tomatoes from artisan Paolo Petrilli’s estate’.”

Sorry dear, but if you want to taste authentic organic peeled tomatoes from artisan Paolo Petrilli’s estate, you wont taste it in an American kitchen. I’ll take you to Italy. If I save $14 each time I make spaghetti (use 2 bottles), then after 50 pots, I can afford to take you to Italy.