Now the damn kids have ruined my sauce...

Okay...so for most of my life, I have had delicate digestion and can't handle a lot of seasoned or spicy stuff. For this reason, Ragu "traditional" pasta sauce has always been my favorite. Actually, I have loved this stuff since I was a kid myself...it's very tasty, yet perfectly mild...not too thick...just right. Mmmm...I could drink this sutff from the jar, that's how good it is, and it is literally the only pasta sauce I ever use with the exception of being a dinner guest where something else is used.

So a couple weeks ago, I'm cooking the ziti and I grab the sauce. I notice that it says "New! Naturally thicker and great tasting!"....what?...no....say it isn't so Ragu....

I open the jar, spoon out a taste and....it's different, it's not the same...after 35 years of standing firm as the best sauce ever...Ragu has suddenly decided to alter the formula....and WHY?!?!? I wondered...

On the label: "Ragu believes in helping moms Feed Our Kids Well (with caps, and a copyright symbol..apparently this is some kind of new slogan). That's why Ragu Old World Style Traditional has a new, naturally thicker recipe that's packed with 2 full servings of veggies in every 1/2 cup of sauce. Your whole family will love the smooth and delicious flavor of Old World Style Traditional"

WHAT?!?! My entire life, they have been successfully selling the same recipe and style of sauce, and now because the fucking kids need more veggies, they have the nerve to fuck with perfection?!?!

I know it's only sauce...but, what the fuck.

Products are always being messed with. Remember New Coke?

I recommend making your own sauce, and tweaking it until you get it to taste exactly like what you want.

But yurb...this is Ragu...:eyebrows

Complain! Maybe there are a lot of people who feel exactly as you do!

Better yet, videotape your complaint and post it on You Tube. It could go viral. Remember the "Jimmy Dean Sausage complaint call"? You never saw so many Yankees line up behind a Southern grouch! (I don't know if it made a difference in the package size, though.)

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entitude413
But yurb...this is Ragu...:eyebrows

I have my own favorite pre-packaged products which I cannot replicate, and miss. I can understand the pain, although Ragu does nothing for me since I make my own pasta sauce. But with a pasta sauce, you stand a chance of recreating it. Try some sites with copycat recipes, like

http://hungrybrowser.com/phaedrus/mprestaurantrecipes.htm
http://www.topsecretrecipes.com/home.php

or maybe just a Google search. Perhaps you'll have some success.

Of course you can also try writing to the company and request that they make this new version their 'lite' version or something, and continue to make the old one available to people who want it (Traditional traditional sauce?). But I'd be mad enough at the company for that bullshit comment that I'd be looking for alternatives.

I was just complaining about this the other day. not about the Ragu, but that's only because I hadn't seen that one yet!. I can't put my finger on it as to what exactly that has been added or taken away, but those 50 cent Banquet Pot Pies taste different and it's NOT for the better either! NONE of the soft drinks taste the same and I am assuming that's because of the corn syrup replacing regular sugar. They keep fucking with Chef Boyardee spaghetti and meatballs too and I am quite certain that's kiddie related. Kraft has been threatening to mess with the mac and cheese for the sake of the kyds and that will be a sad day in American boxed food culture when that happens! I too LOVE the Traditional Ragu due to it's mild flavor and smooth consistency and it's a PERFECT upset stomach comfort food too, or it was one.:bawl

WHY can't these kids eat apples. oranges, carrots, and celery like NORMAL people instead of having their entire vegetable-fruit daily requirements being "hidden" in other foods? When I eat chocolate cake I don't want kumkwat hidden in it!!!!! Are they gonna start blending beets into Tombstone pizza crust, celery into Klondike bars, and cucumbers into Sara Lee cakes? I don't believe that we have perfected a way to adequately substitute REAL vegetables with tinkered up foods anyway, so I fail to see the reasoning behind it OTHER THAN it's a moo-marketing tool. Don't these stupid moos know that there IS no good substitute for fruits and vegetables and that their little shitbags are JUST going to have to TASTE and actually CHEW in order to get the full benefits?

Besides, all of the veggie enriched Ragu in the world isn't going to offset the health consequences of massive fast food consumption and lack of exercise. This new generation of breeder sows are by far THE LAZIEST of any human forms to have ever graced the planet.:sbx

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If YOU are the "exception" to what I am saying, then why does my commentary bother you so much?
I don't hate your kids, I HATE YOU!

