Mac & Cheese Blue
January 30, 2023 8:38 AM Subscribe
“Kraft has seen the American people through economic hardship, world wars, and social movements. It is, without a doubt, the food of troubled times. The fact that any one of us can go to a grocery store and buy one of these boxes for about a dollar during a global pandemic, a time of unprecedented inflation in the midst of a looming recession, is astonishing.“An Ode to Kraft Dinner
Okay, now do Top Ramen.
posted by heyitsgogi at 9:00 AM on January 30, 2023 [9 favorites]
posted by heyitsgogi at 9:00 AM on January 30, 2023 [9 favorites]
I just had this the last couple of nights, but I am a fancy lady so I had the squeezy pouch kind with steamed broccoli stirred in. But I am not that fancy, so it was store brand.
posted by Countess Elena at 9:02 AM on January 30, 2023 [18 favorites]
posted by Countess Elena at 9:02 AM on January 30, 2023 [18 favorites]
I'd feel more warm and squishy about this story if I didn't live downwind from a Kraft plant, where noxious plastic odors frequently fill the neighborhood (and the leaves on the trees lining the plant property are all weirdly shrivelled).
posted by daisystomper at 9:11 AM on January 30, 2023 [24 favorites]
posted by daisystomper at 9:11 AM on January 30, 2023 [24 favorites]
I grew up on this stuff. my mom prided herself on buying Kraft and not some bargain brand. (she couldn't make it homemade if her life depended on it) so its very nostalgic for me.
I have become a much healthier eater, and probably a bit of a snob about it, so I generally don't eat m&c at all, and if I do its a fancy homemade one. but I'm not gonna lie, I just ate breakfast but I am fantasizing about a bowl of bright orange noodles right now.
posted by supermedusa at 9:17 AM on January 30, 2023 [7 favorites]
I have become a much healthier eater, and probably a bit of a snob about it, so I generally don't eat m&c at all, and if I do its a fancy homemade one. but I'm not gonna lie, I just ate breakfast but I am fantasizing about a bowl of bright orange noodles right now.
posted by supermedusa at 9:17 AM on January 30, 2023 [7 favorites]
Kraft Dinner is the Canadian dream. We buy 25% of boxes sold every week. Twice as much as Americans despite 1/10 the population. Prime Ministers have weighed in; one even claiming it was one of his favourite foods. Songs have been written. I mean we really like KD.
posted by Mitheral at 9:21 AM on January 30, 2023 [46 favorites]
posted by Mitheral at 9:21 AM on January 30, 2023 [46 favorites]
My oldest child was ridiculously picky as a kid and was put off by the brightness of the orange sauce, so we eat Amy's instead, the one with the bunny-shaped noodles, which is still orange but a bit less of a radioactive shade. Like the author of this piece's grandma I don't really measure when I cook and I add a bunch of full fat yogurt when I make bunny mac, so it's a much richer flavor than the recipe on the box; I was always trying to add extra fat and protein to my kid's diet back when I solidified my bunny mac recipe. The feta is a great idea. Like cake mixes, boxed mac and cheese really lends itself to customization. My friend in college would dump a can of corn into hers but I prefer peas if I'm going to add a veg to mine.
I have very happy childhood memories of name brand Kraft macaroni and cheese, though. It was one of the first things I learned to make by myself on the stove and I remember feeling so adult putting water on to boil, and mixing everything up real fast so the hot macaroni would melt the butter. Such a special treat that was only really on the menu when my parents were overwhelmed.
posted by potrzebie at 9:22 AM on January 30, 2023 [7 favorites]
I have very happy childhood memories of name brand Kraft macaroni and cheese, though. It was one of the first things I learned to make by myself on the stove and I remember feeling so adult putting water on to boil, and mixing everything up real fast so the hot macaroni would melt the butter. Such a special treat that was only really on the menu when my parents were overwhelmed.
