feeding a lots of teens on pasta + cheap tom sauce? 7 August 2005 at 2:02PM edited 30 November -1 at 1:00AM in Old Style MoneySaving 10 replies 2K views

blue-kat

it's older son's 17th birthday and he's invited lots of guys around _party_ _party_ ...and I've got to feed them all. It's got to be cheap and really easy as not feeling too great today.

I was thinking of pasta + Value pasta sauce. I've never used bottled pasta sauce before, and not sure what supposed to do with it.
just heat and eat as is with grated cheese?
or should I add onions/veg/meat to it?

Don't have any mince in, not sure teenage lads would eat lentils, but tuna + sweetcorn should be OK?

any suggestions ? thanks

Str4berr3

Hiya there!

For the tuna, you could dash a few drops of olive oil, mix in canned tuna with the pasta, then bung it under the grill with the grated cheese on top till it melts.

For a tomato pasta You dont really need to buy ready made tomato sauce, as it is really quick and easy to make you own _ for a basic tomato sauce - Loads of garlic and tin chopped tomatoes ( preferably the one with herbs/garlic/onion inside it already-about 35p a tin) and add some mixed herbs/basil/marjoram/bay leaves etc. I use this for my spag bol.
And If you wanna be abit more adventurist (sorry spelt wrong) add some chopped veg like aubergine, courgette, cherry tomatos, and onions plus add some mozzerella (buffalo's milk ones) or mascapone cheese with a little double cream.
Or you can have some with some ready cooked chopped sausage (size of 1inc thick) mixed into the pasta and sauce.
Or how about a curried spag bol?

Hope tjis all help and best of luck. I assume it would be like feeding an army!!!!!!!!!!!

se999

Hi,

When dealing with large groups I make sure I have a vegan/vegetarian option , it means you're covered not only for vegetarian but also for Jewish/Islamic and most other groups eating requirements. Basic tomoatoe/veg sauces are OK, but have cheese seperate.

Also for bulk catering for teenagers I do big bowls of salad to serve with the hot food, they also normally love nibbling on carrot sticks etc, and garlic breads (buy the sticks/loaves and do your own garlic butter, normally cheaper than buying them ready made).

Hope it goes well

nearlyrich

I always buy the tesco value garlic baguettes, they are much tastier than the "normal ones" I think they are about 89p for 2 in a pack. Good luck!

blue-kat

thanks for helpful suggestions.

the Tesco value tom pasta sauce is WOEFUL
so much for being a shortcut - will never buy it again.
had to add a couple of tins of toms as it was thin gloop with 4% toms in it accordling to the ingredient panel, but couldn't even see that much in it.

bonvonnie

the 'value' sauce may not be very tasty, not sure.

but how about a tin, or tins of chopped tomato, with some fresh basil chucked in.

cook and drain pasta
heat up chopped tomatoes, then add basil just before its done.
stir in pasta

then have separate bowls of meat, ie chicken / sausages etc, so people can add what they like.

I had some friends around today and made a chicken pasta salad, where i added some grated carrots, slices of yellow and orange pepers, and peas.
very nice and colourful. it was the only dish that was completely finished.
plenty of sandwiches left tho, looks like i'll be eating them for the next couple of days

KittyKate

I'd also reccomend buying a huge bag of pasta (ASDA do huuge value bags) and then making a cheap & easy sauce. My take on it is to get some cheap tins of chopped tomatoes, add 2 cloves of garlic, a tin (or two, depending on how many you're feeding) of baked beans, chuck in some mixed italian herbs, and mix it all together. Then put in a lasagne dish and sprinkle on some cheese, then a few chopped fresh tomatoes. Very nice, and you can easily feed ten people for under a fiver.

Katgoddess

Value tins of tomato taste ok, as do value bottles of passata. They just aren't chopped as nicely or have the seeds taken out.

summerday

Katgoddess wrote:

Value tins of tomato taste ok, as do value bottles of passata. They just aren't chopped as nicely or have the seeds taken out.

I agree with the passata point, Morrisons do a value range one in a big jar. I personally don't like using tinned tomatoes to make pasta sauce, it's got to be passata, and I just bung in some tuna fish while warming it up and sprinkle cheese on top after mixing the sauce and pasta together.

sarah

dan.mcl

My wife found a fantastic Spag Bol recipe when she was at weightwatchers, its really healthy and really cheap.
INGREDIENTS:

1 tin chopped tomatoes (2-3 chopped real tomatoes)
Olive Oil
2 Garlic cloves (to taste)
Teaspoon of sugar
pinch of salt
tomato paste (optional)
chili powder (optional)
lean minced beef (sainsburys when on offer!)
2 chopped onions
Pasta of your choice (usually spaghetti for us)

Bung the onions into a medium pan to soften, add the garlic (minced/crushed) and allow this to mix with the onions. Throw in the tomatoes with a squeeze of tomato puree for extra colour and tomatoey taste add the sugar (depending on tanginess of your tomatoes a bit more might be needed) allow this to simmer for a few minutes and then throw in the mince.
Simmer this for 5-10min to reduce then put on your pasta of choice, by the time your pasta is ready the sauce shold have reduced to about 3/4. Its really delicious and serves 4.

The original recipe called for browning the mince in a separate pan but I found that it is tastier if you cook it in the one pan and it saves on the washing up. This serves me and my wife for 2 evening meals (both of us work during the day) for about £3(rough estimate) all in. This recipe scales up really well but make sure your pan/pot is big enough.

This does depend on getting the mince on offer in sainsburys but when it is we buy a lot and bung it in the chest freezer.
Hope this helps and you enjoy it as much as we do.

JAMIEDODGER

really nice and cheap.....carton passata, tbsp sugar, 2 tbsp pesto and glup of olive oil, heat and bung over cooked pasta and add some decent mature cheese (i use only a little to get a good flavour rather than loads of cheap bland cheese). YUMMY!!!!