Ask a Dietitian

A really quick meal for time pressed families is pasta with a prepared pasta sauce. Toss in some beans or cooked chicken, serve it with a salad and it is a very well balanced meal. If you have a few extra minutes you can even sauté some onions, mushrooms and peppers to add some extra vegetables to the sauce.

Choosing your pasta sauce:
The key issues here are sodium and fat. Find a sauce that has less than 360 mg of sodium per ½ cup serving. Some sauces, especially those with meat, can get up to 1000mg per serving. Add the parmesan cheese and you have blown your sodium budget for the day.

Ripe Roam tomatoes, garlic, extra virgin olive oil and herbs make for a delicious sauce with less salt. If you need to save time and want to buy a sauce go for Eden Organic No Salt Added and jazz it up with herbs and parmesan.

Watch the saturated fats found in cream sauces like Alfredo and rose and Vodka sauces. Alfredo sauce can have 7 grams of saturated fat per serving and rose can have 3-6 grams. Pesto sauce will have some saturated fat from the cheese used in the sauce but the rest of the fat from olive oil and pine nuts can really up the calories. Some will contain 300kcal per ¼ cup serving. Try Olivieri’s Roasted Red Pepper Pesto with 220 kcal and 3 g of sat fat. However, fresh homemade basil pesto can’t be beat for its’ delicious taste.

Best options for commercial tomato sauces include:
Eden Organic No Salt Added 10mg sodium
President’s Choice Blue Menu Primavera 120mg
Classico Roasted Garlic and Onion 230mg
Antico Organic Romaoff 270mg
Catelli Thick and Chunky Tomato Basil 310mg
Catelli Garden Select 330mg
Healthy Choice Garlic Lovers Garlic &Herb 360mg
The Bottom Line: Choose a sauce that is low in sodium and fat and try to add as many veggies to the sauce as you have time for. Serve it with a whole wheat pasta, white beans and salad for a well balanced meal.