Kraft Mac & Cheese (ingredient, homemade, cream, meal)

[JustMike77]

Kraft "Deluxe" Mac & Cheese is one of my favorite comfort foods. I either add browned ground beef or a large can of Tuna (never thought of the peas). Then again, I also like Dinty Moore Beef Stew with egg noodles added, so there is that. If you're ever near a Noodles & Co restaurant, try their Wisconsin Mac & Cheese, it's to die for.

[Parnassia]

So much of comfort food love depends on the memories surrounding it. I can still remember the first time I ate Kraft M&C. Just past sunset on a boat anchored in a beautiful remote cove out of the weather, anchor chain rumbling a little as the gusts swing her around, rain thundering on the pilot house roof, feeling my toes starting to warm up after a long cold day working in the wet, big kettle on the stove hissing, fizzing and steaming up the cabin windows, smells of damp wool, fuel, raingear, and that tang of salt on your face, getting sleepy knowing your bunk is waiting for all your tired muscles. Even though there are others that might be "better", they'll never match it because of those memories.

[mainebrokerman]

havent had it for years but did as a kid..... my neighbor growing up .. it was his favorite dish/meal
he tried to eat it everyday his nicknamed was "mac" all the way thru school.


millions of college kids …… used this as a crutch for a quick meal.....

[Texas Ag 93]

Originally Posted by mainebrokerman

millions of college kids …… used this as a crutch for a quick meal.....

If I had to pick the single food that has been my favorite over the course of my entire life, I would probably pick Kraft Mac and Cheese. Original flavor only, no special shapes or flavors.

I used to eat it so often in college that a friend of mine bought me a case of it at Sam's for Hanukkah one year.

My kids are 11 and 8, and eat it only once in a while, so I only keep the EZ Mac around, and I only partake in it once every few months. It will never be as good as it was when I was 18 and would eat an entire box by myself.

[Brave New World]

Originally Posted by Texas Ag 93

If I had to pick the single food that has been my favorite over the course of my entire life, I would probably pick Kraft Mac and Cheese. Original flavor only, no special shapes or flavors.

I used to eat it so often in college that a friend of mine bought me a case of it at Sam's for Hanukkah one year.

My kids are 11 and 8, and eat it only once in a while, so I only keep the EZ Mac around, and I only partake in it once every few months. It will never be as good as it was when I was 18 and would eat an entire box by myself.

I think Mac & Cheese is well liked in many countries outside the US, however the US has akways really loved Mac & Cheese and helped make it a much more prominant dish, and you can buy Kraft Mac & Chesse in the UK.

I really love Mac & Cheese, indeed I like a lot of dishes and drinks that America has embraced with the exception of Root Beer.

[VTsnowbird]

I sometimes make Kraft and add some shredded cheddar and or mozzarella.

[TabulaRasa]

I really like mac and cheese, but have never liked classic Kraft (or any made with powdered cheese) , even as a small child. It always seems thin and watery and bland, the pasta thin and insubstantial. I much prefer a rich, actual cheese sauce, and large, curved macaroni that holds more of it.

[sheena12]

Originally Posted by fishbrains

Agreed. Annie’s is marginally ok, but homemade is superb.

Yes.It's edible and not filled with junk. When my kids were little they liked Annie's for lunch with a bowl of Annies tomato soup. Also better than Campbells.

[sheena12]

Originally Posted by thenwhatareyou

Yes, I guess it is kind of sad. I didn't mean for this post to be sad. I meant for it to be funny that my dog would lick the tv screen when she saw mac and cheese. Guess you missed the joke.
..
I don't know a dozen ways to make tuna enjoyable. Maybe you can make adding it with peas to kraft mac and cheese number 13.

Yes, I was a welfare kid. We had puffed rice or wheat for breakfast with powdered milk. However, we could put as much sugar on it as we wanted. In elementary school, we took our lunch with a nickel for a carton of milk. My lunch was one of the following: PB&J, 2 Hydrox cookies and one of those cheap apples that nobody wanted to eat. If there wasn't any peanut butter then we got margerine and jelly. If all else failed, we got Mayonnaise bread. When times were good, we got surplus cheese.

Ironically, my job for more than 20 years was to take clients out for dinner and wine and dine them to maintain the relationship or to obtain more clients. So yes, my diet became more adventurous. As much as Zagat would allow.

How funny, I still like to come home to a cheap box of wine, mac and cheese with tuna and peas and a dog that loves me.

What a sweet story! How interesting it is that your current job involved fine dining.
I've tried USDA cheese. I had a short job making recipes for recipients of a state Food and Nutrition program. The challenge was to use at least three FAN ingredients to make a wholesome meal.

Clients were givin puffed cerial, and canned fruit, (both OK but pretty blah) canned tuna (yuk) and really horrible canned meats that looked like dog frood. The canned vegetables were - well canned. They also got rice, pasta, a liqidy tomato sauce, grits, saltines, apple sauce, peanut butter, margerine, oatmeal, sugar, flower, and bags of potatoes, apples,raisens, cabbage, sometimes bananas, and carrots.

I did make up a Tuna Mac Casserole Recipe that was not too different from yours. In the test kitchen, I tried that USDA surplus cheese and I thought it was pretty good! MUCH better than those cheese slices that are wrapped in plastic.

My recipe was like yours except I added crumbled saltines or cornflakes dotted with margeine, and ccanned peas and carrots. Everyone liked it.

It was a rewarding and fun job!

[BigRedBeth]

Used to love tuna casserole made with Kraft mac and cheese! My recipe uses cream of mushroom soup.