August 9, 2025 at 7:35 pm

College Student Took Advantage Of A Sale On Expensive Pasta, So He Inadvertently Got A Taste Of The High Life

by Benjamin Cottrell

a fancy plate of pasta

Pexels/Reddit

Every once in a while, life hands someone a treat that feels both earned and enchanted.

For a student living on a shoestring budget, a discounted box of gourmet pasta brought joy, comfort, and a sense of quiet luxury.

Read on for your daily dose of positivity!

I just ate rich people pasta for the first time

I’m about to graduate and get my first full-time job in a couple of months. Meanwhile, I’m still living the poor plebeian life.

I always get the cheapest 39-cent no-name pasta. However, due to all the panic buying, almost all pasta was sold out.

But this grocery trip was different.

Except for the expensive brand pasta, which usually costs 1.43€, but it was reduced to 77 cents for some reason. It’s in a fancy carton package with a little see-through window. The cheap pasta I get is just in a plastic bag.

So I got the expensive pasta, but I still bought the cheapest pasta sauce for 79 cents. I cooked the pasta 15 minutes ago.

It was even better than he was expecting.

What the actual ****.

I cooked it, and it’s still thin. But it’s not hard. It’s stretchy, but it doesn’t rip.

It’s everything cheap pasta isn’t.

You don’t have to drown it in sauce until it’s edible—no, it tastes good even without the sauce. I mixed it with the sauce. What is this?

I didn’t know pasta could have physical properties like that. I can’t go back to 39-cent pasta.

Now imagine you’re rich and this ×100 is your average meal.

Perhaps this was a tiny glimpse of the good life ahead!

Reddit is sure to have some thoughts.

Sometimes the good stuff is worth a couple extra bucks.

Screenshot 2025 07 09 at 1.22.10 PM College Student Took Advantage Of A Sale On Expensive Pasta, So He Inadvertently Got A Taste Of The High Life

This user has a cost-effective cooking hack.

Screenshot 2025 07 09 at 1.23.44 PM College Student Took Advantage Of A Sale On Expensive Pasta, So He Inadvertently Got A Taste Of The High Life

There’s a reason why higher quality ingredients have a higher price tag.

Screenshot 2025 07 09 at 1.24.12 PM College Student Took Advantage Of A Sale On Expensive Pasta, So He Inadvertently Got A Taste Of The High Life

There’s actually an even higher tier of pasta out there.

Screenshot 2025 07 09 at 1.25.35 PM College Student Took Advantage Of A Sale On Expensive Pasta, So He Inadvertently Got A Taste Of The High Life

It may have been a small change, but it brought an unexpectedly delightful moment of joy to an otherwise ordinary day.

Never underestimate the power of a little treat.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a daughter who invited herself to her parents’ 40th anniversary vacation for all the wrong reasons.

Benjamin Cottrell | Assistant Editor, Internet Culture

Benjamin Cottrell is an Assistant Editor and contributing writer at TwistedSifter, specializing in internet culture, viral social dynamics, and the moral complexities of online communities. He brings a highly analytical, editorial voice to his reporting on workplace conflicts, malicious compliance, and interpersonal drama, with a specific focus on nuanced stories that lack an obvious villain.

As a published author of rhetorical criticism, Benjamin leverages his academic background in human communication to dissect and elevate viral social media threads. Instead of simply summarizing events, he provides readers with balanced, deep-dive commentary into why the internet reacts the way it does. In addition to his cultural reporting, he is an experienced fine art photography essayist and video game reviewer.

When he isn’t analyzing the latest viral debates, Benjamin is usually chipping away at his extensive video game backlog, hunting down the best new restaurants, or out exploring the city with a camera in hand.

Connect with Benjamin on Instagram and read more of his essays on Substack.