I mean the non-refrigerated variety. They're all 100% durum wheat, aren't they? It's a food I haven't tried much, but am thinking of eating more regularly.

eg Morrisons Pasta Twists 500g, 30p. Is the stuff that costs several times more actually better, or is just the packaging that sets them apart?

Bought some of the Asda Wholewheat Spaghetti yesterday for 35p for 500g. Bargain. As long as it tastes OK the cheaper the better in these hard times.

fresh pasta is a bit different, and cooks far quicker, but there is nothing wrong with dried pasta

there are differences between dried varieties, though. I would take Buitoni over supermarket own brand any day of the week.

same with rice. Uncle Ben's is far and away the best "standard" supermarket rice

Honestly I don't think there is much difference between cheap dried pasta and branded one, if it is I can't taste it

Sadly I could tell the difference. I wish I couldnt as would rather pay the cheap price! Hard to put it into words, other than it was a bit more cardboardy.

I'm talking about dried pasta. I tried the Sainbury basics one, now back to De Cecco.

You've never been to Aldi then. Uncle Ben's would be a last resort as far as I'm concerned, but only because it's exactly the same as any other decent quality rice, only more expensive due to the brand name. Unless we're talking about the real economy stuff, when it comes to long grain, rice is rice is rice. I prefer basmati for some dishes, but its subtle taste is rather wasted if you're using it to go with a curry.

There is a slight difference in the 'artisan' stuff in that it has a rougher texture so the sauce catches it better.

I only usually buy it if it is on special offer or when I want a type of pasta that isn't available in the standard range.

My mum used to find, back in Italy, cheap pasta had a weird smell while cooking but I couldn't smell anything strange, maybe it's me then

There is a slight difference between dried pasta, I bought cheap stuff from Morrisons, thinking like you OP that there can't be much difference it all seems to be the same stuff. However the cheap pasta had a slight after taste that just made it less appealing. I don't go for extremely expensive but I could tell the difference between this and Asda own brand stuff.

I think it's more of a texture thing for me. I find cheaper pasta turns sloppy and slimy, but the more expensive brands like De Cecco retain their bite and shape. Even if I cook the cheaper pasta for a shorter amount of time, it just results in the outer bit turning sloppy and the centre still quite hard. The die bronze pasta is more porous as well and helps the sauce cling.

They tested dried, fresh and homemade on Food & Drink the other week. They could tell the difference, but they differed on which they preferred and all agreed they were all good.

This is certainly true. Handmade pasta is rougher than machine made pasta and as you say the sauce clings to it better.

Hmmm, thanks for the replies. Think I'll just give the cheap pasta a go. If it's awful, I won't have wasted much money.

I cook loads of pasta, and use regular ( not value ) Tesco or Asda's spaghetti, farfalle, penne, macaroni,spiralli, and tagliatelle. All of them have been perfectly fine. The only thing I do buy any different is the box of lasagne - for that I use Napolina. I used to use the supermarket brand but they seemed to be chewier all of a sudden. I couldn't understand it - 40 minutes under layers of sauce and they were still chewy. I didn't care for the fresh sheets either. Swapping to Napolina changed all that - tender lasagne. Tesco do a brand called Trattoria Verdi, you can get 1kg bags of penne for 99p and that's OK too.

I used Tescos own cheap brand once and the sauce just slid off the pasta like it was coated with oil. The texture was just too slimy as well. Never again