Is supermarket pasta any different to branded?

[reallyworriedjobhunter]

I am talking normal pasta.

One of the tubes in this photo is Napolina and one is Sainsbury's. No discernable difference at all? The Napolina one is very slightly bigger.

For a 500g packet, Napolina is £1.50 and Sainsbury's is 69p.

Once I've added my pasta sauce I can't tell the difference and I've tried the fancier more expensive ones

I only buy wholewheat pasta now, and it’s always supermarket own brand, usually Aldi. It tastes fine to me.

I bought De Cecco once as it was on offer and own brand had sold out. It is so much nicer. I buy penne and fusilli and now wouldn’t buy anything else.

This. Yellow pasta has generally been dried too quickly, which affects its quality.

https://sampanzer.com/home/dried-pasta

I think Tesco finest pasta is very good. It claims to be dried over 30 hours, which is as good as it gets.

I buy 28p spaghetti from Tesco. It's usually all I can afford, and it's perfectly fine. Occasionally I can afford more and buy fresh stuff, which is lovely. Definitely can tell the difference.

If I can only afford 28p spaghetti I can't afford £15 for a pasta maker. Unless I buy that and we don't eat for a few days.

I used to live near an Italian deli and bought dried pasta there and it was amazing and I’ve spent 30 years trying to remember the brand. I like Aldi basic spaghetti and Tesco finest orzo. I prefer dried pasta to fresh egg pasta generally which is lucky as I don’t find making pasta to be at all I satisfying. I say that as a “cook from scratch” person who makes nearly all my own bread. I think pasta is a faff. I really dislike Napolina but idk if it’s rubbish or if I just don’t like it. I do resent the idea of paying 3x the prove for something that isn’t that much, or any, better. Like a pp I avoid anything that cooks very quickly.

I don't think there's anything intrinsically wrong with the cheaper pastas and obviously a great way to feed a family when you're strapped for cash - i've always bought the bog standard pasta but I AM going to at least try an expensive one with a sauce made from expensive tinned tomatoes too.

Not buying a pasta maker though, like someone said upthread "Aint Nobody Got Time Fo Dat!" (made me chuckle!)

My children love making pasta. I bought our pasta machine in a charity shop for £2. It is a fun activity, and keeps them entertained.

I prefer dried pasta.

There is a world of difference between Rummo or Garofalo and supermarket pasta (though the Waitrose one is good). De Cecco or Barilla are perfectly fine but Rummo or Garofalo are better in my view. Ocado has regular offers on them so I just stock up when there is an offer on.

For fresh pasta try "La tua pasta". Really excellent both in terms of dough and of filling. Their tonnarelli are particularly good with cacio e pepe and are the ultimate fast food: from standing start to table in 7 minutes (and that includes preparing the sauce).

I buy Lidl 28p spaghetti and it’s fine. It’s all about the sauce with pasta.

Another fan of de Cecco. Unfortunately have had to go gluten free and the only one that floats my boat is the Waitrose brown rice penne. It has the texture of a half decent muggle pasta and doesn't disintegrate like so many GF pastas but needs cooking with a bit of stock cube to make up for the lack of flavour.

De Cecco I stock up when it's on offer.

I like to make fresh pasta and it doesn’t actually take long at all, but it’s completely different in taste and texture to dried pasta. Not a substitute at all. Also, you’re not going to get fusilli or penne from a ‘flattener’.

Ah now, chopped tomatoes - there's another discussion to be had. I've been told that whole tinned tomatoes are better than chopped (just mush them up once they've been simmering a while) - not sure if there's evidence on this, but the whole ones do seem less watery.

And usually the same price!

Yes @IdaPrentice - I've read this too and we now do the same. Thicker sauce for sure.

The ones people on here seem to be obsessed with are Mutti

I used to love eating it straight from the packet when I was a child. I'd pretend to be Bugs Bunny with a carrot, except chomping a stick of dried spaghetti. Used to get through loads of them in the night!

I don't know what brand it was. Don't know if they had supermarket spaghetti in the 80s.

Nepolina its not nice pasta aswell in my opinion so its not much different. If you want to taste real difference try jamie oliver pasta (£2.50), pasta di aldo filini (£5) or cornwall company pasta (£8). It cost a lot but massive difference.

This thread has had me on stitches - thank you people

Depends on what I am making. If it is a special dish or recipe then I buy pasta to match. If it is (more often than not) macaroni cheese then I want it to taste like the comfort food I grew up with so I buy a supermarket brand.

I only ever buy fresh egg pasta though. The dried is awful.

*in

Barilla is better than supermarket own brands but I only buy when on offer for £1 as my sons don't mind the cheaper ones and they eat the majority of it.🤷‍♂️

Same

Aldi own. Was maybe 39p but think gone up.

But tastes fine. We eat a lot of pasta so price does matter but equally it's yummy

I do like filled pasta but that's fresh so differed

I saw that programme, even the !ads that had been buying that brand exclusively couldn't tell the difference between the expensive brand they always bought and the supermarket own brand . I think the programme was Eat Well For less or something like that?

Same