jar sauces or packet sauces ?

bluebeary

i usually buy jars of sauces, such as creamy mushroom or a tomato based one for chicken, chilli or bolognese/ pasta sauce to use with mince or meatballs

but not only is this heavy in shopping, its also a waste glass wise

so im considering using packet powder sauces to mix up with water, some of them you can use water instead of milk which is good

they are lighter to carry, less waste and a little less expensive too

but !

you also have to buy the extra ingredients like peppers, mushrooms, tomatoes etc, kidney beans for the chilli sauce so is it a false economy really ?

i know i could make my own sauces from scratch but i dont have the time, what do you sauce wise ?

Clowance

personally I dislike the flavour of the dried ones, but use only half a jar of the wet sauces for a family of 4. I just put the rest (still in the jar) in the freezer for next time. This would only use half the jars and glass is recyclable anyway, although I admit I do it for economy rather than eco reasons.

bluebeary

hi clowance, do you use the bigger jars as the standard size ones does two people in our house, or are we being greedy ?

Enterprise_1701C

For things like Spag Bol I use dried sauces, and if I fancy a cheats shepherds pie it is a dried sauce, but I find the jar sauces so easy to use I tend to use a lot of them. I salve my conscience by putting the jars out for recycling, or using them to put fat in to store before using it for the birds in the garden!

KimYeovil

Why do you use a packet sauce when making shepherd's pie or a bolegnese? You buy dried sauces with dehydrated minced beef/lamb in them???

~~Diane~~

KimYeovil wrote: »

Why do you use a packet sauce when making shepherd's pie or a bolegnese? You buy dried sauces with dehydrated minced beef/lamb in them???

What's wrong with using packet sauce for bolognaise and shepards pie? They are just herbs and thickeners, nothing to do with died meat!!

Surely you must have heard of these Colmans, Schwartz, shops own brand

bluebeary

you buy and cook the mince as usual and then mix up the packet powder sauce for chilli or bolognese whatever you are having add kidney beans for chilli and tomatoes for bolognese

nearlyrich

To be honest I don't buy any if I'm making spag bol or chilli the tin of tomatoes and a pinch of herbs, fresh if I have them does the job, I used to buy loads of jars but I haven't done for ages. You don't need to spend any more time making it yourself than you would stirring in a jar or a packet.

Barneysmom

Me too - it wouldn't occur to me to buy a jar of bol sauce when a tin of toms and some herbs (shop's own Italian seasoning) do the same thing, and a pinch of garlic granules.

bluebeary

good point nearlyrich and barneymom, do you thicken the sauce at all though, would you use corn flour or thickening granules ?

i also need to ask, kidney beans ? are tinned ones ok to just boil up, its the packet or fresh ones you need to watch right ?

maybe its cheaper to buy dry packet ones, how do you cope with that ?

what else other than tomatoes, herbs do you put in bolognese sauce, kidney beans in chilli sauce ?

KimYeovil

~~Diane~~ wrote: »

What's wrong with using packet sauce for bolognaise and shepards pie? They are just herbs and thickeners, nothing to do with died meat!!

Surely you must have heard of these Colmans, Schwartz, shops own brand

Heard of them but never parsed how they could be used - at least not in the context of the two mince dishes mentioned.

Perhaps there are some people who do not have salt, pepper and dried herbs in their cupboard. There may be some more esoteric ingredients in the packets but <shrug> seems a very strange and indulgent way to waste money.