This Is the Only Kind of Premade Ravioli I'll Buy — Shopping

For most of my life, I thought ravioli at home was just something that was supposed to be mediocre. My mom would buy this no-name frozen stuff that almost always broke in the water, leaving the noodles to cook in ricotta water until they were far too mushy. When I started to cook for myself, I tried other brands and remained unimpressed.

Eventually, I started buying fresh stuff from Murray's, a famous cheese and specialty shop in New York City that I'm fortunate to live near, and it was like I discovered what the restaurant industry knew the whole time: Fresh ravioli is the only ravioli that's acceptable. But at $10 for 12 plain cheese ravioli, I kinda felt like I was being punked. ("Let's see how many of these tiny boxes we can get this girl to buy," I imagined cashiers saying behind my back.)

In a quest to find something better (read: still yummy but cheaper!), I stumbled upon Giovanni Rana pasta. Get this: I found it in my grocery store's refrigerator section! Not the freezer section. And, in case you're wondering, no, my regular grocery store is not fancy!

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