As a newlywed my pasta sauce of choice was Ragu but then my dear MIL taught me how to make homemade spaghetti sauce so there are very, very few times I ever buy pasta sauce. I make can cases and cases of a wide variety of tomato based sauces each year. We bought our vacation home in March of 2010 with the first trip there in May of 2010. The next two trips both in 2010 we drove so I had the luxury of bring down home canned foods. Well, my husband the King of Frugality sometimes, figured out we could fly and rent a vehicle cheaper than driving down and we would be there a lot quicker. Then he figured out that if we didn't have checked bags which really aren't necessary as we now have the vacation home well stocked, we could save more money. The down side is...I cannot bring home canned foods in my carry-on bag. That means none of my beautiful home canned sauces or salsas when we fly. I am going to try shipping by USPS if possible but that means a special trip to do that before flying out as we usually fly out rather early in the morning before the post office is open.
Bertolli has an organic line of sauces that are 100% natural with no preservatives. I bought the Olive Oil, Basil & Garlic sauce. It was more expensive than other tomato sauces but it is certified USDA organic with no preservatives.
Of note is my little bottle of extra virgin olive oil. It was an 8 oz bottle, the smallest I could find and the worst part is knowing I couldn't take it home or store it until the next trip, I had to toss the remainder. That is the cost of having a vacation home where leftovers cannot be brought home. It was worth the money though as EVOO is a must have ingredient!
Sometimes you have to work with what is available and I am certainly learning that valuable lesson at our vacation home. It is nice that I can find 100% natural, certified organic sauces that are in keeping with what we are used to eating at home. I seriously need to ship food here from home or convince my husband that driving down is really a bit more frugal since I can bring home canned foods. I doubt he will go for it as long as it is less expensive to fly so I need to adjust. Still shipping is a viable option. I am going to try shipping a box of home canned foods to enjoy the next time we are at our vacation home. The worst case scenario is the food is compromised during shipping
2 food lovers commented:
Well, canned stuff keeps years for the most part, right?
So, pick a spot in your vacation home for a pantry.
And drive one time to bring a selection of things from your pantry.
Then fly the rest of the time until you need to restock again?
Just a thought.
But, as you are such a great cook, you probably don't need to do that. ;-)
Home canned foods keep years. The problem we faced in 2011 was that last time we drove was December of 2010. I brought two cases of home canned food that was basically gone before the end of our second trip in 2011. As long as he can find cheap flights the chances of us driving is very slim so I'm going to have to look into shipping home canned foods there.
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