How to use spaghetti sauce from a jar - guilt-free

Spaghetti sauce from a jar? There was a time when merely suggesting such heresy would have risked excommunication from my big Italian family.

There's a reason. In the 60s and 70s, when I was a tyke, spaghetti sauce from a jar was dreck. Dressed-up ketchup. Unfit for human consumption. If you grew up Italian in postwar America, you learned from a very early age to avoid any red substances in jars, masquerading as spaghetti sauce.

That was then.

Today, the rules have changed in a big way. The 80s saw competition for the first time in the market segment, when Campbell’s introduced Prego, the leading brand's first real rival. Once supermarkets began accommodating more than one label, the floodgates opened wide and opportunities arose for makers that care about taste and texture. That put pressure on Prego and Ragu to do even better and the ball kept rolling. Today, jarred sauce under most brand names actually very good. (In some cases, competition really does benefit the consumer.)

With a dozen brands each offering a dozen flavor varieties or more – the choice is suddenly way beyond adequate. It's a dizzying array, from the duopoly standards to expensive, boutique brands and those plastered with the faces of ubiquitous celebrity chefs. (Hey, it’s America, right? If it’s worth doing, it’s worth overdoing.)

So, how do you choose? I’ve put together these guidelines for tomato-based jarred sauce that will work both on a school night hurry-up spaghetti meal and in a more complex recipe, like pizza or lasagne.

Don't fret. It takes some work, but I am living proof that anybody can learn to put the sauce in your shopping cart without hearing the voice of your grandmother, accusing you of being drunk, crazy or both. (With determination and deep breathing, you can overcome this hurdle while actually opening the jar, too.)

Beware the cream: I am not a big fan of cream-based jarred sauces, like Alfredo. They tend to have a lot more chemicals in them to make them shelf-stable, more fat and an unnatural, gelatinous texture that is anything but pleasant. You may find some excellent examples of cream sauce from a jar but I would not bet the farm on it.

Avoid mystery meat: First of all, you don’t need meat in spaghetti sauce to make it good. Second of all, do you think a giant food conglomerate is going to spend big money on prime cuts for the tomato sauce line? I think not. I do not know what “flavored with meat” means but it scares me so I don’t buy them. If you want meat sauce, pick up a pound of fresh ground beef, brown it up in a skillet with a little salt and pepper, drain the fat and stir in the jarred sauce.

Go with what you like: If you love mushrooms, try a mushroom sauce. Same for basil, olives, peppers, onions, garlic – all the stuff that’s ending up in sauce jars these days.

Buy on sale: With so much competition there’s rarely a week when something’s not on sale. The sale prices can justify trying something new and as a bonus, alleviate the guilt of buying jarred sauce (if you’re Italian).

Try the middle-shelf stuff: This used to be the top-shelf stuff, before the celebrity marketing game. Classico, Bertolli, Barilla. These sauces are the staples of my buying habits. They tend to be more flavorful and better balanced than the mega-brands, which – though miles above their ancestors – still tend to be on the bland and sweet side.

Be careful with the top-shelf stuff, unless you are getting an amazing bargain. There are some excellent sauces with celebrity endorsements or named after famous restaurants. Two problems – first, the regular fare is so good these days that the gourmet stuff can’t possibly be worth the ridiculous prices. The bigger problem, some of it isn't so good and you won’t know until you taste if it you’ve been rooked by celebrity culture.

Try the store brand: That is, the ‘gourmet’ store brand. Since the 90s, supermarkets have been marketing lines of upscale store brand merchandise. Here on the East Coast, we have Essentia at Acme Markets and Master Choice at Super Fresh. Some of these spaghetti sauces are excellent and the price makes them well worth a try.

Mind the ingredients: Rate the label according to your own comfort level about preservatives, corn syrup and other additives. It’s also a good idea to compare the total sugar grams from one variety to the next and go with the lower numbers. A big criticism of jarred sauces is the tendency for them to be too sweet. Among processed foods, jarred tomato-based spaghetti sauce tends to be honest – with few, if any, unpronounceable chemicals on board.

And when you have time to stretch or you’re just feeling adventurous, you can redeem yourself in the eyes of grandma. Boil up a pot of homemade sauce - or "gravy" as they call it in Philadelphia. It’s easier than you think. (More on that later.)