Homemade Tomato Sauce
With few exceptions, my general philosophy is that homemade food tastes better and is a lot cheaper than commercially-prepared food. While the “taste better” part of that philosophy is, admittedly, a bit subjective and hard to covey over the internets, the “a lot cheaper” part is subject to actual quantitative analysis and can be proven, much like a scientific hypothesis from your 8th grade biology class would be. My theory: that homemade tomato sauce (a.k.a., spaghetti sauce, a.k.a., marinara sauce) is cheaper than the store-bought kind, even those brands loaded with high-fructose corn syrup (lots are, you know – check it out), which is a super cheap sweetener used to cover up the flavor of super low-quality and acidic tomatoes. But as I thought about it, I wondered if my homemade version would really turn out to be cheaper than store-bought, given that I tend to favor high quality ingredients like San Marzano tomatoes and extra virgin olive oil. Doubt started to creep in. Homemade might be the winner in the taste department, but maybe not in the price department. The only way to figure out this very pressing problem was to conduct a brief “scientific” study. My results are outlined below.
Objective: to find out if homemade tomato sauce is cheaper than store-bought tomato sauce.
Method: using some fancy culinary school math, I calculated the actual cost of my go-to simple tomato sauce (recipe below), including the cost per tablespoon of the somewhat expensive olive oil I like to use. I then compared the results to the cost of a couple different varieties of spaghetti sauce on the market, based on a quick trip to my local grocery store.
Results: The price of my homemade tomato sauce, using expensive extra virgin olive oil (at $16+ per bottle) and organic San Marzano tomatoes was $3.98 for a little over 28 ounces. The cost of commercial tomato sauce ranged in price from $6.29 (Amy’s Organic) to $2.99 (Newman’s Own). A cost-comparison table is below:
Conclusion: Although I used high-quality ingredients, my homemade sauce was cheaper or approximately comparable to store-bought. Or, alternatively stated, my homemade sauce smacked down the store-bought kind.
Here is the recipe:
Ingredients:
4 tablespoons good quality extra virgin olive oil
3 garlic cloves, peeled and roughly chopped
One 28-ounce can whole San Marzano tomatoes, crushed with your hands
Red pepper flakes
Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
Procedure:
- In a medium, heavy saucepan, add the olive oil and chopped garlic, and turn the heat to medium. Cook and stir the garlic until it turns golden and starts to smell delicious. Do not let the garlic brown!
- Immediately add the crushed tomatoes, a few pinches of red pepper flakes, a generous pinch of salt, and one or two grindings of black pepper.
- Bring the sauce to a boil over medium-high heat, then immediately turn the heat down to medium low and let simmer for 20 minutes or so, or until it’s as thick as you’d like. (If you like your sauce a bit smoother, you can crush the tomatoes further with a potato masher or a hand blender.)
- Serve with any kind of pasta, or use as a base for lasagna, or puree further and use as pizza sauce.
16 comments
Natasha - 5 Star Foodie Mar 23, 2009 at 8:22 pm
Homemade is always best! I love the gorgeous color of your tomato sauce!
we are never full Mar 23, 2009 at 8:36 pm
a good challenge. but, forget how expensive it is, can you do an “analysis”" on the deliciousness factor? yours would beat any of those!
Abby Mar 23, 2009 at 8:55 pm
I think that is such a great comparison test you did. I still use my grandmother’s tomato sauce recipe, it uses a lot of scraps.
Susan C Mar 23, 2009 at 8:56 pm
I like the idea of being able to use the sauce for pasta or pizza. That’s where you’ll find the real savings. A tiny 8 oz. plastic container of pizza sauce at Trader Joe’s is more than $2.00.
katiek Mar 24, 2009 at 1:28 am
I really like homemade sauce. I find it hard to believe that I went a good twenty years of my life never haven made my own sauce. It was not until after college did I learn the secrets of good sauce.
A very generous douse of olive oil, low heat, garlic, and TIME. Love it.
I also learned how to make a Salsa Rosa, which has just a couple of ingredients (tomatoes, butter, carrots, celery onions). That is also an incredible bang for your buck type sauce. It is so decadent, everybody loves it, nobody knows why (duh… butter).
Take that recession!
nina Mar 24, 2009 at 1:47 am
I like canned tomatoes for my sauce as well, I think the flavor is more intense…….please do not shoot me for saying this.
anna Mar 24, 2009 at 8:30 am
This sounds great. I’ve made my own sauce a few times but not enough to really tweak it to how I want it. My boyfriend hates all homemade sauces because he’s so used to one of the jarred brands. It’s sad!
megan Mar 24, 2009 at 9:02 am
I like canned tomatoes, too! It’s pretty much the only canned vegetable that is any good (aside from homemade canned vegetables – that’s a little different), don’t you agree? Especially in the winter months!
This sauce is super simple, but you can add all sorts of things too it – like Katie says, you can definitely add onion and carrot and celery (chopped fine). Sometimes I add shredded prosciutto or pancetta. Marcella Hazan has an amazing recipe that is basically butter, canned whole tomatoes (crushed) and a peeled, whole onion that you cut in half and stick in the sauce to simmer. I LOVE that version of sauce, but my husband is allergic to onions!
sivan harlap Mar 24, 2009 at 9:12 am
Megan, this sounds so good! And believe it or not, i don’t think i have ever made homemade tomato sauce. Miles is the saucier in the family. I do make a wicked fresh tomato sauce, no cooking required, for pasta. Oooh, can’t wait for tomato season!
Kristina Mar 24, 2009 at 1:23 pm
Well-done. I love tributes to doing things yourself. It’s great to find that making your own sauce is a money-saver.
Towards the end of the growing season, I was able to purchase 10-lb. boxes of Roma tomatoes for $10 apiece. There was no question in my mind that I was saving money as I simmered those beauties into sauce!
Kristina
Sweetfern Handmade
maggie (p&c) Mar 24, 2009 at 1:59 pm
What a good idea. Though I usually add a LOT of wine to my homemade sauce, which makes it slightly less cheap…
Laura [What I Like] Mar 24, 2009 at 3:10 pm
Gorgeous photo! And glad that you’re not sending yourself to the poor house in the name of good tomato sauce. Love the idea of red pepper flakes…I tend to just stick with tomatoes, onions, garlic, lots of thyme and I stole Mario Batali’s idea of half of a grated carrot to add a little hint of sweetness
megan Mar 24, 2009 at 4:15 pm
Yeah, I’ve tried Batali’s recipe with the thyme and carrot – I don’t know, I am just against thyme and carrot in an Italian tomato sauce, I don’t have a rational explanation for it. When I stick to San Marzanos I find that the sauce doesn’t really need a lot of extra sweetness. And I feel like the addition of thyme is a French thing – I guess that’s why I don’t like adding it to my sauce. (Nothing against the French obviously, I was trained at a French culinary school where, yes, we put thyme in the tomato sauce.)
I do like the idea of a bit of wine – it doesn’t make it too acidic? Maybe then you’d need a bit of the carrot or a pinch of sugar.
The Duo Dishes Mar 24, 2009 at 7:17 pm
If you can make it at home, we think you should. It’s always better and cheaper.
Daily Spud Mar 24, 2009 at 7:33 pm
Yay – homemade wins hands down!
My latest thing is vodka in tomato sauce, and I do usually have onion in there and maybe some carrot and celery. All depends on the mood. Your straight-up tomato sauce looks great!
Kasey Mar 25, 2009 at 1:43 pm
I love homemade tomato sauce–sometimes I use diced fresh tomatoes and fresh basil, which comes out cheaper than using the canned tomatoes.
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