I gotta be honest if you don’t have the ability to chop onions or garlic you might as well just buy pre-made sauce my man.

It’s good that you’re wanting to cook for yourself, but why no produce? You really need to be able to cut up and onion and to be fair garlic you can get away with already diced jarred stuff, but whew love me my onions lol

Here’s a recipe that is budget centered. You could tweak it to your particular needs but cutting out the parts you can’t do > https://www.spendwithpennies.com/easy-meat-sauce/

Try canned crushed tomatoes. If you can access some seasonings, a bit of garlic powder and dried Italian blend herbs go a long way to making it taste more like pasta sauce. It can be warmed in the microwave or stovetop if you have access. It is safe to eat right out of the can without heat but def tastes better if you can simmer it for a while. Leftovers will require refrigeration or can be frozen. You mentioned that you can’t keep produce, so if you don’t have a fridge or freezer, look for small cans of plain tomato sauce - not pasta sauce, and not tomato paste, but just plain sauce. You can dress this up with herbs also and have a smaller amount to avoid leftovers

• Get the small saucepan.

• Put some cheap cooking oil in it. Fry onions in it. Honestly buy a small knife and cut them on your plate or whatever, its worth it.

• Then chuck in garlic paste/garlic salt if you got it. And a teaspoon of Paprika. Salt. Pepper

• If you’ve got some minced/ground meat cook it in the oil too.

The reason we do this step is because oil holds flavour and this will honestly make your sauce taste way better.

• if you have access to a grater grate some carrot into it. Doesn’t change the taste but makes the meal bigger. Same thing with split red lentils.

• chuck in a tin of tomatoes or tomato puree or whatever tomato base you got.

• throw in your herbs, hopefully basil and oregano or else “italian seasoning”.

• Cook it for about 10 min bam you’re done.

Most people are giving you good advice on how to make a good sauce for cheap, but I hear you on the low-equipment and storage issue.

I’m going to assume you have access to a microwave or portable stove top/burner or other heat source, a glass bowl or cooking pot, something to stir with, and maybe a tiny little space in a fridge.

• Dried herbs and spices are your flavour friends and are shelf-stable. For pasta sauces you can’t go wrong with the traditional Italian herbs basil, oregano, thyme, rosemary. Some places sell a premix “Italian seasoning”, I prefer to mix and choose myself to help keep some variety. You do what is best for you.
• Bottled vinegars help with flavour balancing/boosting, if it’s bland but already contains salt and fat, a tiny bit of vinegar will help. If it’s too sweet, adding a little more vinegar will help that too. And they are shelf stable. For pasta sauces a red wine or balsamic or regular white vinegar is fine. Try to get vinegar without added sugar. Bottled lemon juice is also OK, but crap compared to fresh lemons. Fresh lemons can keep for a while in a fridge if you have space, and you don’t need much to get the effect.
• Some kind of sugar, for the occasions where you get really sour unripe tomato or you put too much vinegar in. Or if you get some bitter vegetables/flavour. White sugar is fine, I like light brown better. Honey works too in even smaller quantities. All raw sugars are shelf-stable.
• A bottle of vegetable oil (or olive oil, especially for italian/greek). Again, shelf-stable. Fat boosts flavour (and calories, be careful with it).
• Bullion or Powdered Stock, also shelf-stable. Adds salt + savory flavours. Other shelf-stable options for salty + umami are soy sauce but it isn’t very Italian. Dried mushrooms work for savory flavours but might be hard to find or expensive or not the right kind. I have a small container of dried porcini mushrooms for European foods, and shiitake for Asian foods.
• Bottled pasta sauce, try for no added sugar, oil or salt, because you will add your own and they are easy to over-do. Premade pasta sauce is often the cheapest shelf-stable option including multiple vegetables and has some pre-balancing of flavours already done, but it can be shit quality ingredients. It is precooked just needs to be heated through with whatever heat source you have. If you hate the flavour of it, try to add a little of each of the other items while heating until it tastes better. Understanding balancing the “5 flavours” fir your own tastes is key to mastery. If you only eat/heat part of the sauce, the rest of the container needs to go in the fridge or freezer.
• Passata or bottled/tinned tomatoes. This is the often higher quality and cheap option, doesn’t have the advantage of other veg for nutrition, and it’s slower to make because you need to heat it through for long enough to evaporate some water off to make it more flavourful. Again, try to avoid added sugar/fat/salt. Otherwise it has the same instructions as for pre-bottled sauce, heat, mix flavours, eat. If you don’t use all of it, again, it needs to go in the fridge or freezer.
• Some tomato paste is close to shelf-stable, others need the fridge. Check the packaging but this is a highly recommended small-size way to get more intense tomato flavour.
• Other shelf-stable additions for pasta: Whole black pepper in a grinder is the best, but any works, or red chilli flakes, for some heat. Dried/fried onion flakes, dried chives, dried garlic flakes / salt… whatever you like best.