posted by potrzebie at 9:22 AM on January 30, 2023 [7 favorites]
Kraft Dinner (or rather the store brand version, the President's Choice White Cheddar) got me through some financial tough times. In the 90s when I was poor, I could get a bag of frozen corn, a bag of frozen peas, and a box of ten PC-brand kraft dinners for about $2. I used to make a big mess of it on Sundays and dole it out for the week and toss them in the freezer and that was my lunches at work plus Sunday dinner. I have both positive and negative nostalgia about it.
posted by joannemerriam at 9:30 AM on January 30, 2023 [16 favorites]
posted by joannemerriam at 9:30 AM on January 30, 2023 [16 favorites]
I have a friend that has trouble with some dairy, so she makes her blue box with peanut butter. It’s fucking terrible, don’t try it.
posted by Grandysaur at 9:31 AM on January 30, 2023 [31 favorites]
posted by Grandysaur at 9:31 AM on January 30, 2023 [31 favorites]
And now for a word from our sponsors, Raid Shadow Legends and Kraft Foods Group, Inc.
Related: Making of the Super Mario Bros Kraft commercial
posted by AlSweigart at 9:36 AM on January 30, 2023 [1 favorite]
Related: Making of the Super Mario Bros Kraft commercial
posted by AlSweigart at 9:36 AM on January 30, 2023 [1 favorite]
I don't really care for Kraft mac and cheese, but this is a very good essay.
posted by box at 9:44 AM on January 30, 2023 [3 favorites]
posted by box at 9:44 AM on January 30, 2023 [3 favorites]
I enjoyed reading this.
My feta guy never let me down.
They rarely do! When I was in school, the guy at the mom and pop grocery store near campus (which had a deli counter with lots of feta) had me clocked because I was a student who would come in to buy a chunk of feta to take back to my dorm room fridge.
A few visits in, he said to me "You ever try Bulgarian feta?" No, I hadn't. "It's among the strongest and saltiest of the fetas," he said. He knew exactly what I needed.
All hail the feta guy.
Songs have been written.
One that immediately came to mind when I was reading the essay was Lisa Leblanc's "Kraft Dinner."
It's in French, but the refrain basically means "When you're eating Kraft dinner/It's all you need."
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 9:45 AM on January 30, 2023 [14 favorites]
My feta guy never let me down.
They rarely do! When I was in school, the guy at the mom and pop grocery store near campus (which had a deli counter with lots of feta) had me clocked because I was a student who would come in to buy a chunk of feta to take back to my dorm room fridge.
A few visits in, he said to me "You ever try Bulgarian feta?" No, I hadn't. "It's among the strongest and saltiest of the fetas," he said. He knew exactly what I needed.
All hail the feta guy.
Songs have been written.
One that immediately came to mind when I was reading the essay was Lisa Leblanc's "Kraft Dinner."
It's in French, but the refrain basically means "When you're eating Kraft dinner/It's all you need."
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 9:45 AM on January 30, 2023 [14 favorites]
Also, if we were rich, we wouldn't have to eat Kraft Dinner, but we would anyway!"
posted by Mogur at 9:51 AM on January 30, 2023 [24 favorites]
posted by Mogur at 9:51 AM on January 30, 2023 [24 favorites]
We'd just eat more! And buy really fancy ketchups with it!
posted by praemunire at 9:57 AM on January 30, 2023 [14 favorites]
posted by praemunire at 9:57 AM on January 30, 2023 [14 favorites]
When I moved off campus my junior year of college, I survived for the first few months on boxed mac & cheese and hot dogs, so I was turned off to it for a while, but I do eat Kraft Mac&Cheese (with or without hot dogs) pretty regularly, especially on those nights when neither my wife nor I feel like making anything close to resembling real food.
posted by briank at 9:58 AM on January 30, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by briank at 9:58 AM on January 30, 2023 [2 favorites]
I like eating ramen noodles dry and crunchy, which leaves me with many extra flavor packets, which I leave next to the Mac-a-chee. Because mac with spices is all that.
