Welcome to Bagged:

a series about what we’re all buying at the grocery store

The power of sampling or why I spend nearly $7 on a jar of pasta sauce

It all started when I did an article for the paper about a couple who are manufacturing their own pasta sauce, Luigi Del Conte. They gave me a jar to try and I foolishly fed it to my family, who fell deeply in love with the Del Conte sauce.

Keep in mind, up to this point, I’d been buying .99 jars of pasta sauce from Target. So I guess I shouldn’t be surprised that I was told to never darken the kitchen counter with any other pasta sauce.

The thing is I’m not sure why I’m freaking out about a $7 jar of sauce. If we all go out for sushi, that’s $100 and there aren’t any leftovers.

Not that there are any leftovers to speak of with the fancy pasta sauce. If I’m lucky, there’s a scoop for lunch the next day but the menfolk usually devour the pot.

Who can blame them? The ingredients in the Del Conte Spicy a la Vodka sauce are:

• tomatoes
• tomato sauce
• water
• salt
• citric acid
• onions
• cream
• vodka
• pecorino romano cheese
• red wine
• lemon juice
• garlic
• basil
• vegetable oil
• garlic powder
• onion powder
• crushed red pepper

The sauce is rich and spicy yet it doesn’t give any heartburn the way a lot of red sauces do.

And yet,  I wonder who I am spending this money on sauce when I’m not fully funding my retirement yet. Your thoughts?

Remember, every time an angel gets its wings it’s because someone has left a comment on a blog! So tell me what kind of pasta sauce do you use? What’s the most you’ve ever spent on sauce? Do you make your own? I’d love to see the recipe.