Whenever I hear Kraft mentioned, the first thing that comes to mind (at least for me) is usually their regular type that you can find anywhere: elbow noodles with a packet of powdered cheese sauce thrown into a box. While kids and anyone who wants a quick mac & cheese meal can greatly appreciate the fast preparation that the boxed stuff offers (made faster by the Easy-Mac meals!), I'm sure a lot of us crave something more homemade on our plates from time to time. I know for a fact my parents wouldn't touch boxed mac & cheese with a 10-foot pole, unless it was to feed us kids. Growing up, before I gained an appetite for cheeses, I was essentially the exact opposite; I always craved the more processed stuff. It seemed sweeter, more flavory to my young taste-buds, so when I did occasionally try home-made mac & cheese, something about the taste seemed off to me, and I tended to shy away from it for a while.
Nevertheless, my appetite finally did mature, and so I now greatly appreciate a good mac & cheese homemade casserole when it's offered to me. The cheese is typically more real cheddar, and there's usually a greater quantity of it. In short, though it's normally lacking extra sweetness in the cheese, it nourishes you, tastes and feels more like you're eating real food.
So what happens when the king of the mass-marketed noodle factory decides to tackle on a more homemade palette? You get the new Homestyle package you see above! It comes not just with cheese sauce, but also seasonings and... bread crumbs! How does it fare not just against other Kraft mac & cheeses but also in regards to what could be a relative's secret home-style recipe? Let's find out...
What I expected: Honestly, based on the portion size and what came with the package, I expected some slight variant of Kraft's other big seller, Velveeta, but with little crumblies.
What I got: A delicious hearty mac and cheese that I like better than the Velveeta stuff, with great flavor and texture to it. Not at all disappointed.
What similar-colored food I tried to pair with this meal: A dry, sad old orange that ended up not getting eaten since the juice was nearly dried up.
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| It's okay, sad orange. You'll always be #1 in our hearts! |
For this meal, I was going for an all-around "orange colored" assortment of food. Since the orange ended up not working out (and since my wife kindly pointed out that we needed to include some meat with this dinner), I ended up including the last of our Buffalo Chicken Bites... which did not-so-kindly burn my thumb orange. Other "orangy" sides included chopped carrots and peach green tea:
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| The peach "green" tea is O-R-A-N-G-E, I tell you! The tea-bag tag is orange, so it counts. |
Preparation:
When it comes to making the Homestyle mac & cheese, it actually starts out exactly the same as preparing any of the more processed cousins of the Kraft family. It's so home-made that the package actually forgets that a microwave even exists. You boil the water, throw the noodles in, heat & stir for 6-8 minutes, and drain the noodles when their done... only now, the journey continues as you place them right back on the burner minus the water.
For this part, unless you've got the butter, milk and sauces at the ready, be prepared to race against the clock as you're constantly stirring the noodles to avoid bottom stickiness while you get all the ingredients in. You'll be turning down the heat as you do this, although the stove will still likely be on full heat when you're ready for this part. Put the butter in first, then pour the milk, followed by adding the seasoning (smells almost like a Parmesan cheese), and then the cheese sauce. At first glance, it appears exactly like how the Velveeta cheese is, only it's got a darker hue and different smell.
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| Mount Goo-Cheesius erupting on the stove. |
After that, all that's left after mixing the cheeses is the bread crumbs, which actually emit a delicious baked smell that goes great with the mac & cheese. So there's a little more to it than your average box of Kraft, and I probably ended up with a little bit of sticky noodles on the bottom of the pan for clean-up, but otherwise, it's really not a whole lot harder to prepare for what you get.
Shape-o-meter:
For this, we get the big spirally elbow-noodles you'd find in the Velveeta mac & cheese, slightly larger than the ones you get in most other Kraft varieties. They never get too small, and even with my slight overcooking of the noodles, they retained enough solidarity to keep them great for the other ingredients.
Size-o-meter:
For this package, you get a real generous portion included. This could easily feed 4 people as a side, and split between a couple people, this will definitely be a big part of the meal for those that are really hungry. I don't see anyone finding this meal to be too small at all.
Flav-o-meter:
As a boxed mac & cheese emulating a homemade style, this truly succeeds. Both my wife and I were pleasantly surprised by how good this was. The cheese flavor was plentiful and you could tell that the added seasonings and bread crumbs really added to the lasting appeal of this dish, from the first bite all the way to the last. My only complaint I have is that it seemed to cool off quicker than a lot of the mac & cheeses usually do, but aside from that, I found nothing bad at all flavor-wise about this dish. Does it beat out the really good homemade baked mac & cheeses that chefs can customize to their liking? Probably not, but gosh darnit, I still loved it anyway!
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| Now there's a genuine homemade-looking mac & cheese! |
Nutriti-o-meter:
Being a bigger packaged serving than the other Kraft boxes, you'd do best to watch how much you intake if you're concerned about dieting. To make it healthier, you could probably tone down the butter usage a bit and still keep all the great taste. It is packed on the calories, so do keep this in mind when adding sides to it.
Overall:
For a homemade dish emulation, Kraft certainly doesn't disappoint here. It's a great, full dish that you can sink your teeth into and feel satisfied afterward. If you're someone who's always on the go, I'd probably skip it until you have more time, but when you can settle down and for those who do, you'd do well to keep this one on hand to enjoy. Parents can finally make something that's on a different level than all the other more "kiddy" mac & cheeses out there. It puts the class into mac & cheese without necessarily having all the extra preparation that the more homemade stuff can have. I'll definitely be buying this one again.
Hope this review was helpful and entertaining. Thank you for reading, and cheers!
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