Kim, there are actually a couple of books out there with "recipes" for hiding healthy food in the unhealthier stuff so the kiiiiids will eat it. One is by Jerry Seinfeld's wife...an annoying, twit of a woman...and is called "Deceptively Delicious". What ever happened to "you eat what I give you to eat, or you don't eat at all"??

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entitude413
Kim, there are actually a couple of books out there with "recipes" for hiding healthy food in the unhealthier stuff so the kiiiiids will eat it. One is by Jerry Seinfeld's wife...an annoying, twit of a woman...and is called "Deceptively Delicious". What ever happened to "you eat what I give you to eat, or you don't eat at all"??

Sadly, it has become obsolete along with those other old favorites such as disciplining kids, toilet training kids, and parents saying no and being a parent, not a friend.

Also agree with other posters, every time a product is "improved," it always seems to taste worse.

Better yet, popular culture and mass-media could stop referring to vegetables and other "good" food in negative ways, and stop PROGRAMMING people from a young age to believe that "if it's good for you, it must not taste good".

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"I have learned that pleasing everyone is impossible, but pissing everyone off is easy and fun as hell"

:eatu

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entitude413
Kim, there are actually a couple of books out there with "recipes" for hiding healthy food in the unhealthier stuff so the kiiiiids will eat it. One is by Jerry Seinfeld's wife...an annoying, twit of a woman...and is called "Deceptively Delicious". What ever happened to "you eat what I give you to eat, or you don't eat at all"??

God, ain't that the truth. The version I heard growing up was "I'm not cooking separate meals. If you don't like it, make yourself a sandwich." (Which I never did.) We had to disguise our OWN food if we didn't like it, and we had limited methods of doing that! The most vivid memory I have of this is drowning liver (ewwwwwwwww) in ketchup in order to be able to choke it down.

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Shauna's like a gluten-free Jim Jones for dumb, lifeless middle-aged women. I swear, this bitch could set fire to a orphanage and they would applaud her for bringing them light. ~ Miss Hannigan

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entitude413
Kim, there are actually a couple of books out there with "recipes" for hiding healthy food in the unhealthier stuff so the kiiiiids will eat it. One is by Jerry Seinfeld's wife...an annoying, twit of a woman...and is called "Deceptively Delicious". What ever happened to "you eat what I give you to eat, or you don't eat at all"??

That's another thing that I DETEST! When people try to "sneak in" food on me that they KNOW that I don't eat just ROYALLY pisses me off!!! I am not one to make a big deal about WHY I don't eat something, but these people in my husband's famblee pick up on each and everything that people eat(or not) at these famblee get togethers and make commentary on it, ANOTHER thing that I hate;People who are WAY too observant about what other people do or don't eat! I mean, WHY do they even care? Anway, it was observed that I don't eat beans and the commentary began almost immediately. When asked, I just replied, "Beans just don't agree with me" and left it at that!

The truth is that they give me SEVERE stomach cramps, intermittent constipation-the runs, and when I ever have eaten them I can count on having stomach virus types of symptoms for about 2 days. I choose not to go into detail about it because who wants to hear about shitting and constipation when they are about to eat!? Well, they purposely made a casserole that was LOADED with "whipped" beans of varying kinds, but the taste was camouflaged by the cheese and sour cream. I should have been suspicious because the inlaws kept asking, "Did you like that casserole?" It was delicious and I said so several times and ate two helpings. Then, my FIL gets this cheeky look and says, "It's FULL of beans! I told you if they are cooked right then you would LIKE beans!"

THIS was one of the very first times(there have been plenty since) that I showed my ass to them and I lost it. "I never SAID that I didn't LIKE beans!!!!!!! I LUUUUUUV beans, but unfortunately they started making me VERY VERY ill a few years back and NOW I will be sick for TWO DAYS!" It made me SO fucking mad that I just got up and went to the car as my husband trailed behind me in AWE that they could have been so stupid and thoughtless. The FIL called later to see how I was and I was very curt with him and by then had time to think of something better to say, which was about his SEVERE coconut allergy that has been known to cause anaphylaxis in him in the past.
I said, in a threatening Godfather tone,"You know, COCONUT is delicious and and is sold just about everywhere in oil form and could easily be poured into most any food! Maybe if it was MIXED IN RIGHT then YOU would learn to like it."

I had immediately loaded up on some Pepcid and Gas-X when I got home in hopes of thwarting the worst of it, but I shouldn't have HAD to do that! I suppose that I got my point across too because he apologized again later and it never happened again.:sam

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If YOU are the "exception" to what I am saying, then why does my commentary bother you so much?
I don't hate your kids, I HATE YOU!

