Finally We Can Buy the Best Spaghetti Sauce Again

A few months ago my family ran into a concerning shortage. No, it wasn't toilet paper or hand sanitizer, or cleaning wipes. We have lots of all of that. But we were out of our favorite spaghetti sauce.

There had been a shortage of McCormick Thick & Zesty Spaghetti sauce packets in the US since last year. It was running short for the same reason a lot of things were running short. COVID caused a lot of people to change their patterns and cooking habits, which often led to people to cook at home more.

During the peaks of the shortage, prices for this sauce packet, which normally goes for around $2 or less in any grocery store, we're selling online for $10 or more.

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I had purchased 12 packet cases from Amazon a couple of times and those were still available, but they were being sold for $50 or more. I like my spaghetti but not that much.

A couple of weeks ago I got a message from a listener that they came across this seasoning mix at the 26th Street HyVee! I was ecstatic, but nowhere near there. I got online and checked Amazon and sure enough, they had it for $20.28, which was $1.69 a packet. Not as cheap as I had bought it before, but not bad.

If you're wondering why the hell I am so crazy about this sauce packet? The short answer is that I grew up with it. This was the spaghetti sauce my mom made, with tomato paste and hamburger. It's the one recipe that I have completely brought from my childhood into parenthood.

It's also really freaking good!