posted by clew at 10:11 AM on January 30, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by clew at 10:11 AM on January 30, 2023 [2 favorites]
Serious question for Americans: How many of y'all have always called it Kraft Dinner? For me It was always called Kraft Mac & Cheese. I'd only learned the term Kraft Dinner as an adult (quite possibly on Canadian MetaFilter® Your Source for Canadian Content on the Internet™).
posted by slogger at 10:16 AM on January 30, 2023 [31 favorites]
posted by slogger at 10:16 AM on January 30, 2023 [31 favorites]
I like eating ramen noodles dry and crunchy, which leaves me with many extra flavor packets
My wife makes a salad that's basically shredded cole slaw mix, toasted dry ramen, and some oil and vinegar mixed with the beef ramen flavor packet. It's amazing.
posted by uncleozzy at 10:19 AM on January 30, 2023 [12 favorites]
My wife makes a salad that's basically shredded cole slaw mix, toasted dry ramen, and some oil and vinegar mixed with the beef ramen flavor packet. It's amazing.
posted by uncleozzy at 10:19 AM on January 30, 2023 [12 favorites]
"The fact that any one of us can go to a grocery store and buy one of these boxes for about a dollar ..."I bristle whenever I see this kind of statement as it is almost always false and comes from some kind of privilege. No, everyone doesn't know a thing you know, everyone doesn't (or can't) do the things you do.
posted by achrise at 10:20 AM on January 30, 2023 [1 favorite]
I grew up on homemade mac and cheese, made with Velveeta! You may recoil in horror but it melts so much nicer than regular cheese.
These days I prefer the Trader Joe’s version. Add a bit of pecorino romano and butter and a cup of peas and it’s delicious!
posted by computech_apolloniajames at 10:21 AM on January 30, 2023 [4 favorites]
These days I prefer the Trader Joe’s version. Add a bit of pecorino romano and butter and a cup of peas and it’s delicious!
posted by computech_apolloniajames at 10:21 AM on January 30, 2023 [4 favorites]
U.S. mefite here - never ever called it Kraft Dinner. Also I recently met children who do not like mac and cheese (but otherwise follow the beige system of kids foods) and I was so confused.
posted by spamandkimchi at 10:21 AM on January 30, 2023 [9 favorites]
posted by spamandkimchi at 10:21 AM on January 30, 2023 [9 favorites]
Serious question for Americans: How many of y'all have always called it Kraft Dinner?
Definitely odd to call it Kraft Dinner in a headline about what it means to Americans, unless that means all North Americans. Growing up in Maine I ate a LOT of Canadian food but Kraft Mac & Cheese was always Kraft Mac & Cheese (or Macaroni & Cheese).
And while I don't have a million dollars, I do have enough dollars to not eat Mac & Cheese and I still eat it now and then. Easy, tasty, not completely devoid of nutrition. The perfect pantry backup.
Also, spirals forever.
posted by lampoil at 10:26 AM on January 30, 2023 [3 favorites]
Definitely odd to call it Kraft Dinner in a headline about what it means to Americans, unless that means all North Americans. Growing up in Maine I ate a LOT of Canadian food but Kraft Mac & Cheese was always Kraft Mac & Cheese (or Macaroni & Cheese).
And while I don't have a million dollars, I do have enough dollars to not eat Mac & Cheese and I still eat it now and then. Easy, tasty, not completely devoid of nutrition. The perfect pantry backup.
Also, spirals forever.
posted by lampoil at 10:26 AM on January 30, 2023 [3 favorites]
I never knew the term Kraft Dinner until the Barenaked Ladies song.
Like computech_apolloniajames, I grew up eating my mom's homemade with elbows, Velveeta, and milk. But the first time I had the boxed stuff at someone else's house I was hooked, mainly because of the shape of the noodles.