We used to have this amazing toffee popcorn in the UK...you microwaved the popcorn yourself, and then poured the melty toffee over the top. OK, so a total killer for your teeth and health, but for a treat it was ah-mazing. They banned it cos some stupid fucking brat burnt himself really badly. Fucking irreponsible parents, who the fuck doesn't know that when toffee/caramel is hot, its REALLY FECKIN HOT. Keep it away from your crotchturds, and don't ruin it for the rest of us!

I miss it soo much. :bawl

Oh, great. My SO and I use Ragu Traditional because it doesn't upset our stomachs like other sauces and we like it. And now they dicked with it. I just looked at my three bottles in the pantry that are new and sure enough, they are "improved". Can't wait to try it. :mad2

For anyone who lives in Western New York and is upset by the new Ragu - go to Tops and buy Chef's sauce. You won't be disappointed! (Until the moos get ahold of that recipe, as well!) As for sneaking food - around here, it's venison. I don't like venison. To me, it has a very strong, very gamey taste, and my whole life people have been trying to trick me into eating it by telling me it's beef. I usually take one bite, (or sniff) and then tell them, "You'd better throw that out- it's rancid!" Then they of course come clean and tell me it's venison.

I am convinced that people who "sneak" food into other food when they find out you don't eat a certain thing are being controlling and abusive. It's a lack of respect for you and your boundaries.

That said, I think Chef Boyardee Beef Ravioli definately doesn't taste as delicious as I remember from when I was a kyd.

I agree with yurble, I make my own pasta sauce. Its worth it.

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lab mom

Here's where my paranoid mind goes, however; I'd like to see the before and after ingredients list.
There's no need to thicken with vegetables, they can be pureed to a very loose sauce just like we're used to.
Did they add starch, corn syrup, and other unhealthy junk to make the puree become firmer than it ordinarily does? I'm betting that's what the "big changes" actually are. I'll bet there are four tomatoes in an average jar, at least (based on how the damn things cook down when i'm just mashing them in a skillet to make a quick and dirty glop to cover pasta,) so those TWO WHOLE SERVINGS FOR THUH CHILDRUNS are already *there* in the old formula. I think the change is a cheap (the cheapest possible) cosmetic change to make some sort of difference to back up the claim on the label. Cynical me thinks the damn sauce is probably more *un* healthy due to some thickening crap or process. =(

A pretty decent jar sauce is Paul Newman's.

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- The human gene pool could use a little chlorine

I used to like Ragu's Traditional when I was younger. I recently got a jar for the first time in years for a quick meal, and it tasted even more like tomato-flavored corn syrup than I remembered. It was way too sweet. I wasn't sure if the recipe had changed or my taste buds had.

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"I treat my body as a temple, Laverne. You have chosen to treat yours as an amusement park."

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blondie
Oh, great. My SO and I use Ragu Traditional because it doesn't upset our stomachs like other sauces and we like it. And now they dicked with it. I just looked at my three bottles in the pantry that are new and sure enough, they are "improved". Can't wait to try it. :mad2

You'll have to let me know what you think, blondie...I'll admit it's not wayyyy different, just a bit thicker and slightly tangier...but it's enough to piss me off. I did notice the smaller jars have the original recipe stuff still on the shelves...with any luck they'll continue to make it in the small ones.

I'm going to Ragu.com...time to lodge a complaint.

edit: yes I realize how totally sad that last sentence sounds...

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M4P
A pretty decent jar sauce is Paul Newman's.

I will have to try that.

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lab mom

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law1204
I am convinced that people who "sneak" food into other food when they find out you don't eat a certain thing are being controlling and abusive. It's a lack of respect for you and your boundaries.

Agreed, I think that's just plain awful. People are always bragging about doing that to vegetarians, for instance. Why can't you respect someone's dietary decisions, especially if you don't know the reason behind it?

I hate it when someone will make something too spicy/hot, when they know you can't stand it.

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lab mom

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law1204
I am convinced that people who "sneak" food into other food when they find out you don't eat a certain thing are being controlling and abusive. It's a lack of respect for you and your boundaries.

Completely agree. In reference to KK's and gymrat's posts, ANYONE tricking people into eating food they do not want to eat (for whatever reason) is simply reprehensible. Anyone whose culinary goal is to deceive in order to "change your mind" about venison, beans, or any other food, also has the emotional maturity of a four-year old.