Anything wrong with using jar marinara sauce to make meatbal

↑ watergirl

Today at 2:10 pm

amother OP wrote:

Ok so what is the difference between jars of tomato sauce, pizza sauce, marinara sauce?
In my experience, they're all pretty similar

Tomato sauce is just tomatos, sometimes salt, and water.

The difference between pizza and marinara is the seasonings and the size of the tomato and onion
chunks. Pizza sauce is heavier on oregano and is more finely blended. Marinara sauce usually has more basil (I buy with as little basil as I can, I hate basil) and is often chunky.

thankyou1

Today at 2:11 pm

zaq wrote:

Bragging rights, OP, bragging rights. You could say the same about anything. Why do some ppl make challah from scratch (some grow their own wheat, too, but not many), some buy defrost-and-bake, and some buy ready-made? Why do some buy pizza from the shop, some buy defrost-and-bake, some buy pizza dough and add sauce and toppings, and some make it all from scratch including growing the tomatoes?

Of course there are other reasons ranging from preferring the taste of homemade to cost-effectiveness to avoiding ultra-processed foods to avoiding specific ingredients such as sugar, salt, preservatives or allergens.

There are plenty of cookbooks with names like "Practically Homemade" that rely on mostly store-bought prepared ingredients, for people who like the illusion of homemade from scratch but don't like to patchke. For example, fill a store-bought graham cracker pie crust with chocolate pudding made from a mix or bought ready-made in a tub, top with whipped cream swooshed out of an aerosol can, drizzle with chocolate syrup, et voila, "homemade" chocolate cream pie.

What I can't fathom is making kneidlach from a mix. It saves maybe ten seconds of measuring matzah mehl and seasonings, that's it. But I can understand buying ready-made kneidlach.

Love your descriptions Smile

amother

↑ Red ↓

Today at 2:23 pm

amother OP wrote:

Maybe that's the cans, but not the jars I see

The jars will usually say tomato sauce for... and they add spices, sugars and perservatives accordingly.
you can get ones that just say tomato sauce and they also have the above just very subtle taste so its good for everything.
In Israel the easiest to get is tomato paste and I just dilute with water.

amother

Pearl

Today at 2:26 pm

amother OP wrote:

In general I'm a homemade type of gal and make most things from scratch. Always bake my own challah, baked goods, etc,

But this just seems so easy and not that expensive at $1.99 a jar that I am wondering if there is a reason others don't do it.

How do you know that they don't? I certainly do!

↑ mathbrain

Today at 3:36 pm

watergirl wrote:

This exactly. Different brands also taste different.

amother

Slategray

Today at 4:29 pm

amother OP wrote:

I keep seeing recipes for the sauce of meatballs, I've always used jarred marinara sauce, somtimes add a little water.
Is there anything wrong with that?
Wondering why it's not so commonly done...

I like to mix a jar of marinara with a jar of jellied cranberry sauce for a sweeter tangyer sauce.
Nothing wrong with hacks.
When I want a good Italian meatball, I start my sauce an hour before dropping in the meatballs. I don't have time for this often.

amother

↑ Strawberry

Today at 5:31 pm

amother Red wrote:

Am I the only one who hates the taste of bought marinara sauces?

It takes me 2 mins whilst the onions are sauteing to open a can of tomato paste , crush a garlic and add some dried herbs. It's so much nicer, healthier and way cheaper (I live in Israel so I'm glad I don't need to buy it)

Aren’t you embarrassed to be using store bought tomato paste?

amother

↑ Red

Today at 5:39 pm

amother Strawberry wrote:

Aren’t you embarrassed to be using store bought tomato paste?

What the actual????
I hope you are trying to be funny???
I just dont like how jarred sauces taste, didnt say its embarrassing to use them if you like the taste of them. I knew people use them daily otherwise they wont be so many types of them and so many brands. I also wrote how quick it is to do what I do for those who cant afford or dont like the taste.

For tomato soups I make it out of fresh tomatos but for a meatball sauce I use store bought paste.

amother

Blue

Today at 5:44 pm

lovecouches wrote:

I live in Israel and the jarred marinara sauces are really expensive. I did find a cheaper way to do it with a smaller plastic container of pizza sauce and a tomato paste so it's easy and cheaper.

I'm going to be making aliyah and one of my concerns of all things, is how am I going to still be able to make homemade tomato sauce, lol. Can you be so nice as to tell me which brands of pizza sauce and tomato paste that you buy? Are they pure tomatoes without any added seasonings? Cool

iammom

Today at 6:19 pm

I honestly didn’t know there was an option to use marinara sauce for meatballs until this thread! I’m married almost 15 years. My mom always made meatballs with tomato sauce and spices and I just continued that “tradition”. Mind you, my mom isn’t a patchka, healthy, from scratch person.
I use marinara for lasagna, ziti, Mac and cheese etc but never thought to use it for meatballs.