The sauce was a bit too milky up front, but there's a nice tangy finish, and it has the most consistently cooked shells of the whole lot. Props to Annie's, the Tom's of Maine for pseudo-hippy foodstuffs, for trying its hand at pairing powdered cheese mix with shells. The paradox of Whole Foods' "deluxe" offering is bizarre: The cheese from the packet tastes more like real cheese than any other variety, and for that reason it suffers for being deficient in the processed salt flavor we know and love. That being said, a trip outside your comfort zone might be rewarding.ħ. If you're content eating this for the rest of life, by all means go for it. The brilliant, creamy classic that started it all, Kraft's original recipe is classic for a reason. The only knock on this powdered variety is the below-average sauce coverage, but the divinely saucy bites from the bottom of the bowl make this your best choice if you insist on braving the organic elements at Whole Foods or New Seasons. You've probably paid $10 for a salty pile of goodness like this at a mediocre brewpub, but now you know you can skip that whole scene and buy it directly from the source.ĥ.
KRAFT MAC AND CHEESE BEST VARIETY CRACKER
Though it's outclassed by Cracker Barrel, the original deserves credit for making a meal your body knows can't possibly be real taste so damn tasty. In the mac-and-cheese world, the word "deluxe" is synonymous with the velvety and luxurious cheese spread that slides out of a foil bag and into your mouth via tiny little elbow pastas. That distinct Kraft flavor we know and love is there, and it happens to be presented in weird little squares that are perfect vehicles for cheese delivery. My daughter’s comment summed it up best, “Daddy, the bunny doesn’t taste like anything.” Touché, little one.The peculiar shape of this cult-favorite Kraft variety creates an unfair advantage over the regular stuff, but SpongeBob rules, and everyone knows this is totally worth the extra 30 cents. Both my daughter and wife about gagged on the original variety from Annie’s. As long as we get the white cheddar or aged cheddar varieties everything is kosher. Much like my epic saga of toilet paper substitution, my wife was the harder sell but she has come to see the light. If a person does not recognize the ingredient should the person eat the food? Or is it food like product?įor the most part, my daughter has no issue with the Annie’s macaroni and cheese taking the place of the venerable blue box. What is milk protein concentrate? What is sodium tripolyphosphate? Yellow dye number 5 and 6? Isn’t cheddar cheese naturally colored? Oh wait, this is cheese sauce mix. Sort of like Taco Bell does not really sell you ground beef. For Annie’s again it is simple-cheddar cheese with the ingredients in the cheese listed. Why not just leave things alone in the first place. Take all of the nutrition out of the ingredients by refining the flour into a tasteless white mash and then add vitamins back in to make health claims. Why do we feel the need to enrich everything with industrially sourced nutrients? When will we get away from the fact that nutrition is about eating whole foods and not just the right molecules? I am assuming that the recipe is unleavened dough of durum wheat and water. For Annie’s it is organic pasta from durum wheat. I am guessing that this is because the Kraft version calls out half a stick of butter and 2% milk. It is interesting to note that the two products are quite similar from a nutrition perspective as boxed, but differ quite a bit when prepared. On the right is the same information for a box of traditional Kraft Mac n’ Cheese. On the right is the nutritional information and ingredients for a box of Annie’s Natural White Cheddar and Shells. Why? Take a look at the two labels below: The quandary comes when trying to pick what kind of box dinner to make:
On those nights when we let her pick dinner the answer is inevitably, “Mac and cheese with peas!” Since the ratio is about one to one peas to pasta I have no problem with this being her favorite dinner. The combination of dairy products and starch just strikes her fancy. It can be homemade from four kinds of cheese with a béchamel sauce or straight out of the box. My four year old daughter loves macaroni and cheese.