'I compared £2.29 Aldi pasta to Waitrose and Sainsbury's equivalent – there was clear winner'
Coming home from a long day at work and facing the daunting prospect of cooking an overly complicated recipe from scratch is the last thing anyone wants to do.
As a result, many families are turning to reliable, simple and tasty meals they can whip up quickly. This could explain why fresh filled pasta from supermarkets, such as tortelloni, ravioli, cappelletti is enjoying a surge of popularity across the country.
There are countless varieties on offer for shoppers to choose from so, the only question many of us have to answer now is 'which one is the best?'. Shoppers have the choice of heading to high-end supermarkets such as Waitrose or M&S to pick up a delicious pasta meal or, alternatively, they can head to the likes of Aldi and Lidl to pick up a more budget-friendly option.
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The Times journalist Giulia Crouch decided to compare a range of different fresh stuffed pastas from supermarkets including Aldi, Waitrose and Sainsbury's and found one was head and shoulders above the rest.
Starting off with Aldi's Mezzelune with Prosciutto di Parma and Parmigiano Reggiano, priced at £2.29, Crouch said she was "pleasantly surprised" by the meal, "particularly given the price".
"There's no skimping on ingredients, with both PDO parmigiano reggiano and PDO prosciutto di Parma included, a combination that works really well when softened a little by some creamy ricotta," she said.
While the Aldi meal received an impressive four stars out of five, Waitrose's more expensive Prosciutto Cappelletti received a much-less favourable rating. Priced at £3.60, the writer said the meal was "passable" but was put off by the "gristly texture" of the meat in some of them.
She said: "There is a nice sweet saltiness that comes from the prosciutto but to get the best from these I'd suggest cooking them for a bit longer than recommended and serving in a light meat broth."
Crouch awarded the Waitrose offering a mere two out of five but one of the lowest ratings was reserved for Sainsbury's Chicken and Bacon Tortelloni.
Although it was the cheapest of all three meals, just £2 for 300g, it was the ingredients that infuriated the food writer before awarding it an eye-opening zero out of five.
Crouch writes: "Why would you put chicken inside tortelloni? Why would you put chicken and bacon inside tortelloni? I'm angry. Italy is angry. This creation may appeal to the teenage boys of the world - it's a no from me. A salty monstrosity with plasticky pasta."
The writer, who describes herself "unashamedly" as a pasta snob, reviewed a number of different fresh pasta meals and broke her reviews down into meaty, veggie, seafoody and mushroomy sections.
You can see her full breakdown of all the fresh pasta meals she reviewed here.
