Ideas for cheapo pasta sauce..?

[FusionChefGeoff]

Other than bolognaise or meatballs? DD(10) wants to make dinner and won a jar of sauce on the Tombola

We can add chicken / veg to fusilli etc as the obvious answer but wondering if there’s any other food combos or recipes?

Tomato sauce? Could go arrabiata-esque with olives, capers, chilli. Or chuck in mascarpone/Philadelphia to make it creamy.

Chicken or sausages cut into pieces, extra veg and potatoes instead of pasta.

Olive oil Garlic chilli flakes and parsley , use some of the starchy pasta water to add to the sauce cook it down . So good 😊

Is it a jar of tomato sauce? Chop up mozzarella, stir tomato sauce and chopped mozzarella through cooked pasta (fusilli or penne works well) parmesan on top then bake for 5 min and grill for 5 min

Lemon house and zest, garlic and butter for lemon pasta.

Sorry yes it’s an Asda basics tomato sauce

I like the idea of adding cream cheese to make it creamy - might combine that with the sausage suggestion too!

I often do one with 50p passata, cream, dash of white wine, sugar, salt, mixed herbs, sometimes chilli flakes. Whatever is laying about! Add mozzarella or similar if being fancy

Add basil, mascarpone, and pour over sausages cut into 4 and pan fried

Fry onions and garlic and peppers and mushrooms (or whatever veg). Lightly fry lots of thick slices of spicy Chorizo. Mix all that together with the sauce and cooked large Rigatoni (or normal size). Put in oven dish. Top with Mozerella, cheddar and a few dollops of pesto hither and thither and bake it. My boys would have this every day but as there's never leftovers as they polish it off first go, they can't.

I’d use it instead of passata in enchiladas https://realfood.tesco.com/recipes/chicken-enchiladas.html

Cook it with a little butter and basil (it's probably pretty sour), then pour over thinly sliced sauted courgette, top with small amount of torn mozzarella and Parmesan, bake about 25 minutes.

I love aglio Al olio, it's just fried garlic and good olive oil. You can add parmesan, toasted breadcrumbs and fresh herbs like parsley or basil. Maybe a bit of lemon zest and chilli flakes.

Carbonara is cheap to make too. Just egg, parmesan or cheaper Italian hard cheese, garlic and bacon/pancetta.

As others say tinned tomatoes with a pinch of sugar, salt and dried herbs and a glug of olive oil, cooked slowly makes a great sauce.

Puttanesca sauce - the anchovies melt into the tomato sauce and add a punchy, delicious flavour. The jarred tomato sauce could be used instead of chopped tomatoes. Dead easy and flavoursome recipe.
Nigel Slater's classic spaghetti alla puttanesca recipe | Food | The Guardian

fry off bacon, then red onion, garlic, oregano and either balsamic vinegar or Worcestershire sauce. Top with garlic breadcrumbs and Parmesan.

Intrigued how you incorporate a jar of pasta sauce into carbonara?

Oh gosh, none of these have pasta sauce. I guess that won't work then. I don't use jarred sauces. Sorry!

Tinned tomato, tomato puree, balsamic vinegar and a small ampunt of sugar to balance the acids from the tomato.

But a tomato pasta sauce is the one thing the OP does have!

Cook some Orzo pasta in it? Or a risotto

Cut an aubergine in small cubes and fry with a bit of olive oil it until soft. Then pour in the sauce from the jar, warm it, add some torn basil leaves, a dash of milk (cheap sauce is very acidic, this helps tempering that) and a generous handful of parmesan. Use with any pasta shape, but I recommend mezze maniche. You can also turn it into a pasta bake: Add some mozzarella pieces, mix, top with more parmesan and bake until the mozzarella is melted and the top a bit browned.