The other reference intakes state that your consumption of total fat should be less than 70g, saturated fat no more than 20g, carbohydrate should be at least 260g, total sugars about 90g, protein 50g and salt less than 6g per day to maintain health. These were drawn up with the average female in mind. The figure for sugars looks high because it includes all sugar, such as those found in tomatoes, not just added sugar. Place 1/3 of the tomato sauce mixture into the base of your lasagne dish and cover with a layer of pasta sheets. Add a further 1/3 of the tomato sauce mixture to the dish and top with a layer of pasta sheets. Then add a layer of Loyd Grossman White Sauce for Lasagne (just under half the jar) topping with pasta sheets. Add the remaining tomato sauce mixture and another layer of pasta sheets. Spread the rest of the white sauce evenly on top and sprinkle with 75g of grated Cheddar cheese.

With a great pasta dish comes a great sauce. Sauce-making was one of the very first things I was taught in my GCSE Food Technology class, even if it was making a bechamel sauce from scratch. According to Italian American food writer Marcella Hazan, a decent pasta sauce needs to be simple and cost effective. To her mind, the world’s “best” only contains three ingredients, as she detailed in her book Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking.

Pan fry 500g of diced vegetables (onion, peppers, courgette, aubergine) in a little oil for 5-7 minutes until softened, add spinach, stir, then add the tomato sauce, stirring well. I compared Aldi's butter to Lurpak, Kerrygold, Anchor and Country Life and one was completely tasteless'

If you prefer Lasagne with Meat Free Mince, pan fry 200g of meat free mince for 10 minutes, then add the tomato sauce, stirring well. Reference intakes are not intended to be targets so they are different from the old measure of “recommended daily allowance”. Reference intakes are simply meant to give you a clearer picture of how much you are eating. It’s a way of benchmarking. So, for example, the label on one pot of flavoured yoghurt shows that it has 8g saturated fat and 40 per cent of the reference intake. That’s because the reference intake for saturated fat is “no more than 20g” per day. So eat a full pot and you are 40 per cent of the way there. It might make you think twice about what else you eat that day.I think I’d have to disagree with Marcella on this one. Her sauce was crying out for some flavour, or at least something to balance out the richness from the butter. Reference intakes are a form of guideline for energy (calories/kilojoules), sugar, fat, saturated fat and salt intakes. The guidelines were drawn up based on the idea that the average adult aged between 19 and 64 should eat no more than about 2,000 calories a day to stay healthy. Much like bread and butter, pasta is one of the cornerstones when people are learning to cook - or eat. Or at least it should be, anyway.