Review: Kraft Macaroni & Cheese - Veggie Pasta

Veggie pasta?... Minus the visible veggies? I'm curious.

Most likely, anyone growing up in the United States who's ever had any mac and cheese will at least be familiar with Kraft. For a name brand variety, they've probably been the most consistently delivering company out there for boxed dinner mac and cheeses. There's a great deal of choices out there for most anyone's taste palate, save for those who don't really enjoy packaged mac and cheese.

If you've ever wondered what you're going to make for dinner, but don't seem to have the time to make a full-fledged multi-side meal, and often leave out the vegetables from the mix, Kraft has the answer for you: Add the vegetables into the mac and cheese! But wait, this sounds like something that anyone might do. Just throw them in the bowl and the kids will eat it and get their veggies for the day, right? Well, as many a parent out there knows that kids love to play with their food, and often if they see vegetables, they'll sooner pick them out than even think about ingesting them.

Well Kraft has an answer for this problem as well. Because they're not just putting vegetables in there. No, they're literally hiding them inside the creamy orange guise of what looks like an ordinary bowl of Kraft mac and cheese. Here's what the back of the box has to say:

Pretty cool. I'm totally getting in touch with my vegetableness... though I sure won't see any of it.

Just so I don't spoil right away what this ended up tasting like, I'll spare the "what I expected / what I got" details until the Flavo-Meter section near the end. The rest must be covered first before I can let out the big reveal of what it really tastes like (or you might just spoil the surprise for yourself and jump down to the end... up to you).

Pair-ability:
10-pieces of buffalo chicken bites (pretty good actually), plus a bowl of mixed fruit.

I think the orange in my mixed bowl of fruit looks cheesier than my mac and cheese.

Preparation: 
Making this mac and cheese is basically just like any other you've probably had: You boil your water, throw your noodles in, drain the water when it's done, and add the butter/milk/cheese sauce combo. It's pretty much the same deal as always. Clean-up is of course similar. You won't be scraping off any excess dried cheese, so this part is actually well done. Kraft has mastered their... craft... albeit with vegetables hiding inside the powdered cheese sauce.

Deceptive with its slightly off color, this one is.

Shape-o-meter:
These elbow noodles are the same as always. Nothing new here. They'll go firmer or softer depending on how long you cooked the noodles.

Size-o-meter:
Serving size is the same as a normal Kraft Mac and Cheese box. This one will feed two (with other meal items to go with them), and definitely feed any kids.

Nutriti-o-meter:
Where this Veggie Pasta scores very high on is this area. It's got most all the benefits of normal mac and cheese (high protein, high iron), plus with the added benefit of that extra half-serving of vegetables. Couple that with minimal butter and milk additions, and you've got yourself or your family a mac and cheese dish that you won't feel guilty at all eating. So it's a good choice for those looking for a healthy way of enjoying mac and cheese.

Flav-o-meter:

Now let's get to what my expectations and delivery of this meal entailed.

On the first bite, I thought this had an interesting taste to it, although I couldn't quite put my finger on exactly what it was. I felt like I've had it before, though it's been way too long for me to accurately pinpoint where it came from.

Thankfully, my wife was also there eating with me, and she quickly let me know exactly what she thought it tasted like. And once she revealed what it was, I too tasted it...

Before I say what it is, I'll let the pictures below do the talking...

What I expected:

Mac and cheese that thinks it's replacing your garden variety vegetables

What the box says I got:

Joy. I'm getting Cauliflower... that definitely does not taste like cauliflower...

What I got instead:

It's almost like peas but with that logo it-- (!) I knew it!

So let me get this straight... the box claims you're getting vegetables, while it actually gives you a smattering of finely chopped Cauliflower, but then the taste itself is just like Gerber Baby food with Peas? Definitely not going to be making this one again... at least not for me. There is very little actual cheese sauce, so it dried very quickly. On top of that, the cheesiness flavor was mostly absent as well! The Gerber Peas pretty much overtook the dish's taste.
 
Overall:
Parents, you now have a food you can perfectly substitute for your child's baby food, have him/her eat it without trouble, AND get their vegetables in. On that ground, Kraft's Veggie Pasta wins. As for everyone else, I'd say avoid.