Also, has Kraft shrunk the size of their noodles in recent years? Nowadays when I have a craving I usually go with store brand.
posted by indexy at 10:30 AM on January 30, 2023 [3 favorites]
Like computech_apolloniajames, I grew up eating my mom's homemade with elbows, Velveeta, and milk. But the first time I had the boxed stuff at someone else's house I was hooked, mainly because of the shape of the noodles.
Also, has Kraft shrunk the size of their noodles in recent years? Nowadays when I have a craving I usually go with store brand.
posted by indexy at 10:30 AM on January 30, 2023 [3 favorites]
Another childhood recollection that sticks to mac and cheese for me is about diverticulitis. When I was little, a grownup I knew was sick with it, and I asked a relative, a doctor, what that meant. They told me what it was, which scared me. They said it meant you couldn't poop anymore, or at least that's what I heard them say, and that you could get it from eating too much mac and cheese "and stuff like that."
It certainly didn't make me stop eating macaroni and cheese. But ever since then, if it has at all been possible, I've made sure that I'm eating something "good" at the same meal or at least the same day. Hence the broccoli in the sauce. Also, it's tasty! Try it.
posted by Countess Elena at 10:36 AM on January 30, 2023 [5 favorites]
It certainly didn't make me stop eating macaroni and cheese. But ever since then, if it has at all been possible, I've made sure that I'm eating something "good" at the same meal or at least the same day. Hence the broccoli in the sauce. Also, it's tasty! Try it.
posted by Countess Elena at 10:36 AM on January 30, 2023 [5 favorites]
Kraft Dinner is the Canadian dream
Canadian KD is (was? It's been a while) way, way better than the American shit. That might explain some of its popularity here.
posted by klanawa at 10:52 AM on January 30, 2023 [6 favorites]
Canadian KD is (was? It's been a while) way, way better than the American shit. That might explain some of its popularity here.
posted by klanawa at 10:52 AM on January 30, 2023 [6 favorites]
I just had this the last couple of nights, but I am a fancy lady so I had the squeezy pouch kind with steamed broccoli stirred in. But I am not that fancy, so it was store brand.
I get the squeezy pouch ones, too, but that's because if I am making mac and cheese from a box, I want it to be the least effort possible. I actually slightly prefer the flavor of the ones you have to mix up.
posted by Dip Flash at 10:53 AM on January 30, 2023 [1 favorite]
I get the squeezy pouch ones, too, but that's because if I am making mac and cheese from a box, I want it to be the least effort possible. I actually slightly prefer the flavor of the ones you have to mix up.
posted by Dip Flash at 10:53 AM on January 30, 2023 [1 favorite]
Is the ultimate Canadian lunch a Kraft dinner with a side of ketchup chips?
posted by Ber at 11:02 AM on January 30, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by Ber at 11:02 AM on January 30, 2023 [1 favorite]
When I went to make Mac & Cheese like my mom made it for us, I could not figure out what I was doing wrong! It was way too liquid-y. Turned out: skip the milk, double the butter. It's the best.
And then, either with dinner or when you heat-up leftovers, crumble some cornbread in there (we used Jiffy, doubling-up on the boxed dinner items).
I also typically add some crispy broccoli and/or tofu -- mom always added Hillshire kielbasa, but I'm mostly veggie these days.
posted by curious nu at 11:10 AM on January 30, 2023 [1 favorite]
And then, either with dinner or when you heat-up leftovers, crumble some cornbread in there (we used Jiffy, doubling-up on the boxed dinner items).
I also typically add some crispy broccoli and/or tofu -- mom always added Hillshire kielbasa, but I'm mostly veggie these days.
posted by curious nu at 11:10 AM on January 30, 2023 [1 favorite]
The macaroni in that box is too small. Seriously, it has a very narrow bore so it cooks faster but that makes it hard to get it cooked enough at the same time. It goes almost immediately from not chewy to slimy.
