probably a dumb question about pasta..

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PB4Lyfe
PB4Lyfe Posts: 28 Member
in Food and Nutrition
Hello! I'm planning out my week of meals, and am excited to find that I have enough wiggle room in my carbs allowance for actual, real life pasta!!

so, my dumb question.. is there any reason to choose better-brand pasta over the cheap home brand?

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  • lynn_glenmont
    lynn_glenmont Posts: 10,008 Member
    edited October 2017
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    Do they taste different to you? Are you talking about traditional pasta that's made from semolina flour, salt, and water? If you can't taste a difference, I think it's difficult to find a rational justification for choosing a more expensive brand of products that's made from the same essentially commodity ingredient with processes that, as far as I can tell, don't leave room for meaningful variations if the product is going to perform as expected.

    That said, I do buy non-store brands if they're on sale or I have coupons (or both), and the resulting price is equal or cheaper to the store brand, or if I want a particular shape of pasta that doesn't come in the store brand.

    ETA: If "better brand" means something else, like a brand that makes its pasta out of something other than semolina flour, or makes a higher protein version, or something like that, you'll need to clarify, because that's a different conversation that would relate to your personal nutritional goals and how it fits in your overall diet.
  • malibu927
    malibu927 Posts: 17,565 Member
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    It’s up to you. Pasta is a thing I prefer to buy store brand for.
  • try2again
    try2again Posts: 3,562 Member
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    I love our local store brand (Hy-Vee) 150 calorie pasta. Tastes no different than regular and has more fiber, so it keeps you full longer.
  • Psychgrrl
    Psychgrrl Posts: 3,177 Member
    edited October 2017
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    I buy carba-nada noodles from Amazon. Higher protein and fiber content, but they taste like the regular old noodles I had growing up. And 180 calories per serving.
  • sgt1372
    sgt1372 Posts: 3,988 Member
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    I always buy the cheapest dried pasta that I can find regardless of brand. Never noticed a significant difference.

    The only difference I've noticed is between dried and fresh.

    Fresh is "better" but too much trouble to make IMO, except for paparadelle which is hard to find and WAY overpriced when I do. It's the easiest pasta to make yourself and is the only one that I do.

    All you need is flour, egg yolks, a rolling pin and knife. No special pasta roller/cutter reqd.
  • Alatariel75
    Alatariel75 Posts: 17,959 Member
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    I can be a bit of a food snob, but I'm in the 'buy the cheapest one' camp when it comes to dried pasta. I really cannot tell the difference.

    I do prefer fresh though, and a lovely friend gave me an electric pasta maker which makes it soooo easy now <3
  • snowflake954
    snowflake954 Posts: 8,399 Member
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    I live in Italy--yes there is a big difference in dried pasta qualities. Calorie-wise no difference. When I'm in the States for a visit I just make sure that the pasta I buy is made from durum wheat. We like our pasta cooked "al dente" which just means not too soft. Poor quality pasta breaks apart when cooking, gets gummy, etc.
  • tlanger251
    tlanger251 Posts: 86 Member
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    When I ate pasta, I would find the fresh spinach fettuccini... mmmm.... I actually just bought pasta for the first time in 8 months..low glycemic is better because it won't spike your blood sugar and make you crave carbs all day.. fxny0nsif8t6.jpg
  • tlanger251
    tlanger251 Posts: 86 Member
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    and it is so good too, i just tried it.
  • Fuzzipeg
    Fuzzipeg Posts: 2,299 Member
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    You may find a fibrous pasta helpful, more filling etc.

    Also at the start of the year, a UK health program discovered by cooking, cooling then recooking the pasta the following day avoid the spikes associated with it. Doing this would take more planning. You may find more about it if you do an online search.
  • MelanieCN77
    MelanieCN77 Posts: 4,047 Member
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    If I'm gonna eat pasta it's at least not whole wheat. It doesn't have much going for it either way so I'm gonna enjoy it for the sake of it!
  • orangegato
    orangegato Posts: 6,570 Member
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    Bought some veggie pasta but haven’t tried it yet. Has veggies incorporated into it. Thought it may be healthy for my kids but I will try it too. Also bought lentil pasta that’s lower calorie I think but haven’t tried it yet.
  • sgt1372
    sgt1372 Posts: 3,988 Member
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    snowflake954 wrote: »
    Poor quality pasta breaks apart when cooking, gets gummy, etc.

    I find that this happens whenever you overcook the pasta, regardless of its price or alleged "quality."
  • dsboohead
    dsboohead Posts: 1,900 Member
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    I will always buy a higher protein version with hi fiber thrown in. Will NOT do whole wheat pasta. Hubbie and I despise it. IMHO.
  • snowflake954
    snowflake954 Posts: 8,399 Member
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    sgt1372 wrote: »
    snowflake954 wrote: »
    Poor quality pasta breaks apart when cooking, gets gummy, etc.

    I find that this happens whenever you overcook the pasta, regardless of its price or alleged "quality."

    True--this will happen with any pasta when overcooked, but poorer quality pasta breaks apart long before it's "al dente" which should not happen. We have many different levels of quality in Italy. I buy medium quality usually (Barilla) because I make it everyday, but when a higher quality is on sale, I buy it sometimes. There is a big difference for us.
  • HeidiCooksSupper
    HeidiCooksSupper Posts: 3,831 Member
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    I make different choices for different pastas. For elbow mac, I go store brand. For orecchietti, it's either homemade or De Ceci brand. I like Bartolli's no-boil lasagna noodles when I can find them. To me, cheap whole wheat pasta tastes like the box it came in so more expensive brands of that. You can't beat Mueller's for egg noodles. I like some of the fancier Italian dried pastas, too. Etc.

    For spinach or other veggie pastas, I do homemade. Pasta is really simple to make and homemade is da bomb!

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