Bolognese on toast has always been one of my favourite quick to cook meals.  Cooking for one, for those “can’t be bothered” lunches I like to keep 2-3 cans of spaghetti bolognese in the cupboard as part of what I call my “meal in a tin stash” – and spaghetti bolognese is always present!  I’ll often have a tin of Tesco Everyday Essentials Spaghetti Bolognese in that stash as it’s great served on toast- with either grated cheese or a poached egg on top!

This is a really frugal lunch as one can is two servings and the can costs 20p, using half a can means this is 10p for the spaghetti bolognese and 4p for the toast.  Adding a poached egg takes this up by a further 8p, so this is a fast 22p lunch.

However – the spaghetti bolognese in a can has changed recipe over the years and really doesn’t taste of anything more than plain spaghetti in tomato sauce these days!  It does have the advantage of having tiny bits of what looks like meat though (is that meat? Yes – I’ve checked the can and there’s 6% beef in here).

To make this canned spaghetti bolognese taste of something a little better than spaghetti in tomato sauce I like to add in a big splash of balsamic vinegar before reheating the spaghetti bolognese in the microwave.

To Make This:

1. Toast 1-2 slices of bread, there’s no need for any butter at all.
2. Open the can and tip half into a microwave dish, or a mug, and microwave on full power for 2 minutes, then stir and microwave for 1 more minute.  Decant the rest of the tin into an airtight dish and it’ll store in the fridge for 3-4 days.
3. Make a poached egg – I make poached eggs in the microwave using my poach pods, but there are other methods.
4. Pour the hot spaghetti bolognese over the toast, place the poached egg on top!

Stove Top Cooking Instructions: 

To cook the spaghetti bolognese in a saucepan on the hob instead of using the microwave takes 4 minutes, just warm it up and stir and don’t let it boil.

Tesco Everyday Essentials Spaghetti Bolognese: 

Tesco’s own brand products change their labelling and product names over time, but they’re usually there to be found! Everyday Essentials is the current branding for the Tesco budget foods.

In case you’re a label reader, here’s the nutritional information: 34% of the can is tomato puree, 6% is beef, 40% is cooked spaghetti.  Then there’s celery, onion, sugar, herbs and flavouring.

Calories in half a can are 149 calories. It’s got 3.3% sugars. Half a can is just 3.5 grams of fat and 21.5 grams of carbohydrates (as you’d expect with pasta).

Menu Cost – 22p:

For me this also serves as a main meal, not just lunch – and it qualifies as a 50p Dinner, costing more like 22p.

2022 Price Update: 50p

I’ve just popped back to revisit the price of this great, filling, comfort food – as I’ve just had it for lunch! I wrote the original post in 2016, so six years ago.

Tesco’s own brand was Stockwell – and they had a great spaghetti bolognese, costing 40p; however, it’s now showing as “out of stock”, so withdrawn for now. Their next, own brand, label of spaghetti bolognese is 70p/can. If I were to review and compare the two I’d say the 70p tinned spaghetti bolognese was very disappointing and not a patch on these earlier/cheaper varieties!

With bread at 3p/slice, eggs at 9p each, half a tin of spaghetti bolognese with two slices of toast and one poached egg now costs 50p!

Inflation over six years for this is 130%