Pasta Sauce, another step in beating the factory food scam to keep you poor

Probably one of the best ways of pissing your money up the wall is spending it on pre-made sauces. It looks like it's good value, cheap enough that you don't notice it and expensive enough that manufacturers make a tidy profit on it. A couple of quid on a jar of Dolmio is a nice little earner.

I haven't bought one in years. Why? Because you can make decent pasta sauce for peanuts. I'm not a big pasta eater but my daughter is so it's a regular tea for her. She loves this sauce and I love it because it is piss cheap. You need:

- a small onion (12p)
- a tomato (22p)
- a clove of garlic (I'd guess around 3p)
- half a tube of tomato puree (25p)
- some dried oregano and basil (maybe another 10p)
- a couple of spoonfuls of oil (no idea, let's call it 15p)

That's 87p. And you know what is in it. There's no shit in it, no flavour enhancers, preservatives, sugar or salt (unless you want to add some, I don't usually).

Chop the onion fine, fry it in the oil on a low heat until soft. When nearly done add the garlic, also finely chopped. Chop the tomato and add that. Let the whole thing cook at a low heat into even more mush. Meanwhile, make your pasta. When it is ready drain it but keep a cup of the cloudy water. Squeeze half a tube of tomato puree into the onion and tomato. Add the dried herbs. Mix. Add the pasta water until you get the consistency you like.

Piss easy, cheap and tastes great.

I have been making an effort to get away from our reliance on pre-made or processed food. Sure, there are all the health issues assorted with eating crap made in a factory but it's also a damn sight cheaper and better to make. There might be a little bit of upfront cost involved like buying the herbs and the oil. But you can do this cheaply: I just got a bottle of really good olive oil in Aldi for £2, about half of what it costs in Asda or Morrisons. But you need to bite the bullet on things like these because once you've got them you've got them. A bottle of oil makes god knows how many meals. A jar of herbs lasts forever, or at least until it stops smelling of anything. Again, Aldi and Lidl are great for stuff like this.

One of the single best money-saving skills anyone can develop is learning to cook. I was lucky that I grew up in a kitchen where both my mum and dad cooked really well (my father was in the RAF catering corps). You pick up what you grow up around. If you see jars and packets then that's how you cook. If you see fresh food then the same applies when you are an adult. I've always really made the effort to cook around my daughter and she never sees me reach for a jar of Dolmio.

I think a big part of the problem is the way that food is marketed. Fresh produce is always shown as almost a luxury item. It's always some middle class couple in their Hygena kitchen with a bottle of wine. If you ever see a skint parent then it's usually alongside a jar of Homepride sauce and a packet of Uncle Ben's. What message does that send? If you're on a budget then forget about eating fresh food. What you need, the only thing you can afford, is this nice packet of shit that we made in a factory out of horse dicks and potato peelings...

My parents grew up piss poor in post-war Britain. They learned out of necessity how to make food work for you. I am very grateful that I grew up seeing that.

It's not particularly impressive but if you want to see a picture then have a look at my Instagram account @skintlife2020