Recently my fridge broke down, so I've living off take-aways and stuff in the cupboard until I can get saved up to buy a new one . Now, Pasta is probably one thing I always have in my cupboard - masses of it in fact, and why not - it's dirt cheap, filling, and can be stored in a cupboard for ages .

Obviously, pasta plain is just -plain . It needs a sauce, a topping or coating to give it a little extra flavour . Dolmio is probably one of the bigger brands of stir in sauces, (although some supermarkets are now launching their own versions) and they have a wide range of flavours, including Roasted Tomato and Garlic, Smoked Bacon and Tomato, Spicy Pepperoni , and the flavour I used today, Creamy Carbonara.

These sauces cost about 1.25 in the local supermarket, but are often on offers of buy one get one free, or 2 for 2.00, which gives a nice saving, and is worth it if you use a lot of these sauces . They come in a little plastic tub, with a foil lid, encased in a card sleeve (in this case, a nice cream and pale green colour with pictures of some lovely pink ham, some cheese and cream, and the Dolmio brand logo across the top .

Slipping off the sleeve and opening the sauce is easy . Each tub contains 150g, enough to cover paster for two people - but if you're only cooking for one, don't worry - you can stick remaining sauce in the fridge for up to three days after opening . And if you're not planning to use the sauce for a while, it has a long enough shelf life for you to keep it in the cupboard for months - this pack has a best before date of 26/08/10, so almost a year .

To use you just cook some pasta as normal, then drain it, and stir through the sauce to coat the pasta . You only need to stir it for a few seconds just to warm the sauce through - everything in the sauces is already cooked!

So, after opening the sauce, I can see that its a pale yellowy cream colour, with some tiny chunks of onion and some very small chunks of ham. It's smells mildly cheesy, a combination of cheddar and parmesan, and this smell gets a little stronger when heated through. It takes only a few stirs to coat the pasta evenly,and then its ready to serve . I like to sprinkle a little cheese on top of mine sometimes too .

I'd recommend using a shaped or ridged pasta with these kinds of sauces, as the shapes hold the sayce better . Eating it, it's quite creamy and mildly cheesy, although I find the chunks of ham far too small, and rather more like bacon in that they are pretty dry. Overall, it was nice, but bland, and rather lacking in texture - I felt I needed lumps!

It's nowhere near close to a good home made carbonara, with juicy chunks of pancetta bacon on thinly sliced smoked hams, and a rich eggy sauce . But it IS quicker, and certainly much more doable with no fridge . Plus, it only takes on pan to cook and then coat the pasta so not too much washing up .

Unlike the tomato one, which my daughter hated (she hates anything tomato based) she really liked this one too, which I was pleased with as she's usually a fussy eater, and because it meant I wasn't going to have to waste half the sauce through having no fridge to store it in .

I've always been a big fan of Dolmio stir in sauces, an even bigger one in my time without a fridge . This isn't the most flavoursome variety in my opinion, but that is balanced out by the fact that my daughter absolutely loves it, so I'll still be buying it again, but perhaps adding a little bit of fresh ham or some mushrooms for a little extra flavour and texture.