I noticed this after my latest SaveOn order and was going to post pictures, but here’s a whole article about it.
Not only is the jar smaller, but they have added more water - aqua-flation!
Every time you find a soft tomato, put it in a bag in the freezer. When you have enough, make your own sauce and freeze that.
There are better pasta sauces. Buy something else.
Make your own, it’s not difficult, it just needs to cook for longer but tastes way better.
My go-to:
- 3 cloves garlic + full onion, finely chopped, into a pot to cook in butter, until translucent and slightly browned
- 500g lean beef, until cooked
- 1 can diced or crushed tomatoes (500g), add Italian spice, rosemary and a bit of salt (+ whatever spice you feel like), simmer for about 10 minutes
- Grate some parmesan, add lots of spinach, simmer for about 40 minutes
Serve on large pasta or spaghetti squash au gratin with lots of aged cheddar on top.
Takes an hour, but it’s relatively low effort. Simmering is what takes the acidity out of tomatoes and makes it a sweet, meaty sauce.
I’ve never typed it out until now, so feel free to point out anything I left out!
There are, but the bottle was worth it. In the before time they would go on sale and it was cheaper to buy the sauce and use the jars for canning than to buy new jars.
The only better sauces at the major supermarkets near me cost 3x a jar of Classico.
In the USA this also changed ingredients. It has less tomato in it.
This to me is the real crime. If they shrink the portion I can always buy more, but if they mess with the recipe, then I can’t get what I want for any price. 😕
Aldi has killed a few things I like this way. They had some decent heat and serve chicken meals we really liked to keep on hand for nights neither of us feel like cooking dinner, but they messed with the ingredients so bad as to make them almost inedible for us. It’s so frustrating seeing them still on the shelf at the store, but knowing I can’t buy it because it’s awful now.
The design change is always done to hide the other changes
This is why I just make my own sauce. Takes about a half hour for two jars and costs less than a buck per jar. Only uses one pot, too.
And it tastes better.
Hijacking this in case anyone is interested.
Last year I went down a rabbit hole of trying to find the best canned tomatoes I could find in my area that didn’t cost an absurd amount (the Italian imported ones from speciality Italian stores are excellent but very expensive). My conclusion is a little irritating.
Alta Cucina tomatoes by Stanislaus (major commercial food supplier) we’re by far the best I could find.
Bad news: these are designed for commercial use and only come in huge 28oz cans. So I usually open one , use a quarter of it, and freeze the rest.
Good: Excellent taste. Perhaps not strictly “the best” whatever that means, but so good that it basically made me stop looking further.
More good news: that 28oz can is only $10 at Costco Business Center, which comes to $2.50 ish per normal sized can, which makes it far cheaper than the other premium tomatoes I’ve seen.
https://www.costcobusinesscentre.ca/alta-cucina-plum-tomatoes%2C-2.84-l.product.100347364.html
If you live somewhere like California that itself grows high quality tomatoes then you probably have many other options. If like me you don’t, then I hope this helps.
Whole tomatoes are better to buy canned they apparently keep the flavor better or something.
Assisting in my own hijacking: Thanks for the tip, I’ve been using it expensive Italian ones.
Share your recipe please!
Two 28oz cans of whole, peeled tomatoes, an onion, some garlic, fresh basil, oregano, and tarragon (about a tablespoon each), and salt and pepper.
Sweat the onions until they’re translucent, add the garlic, crush the tomatoes by hand, and then simmer with the rest of the ingredients until it smells like an Italian grandma’s house.
Also: You’ll probably buy a lot more fresh herbs than you’ll need, so portion and wrap them tightly in plastic wrap and freeze them. Then you have them ready when you want some pasta sauce
Thank you!
The simplest sauce you can make is still damn good:
- 1 can whole peeled tomatoes
- 1/2 yellow onion (literally just cut in half, no slicing needed)
- 1 stick salted butter
Cook slow and low, about 1.5 hours, stirring occasionally, until the onion has completely disintegrated.
It’s not especially healthy but it’s real tasty. Feel free to dress it up with some garlic, basil, meat, etc. in the last 15 minutes if you want.
Near the bottom of the article it shows some pictures of other brands following Kraft by dropping their Mac and cheese size to 200g. This is likely because they are packaged by the same factory using either a different box or a different box and cheaper ingredients.
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