If you mix any or all of the above to your taste, heat it through and for long enough without a lid to thicken the sauce by evaporation, you can get some extremely tasty food. And the only things you will need to store in a fridge are the leftover end-result or tomato-based or rehydrated ingredients.

But, you will experience poor nutrition relying only on shelf-stable foods in longer situations. If you can boost that with a variety of frozen or fresh veg, you will be doing yourself a huge favour. You also need to consider protein sources. Meats nd cheese usually need the fridge, but beans and lentils in the right balance can work for no-fridge situations too.

I unfortunately have a lot of experience with this issue, so if there’s anything else I can suggest solutions for, let me know.

Tomato sauce (in pasta al pomodoro) only requires tomato, salt, olive oil, and basil; everything else is optional: garlic, onion, herbs, chilli.

See the following recipes:

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=innnyQEXBFE
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NIgKvlAYOdU
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QeEeldJEtq0
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lOS8XSpC98c

The italian videos have english sub titles. Besides cherry tomato, you can also try mutti tomato puree, it is not so expensive but very tasty.

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I have the easiest DIY sauce you can get:

• 28 oz can of tomatoes (either whole or diced, ived used both)

• 1 onion cut in half

• 1/2 stick of butter

You put them all in a sauce pan on medium heat until it looks like sauce.

If you’re on a budget, you should be buying pasta sauce, not making it. Classico is a decent cheap brand. (Definitely better than those ketchup brands known as Prego and Ragu).

For tomato sauce, if you want to add more flavor, Italian sausage is your best friend. $3-5 for a pack. The beef+pork fat really brings out the taste. Add that to your spaghetti sauce and enjoy 3-5 days worth of food that practically tastes gourmet, all for under $10.

It sounds like you want something good, cheap and easy. I think you can only pick 2 of those requirements.

I know you’re asking for tomato sauce, presumably for pasta, but look at what poor people have historically eaten. For example, beans and rice will feed you for pennies, but don’t buy the canned beans, get a big bag for cheap. It’s more work to soak and boil them, but that’s your savings (labor). Dried beans and rice, when kept dry can last a decade.

I’m sure there are other cheap, filling foods, but I am tired.

People here have given you good pasta sauce recipes here, let me recommend ramen. I’ve found it at dollar stores and most grocery stores, it’s shelf stable, and pretty versatile. Can add egg and/or almost any frozen produce you can find.

Can’t go wrong with Marcella Hazan’s tomato sauce recipe if you’re looking for easy and tasty:

28oz can of tomatoes (San Marzano is best), 5 tbsp butter, onion peeled and cut in half. Add all ingredients to a pan and simmer on a medium heat for 45 minutes, stirring occasionally, and gently crushing tomatoes. Remove onion and add salt to taste. Makes 4 servings.

I like to throw in a sprig of basil too, but it’s not necessary.

https://playswellwithbutter.com/san-marzano-tomato-sauce/

The only “produce” is the garlic, but you can just buy the jarred minced garlic. I usually find it near the whole garlic in the produce area

The biggest thing about cooking is spices. You dont need fresh, dried and in a jar fine. But go get yourself a few tiny containers of:

• garlic powder
• oregano
• rosemary
• thyme

Aldi has these, like $2 each and you can easily make a dozen meals from that much if you’re feeding one or two people. For most things you can do the large content in single cans while doing spices to taste but typically 1-2 teaspoons.

• 1x can of tomato sauce
• 1x can of tomato paste
• optionally 1x can of diced tomatoes
• 1-2 tsp of each: garlic, oregano, rosemary, thyme
• 1 tsp salt

Put it all together, simmer and stir until warm.

Bonus

Dont let anyone tell you cooking is difficult. Want to beef up your sauce? A pound of ground beef or ground sausage cooked for 10 minutes can be added in. Green bell peppers and onions, chopped and quickly sauteed, just toss them in.

What’s the key to frugal cooking? Go buy the amount of food you need. Buy one pepper and one onion. If the store only sells them in larger quantities make multiple servings and then have a week of things that use pasta sauce.

The simplest one I do is puttanesca. A can of tomatoes, olives, capers, garlic in powder, anchovies (optional) . Mix and cook, not too long.