Make your own spaghetti sauce

f you want to save a little money on pre-packaged spaghetti/pasta sauces, here is a good one to try. An extra benefit is that it won't have the preservatives or chemicals that a jarred spaghetti sauce would have. This is a recipe I created/modified from a lasagna recipe, which I also recommend.

This is meatless, but you can cook 1/2 lb to 1 lb of ground beef or ground turkey for a meat version, then add the following:

1 12-ounce can tomato paste
1-2 cloves garlic chopped (or 1/2 to 1 tsp garlic powder to save time)
2 cups water
1-1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp oregano
1/4 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp sugar* (optional)

Mix all together, heat. Just like you would do with something jarred like Ragu or Prego, brown ground beef, drain, and mix with this sauce.

If your family is used to the premade-jarred sauces, they usually have sugar in them. That's why we must love them so much, eh? So you can put in a bit of sugar if you want, increase it or decrease it, based on what your family likes.

The consistency of this can be adjusted by the amount of water. If you find the sauce a little too thick for your liking, add water, or you can put a lid on the pot for 10-15 minutes. The condensation will make the sauce a little thinner. If you find the sauce too thin, then turn up the heat and leave top off to let the moisture evaporate from the sauce.

This costs about .80 cents or so to make. A jar of spaghetti sauce in the store will cost $1.50 on sale to over $3. It really is a no-brainer and takes very little time to make.

If you have them on hand, you can add chopped up green peppers or even carrots diced up very small. Just make sure you cook those al