Recipes

I’m always looking for ways to cut back in my food budget and the best way I’ve found to do that is to make a lot of little small changes instead of making huge sweeping changes. Spaghetti sauce is one of those things I always keep on hand but I’m finding lately that the prices are getting higher and the taste isn’t getting any better. Another thing I’ve noticed is nearly all sauces contain high fructose corn syrup (cheap form of sugar I try to avoid). Even Trader Joe’s version has a higher fat content per serving than I was hoping for so I set out in search of making my own spaghetti sauce.

Luckily, homemade spaghetti sauce is really easy to make and this recipe is deelish!!! The thing that is going to be weird for you about this recipe is you start with a huge can of tomato sauce. I found mine at Costco for around $2.45. Here is a picture of what it looks like:

105 oz Can Tomato Sauce next to regular can of diced tomatoes

I put it up next to the can of diced tomatoes because I was actually planning to add those to this recipe too for a little bit chunkier sauce (it would probably take 3 cans of it to really make it nice and chunky) but then I realized that was my last can of diced tomatoes and I wanted to make salsa instead so I didn’t end up using it in this recipe

One other awesome thing about this recipe is the fat content and calories are much less than a normal jar of processed spaghetti sauce. This is the label for the 105 oz can of tomato sauce:

Tomato Sauce Food Label

This is the label for a 24 oz jar of Barilla Tomato & Basil Pasta Sauce:

Barilla Tomato & Basil Pasta Sauce Label

The labels are in different measurements but the tomato sauce still contains less calories than the jarred version and if you left out the olive oil of the recipe below you would have a pasta sauce with nearly 0 fat. I checked Trader Joe’s version of their pasta sauce and it has 5g of fat!



Not only can you control what goes into your own sauce but this method is much cheaper. Your getting 105 oz of sauce (or a little over 4 jars) for about $.60 per jar plus you are able to divide it up and freeze it as you choose which will help you eliminate waste.

Homemade Spaghetti Sauce Recipe
From The Prudent Homemaker 

Sauce:

This takes a pretty big pan so make sure you pan is large enough (I used a stockpot). Cook on the stove until heated through and let simmer 30 minutes or so. You can add cooked meat to the sauce or meatballs if you like (I didn’t when I made it and it was still wonderful!). Top over your favorite cooked noodles, use as pizza sauce or add to a meatball sandwich for something different!

What to Do With Leftovers

One of the main things I like about making your own spaghetti sauce is that it’s not that much more work than if you were just heating up a regular jar of spaghetti sauce. This batch is going to make a lot but the good thing about it is you can divide it up into different serving sizes and use for later with out worrying about waste. Here’s an example of the different sizes I divided my sauce up into:

Spaghetti Sauce cooling before freezing

The four larger jars will be used when I make something like lasagna or a larger pasta dish (where I can use the whole jar at once). The smaller containers are going to be used for smaller pasta dishes (like 2 servings or so) and the baby food jar amounts of sauce will be used on things like mini pizzas or tortilla pizzas (basically use a tortilla shell as the crust and top like you would a normal pizza then bake).



Having different sizes helps me make sure I don’t waste any sauce. There is nothing worse than opening a jar of pasta sauce because I think I will use the rest later and then when I finally get to it finding mold all over the top of the jar and in the sauce! What a waste!

By making your own spaghetti sauce you can divide the sauce up into different sizes to freeze for later and it’s much cheaper than buying it by the jar. You can save old spaghetti sauce jars (washed and cleaned) you may have on hand to freeze larger portions and then just use smaller containers to freeze the rest.

What is your favorite recipe using spaghetti sauce? Feel free to share it by posting in the comments section

Looking for more made from scratch recipes? Check out The Hillbilly Housewife ebooks – this is how I got started learning how to cook from scratch!

Today’s recipe is super yummy and the dressing can be used on more than this salad! This is a great dish to take to a work carry in or any potluck that requires you to bring food. It’s super easy and relatively inexpensive to make. And did I mention how good it is!?

Chinese Noodle Salad
Orignially posted on Yummly.com

1/8 c rice vinegar (make sure to use rice vinegar, it has more of a sweet flavor than regular vinegar)
1/8 c sugar
1/8 c oil (vegetable, olive or grapeseed – which is what I used)
2 pkg raman noodles (need 1/2 pkg of seasoning)
1 head romaine lettuce (chopped)
20 oz mandarin orange segments (drained)
1/2 c slivered almonds

1. In a microwave safe bowl, mix together vinegar, sugar and oil. Microwave on high until sugar dissolves, about 1 minute. Add 1/2 pkg of season from the ramen noodles and mix well. Set aside to cool.

2. Crush ramen noodles in the packages. Pour into dressing mixture from step 1.

3. In a salad bowl, toss romaine lettuce with oranges, almonds and salad dressing.

This dish is so yummy, I’m getting hungry for it just typing it out! When I made this, I got creative and also adding cut up strawberries and some blueberries. You could add chopped chicken for a complete meal.

The dressing is so lightly and lovely, you will probably want to use it in other salads!! I put 1/8 c of the dressing ingredients because the recipe originally called for 1/2 c each but that made WAY to much for this recipe. If you want extra dressing, up the amounts to 1/4 or 1/2 c and use a full packet of the ramen noodle seasoning.

I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as I did, it’s delish!!

Image Credit