Ever since I discovered the joys of online grocery shopping I also discovered that El Corte Inglés tends to throw in a couple of “gift items” with each purchase. This time it seems we hit the “jackpot” with some B&J cookie dough ice cream, a package of sugar-laden chocolate granola, a DULCE caffé latte thing and… Pasta Lover Pasta!

I have no intention of going anywhere near the first three items mentioned. But in the interest of gastronomy and science, today Peter and I decided to give the pasta thing a go, if only to find out why it was somehow better to cook spaguetti in a microwave for 5 minutes and smear some packaged sauce on it, rather than boiling it for 9 minutes and then adding something nice on top. Here we take you through the steps…

For those of you who think it is FAR TOO MUCH WORK to boil some water in a pot, with Pasta Lover all you have to do is add water to the plastic pasta tub and pop it in the microwave for five minutes. Then you shake out the excess liquid using the lid, which also functions as a strainer, and which would be a great idea if half the pasta didn’t slide out into the sink in the process. So after scooping the pasta out of the sink and adding it to what was left in the plastic container, you then open an extra-large “ketchup packet” of Pasta Lover Sauce made with 100% Natural Ingredients, plop it on top of your oddly textured pasta and there you go.

Trust me, if you are actually a pasta lover – or any sort of food lover – you will NEVER want to eat this. In fact I can’t understand why anyone at all would want to eat this. At the most it shaves off maybe 4 minutes of prep time. And the price – 2.25€ single serving – is NOT cheap. WTF?