Since I discovered that I can make my own cheese sauce with butter and flour and milk and some grated cheese in less than the time it makes to cook the macaroni I haven't been able to bring myself to eat the stuff. It doesn't help that the cheez sauce powder has been steadily changing recipe over the decades until it tastes like it is made with vegetable oil and artificial cheez flavour of the lowest quality. Wait? The Canadian kind is better than the American?? Wow, I struggle to imagine what the American stuff is like then.
Also, it sure ain't a dollar where I live. If you buy it by the case you can get the per box price down to near a dollar and a quarter.
Even so the stuff I make with real cheese sauce IS more expensive. I only make it because I like it better, and because it's not more expensive that the blue box stuff with some added cheese to try to make it more palatable. It still leaves me with an extra pot to wash.
I wonder if you could make up Kraft mac'n'cheese using the powder from a bag of doritos?
posted by Jane the Brown at 11:12 AM on January 30, 2023 [4 favorites]
Since I discovered that I can make my own cheese sauce with butter and flour and milk and some grated cheese in less than the time it makes to cook the macaroni I haven't been able to bring myself to eat the stuff. It doesn't help that the cheez sauce powder has been steadily changing recipe over the decades until it tastes like it is made with vegetable oil and artificial cheez flavour of the lowest quality. Wait? The Canadian kind is better than the American?? Wow, I struggle to imagine what the American stuff is like then.
Also, it sure ain't a dollar where I live. If you buy it by the case you can get the per box price down to near a dollar and a quarter.
Even so the stuff I make with real cheese sauce IS more expensive. I only make it because I like it better, and because it's not more expensive that the blue box stuff with some added cheese to try to make it more palatable. It still leaves me with an extra pot to wash.
I wonder if you could make up Kraft mac'n'cheese using the powder from a bag of doritos?
posted by Jane the Brown at 11:12 AM on January 30, 2023 [4 favorites]
This thread took me more than three and half minutes to read, so I'm going to sue all of you.
posted by anhedonic at 11:25 AM on January 30, 2023 [15 favorites]
posted by anhedonic at 11:25 AM on January 30, 2023 [15 favorites]
Another Canadian here. I ate a lot of this growing up but now it's about 1 box a year and that's enough to satisfy one of the several nostalgia based food cravings I occasionally succumb to.
Years ago I discovered, while drunk, that fresh ground pepper is wonderful on it. Butter, cream, and black pepper.
We always knew it as Kraft Dinner, then KD, and at a certain point in our late teens, my friends and I started referring to it as Yellow Death because that specific colour; the lovely, almost garishly neon golden yellow.
posted by Phlegmco(tm) at 11:37 AM on January 30, 2023 [3 favorites]
Years ago I discovered, while drunk, that fresh ground pepper is wonderful on it. Butter, cream, and black pepper.
We always knew it as Kraft Dinner, then KD, and at a certain point in our late teens, my friends and I started referring to it as Yellow Death because that specific colour; the lovely, almost garishly neon golden yellow.
posted by Phlegmco(tm) at 11:37 AM on January 30, 2023 [3 favorites]
Canadian KD is (was? It's been a while) way, way better than the American shit. That might explain some of its popularity here.--klanawa
I knew before that Kraft Mac&Cheese was simply called Kraft Dinner in Canada. It never occurred to me that the product might actually be different than what we have in the US, though. Has anyone done a side-by-side taste test between the two?
posted by eye of newt at 11:40 AM on January 30, 2023 [3 favorites]
I knew before that Kraft Mac&Cheese was simply called Kraft Dinner in Canada. It never occurred to me that the product might actually be different than what we have in the US, though. Has anyone done a side-by-side taste test between the two?
posted by eye of newt at 11:40 AM on January 30, 2023 [3 favorites]
Well if you want Cheetos dust instead of Doritos.
I really, Really, REALLY did not need to know that is a thing...
posted by supermedusa at 11:40 AM on January 30, 2023 [1 favorite]
I really, Really, REALLY did not need to know that is a thing...
posted by supermedusa at 11:40 AM on January 30, 2023 [1 favorite]
Is the ultimate Canadian lunch a Kraft dinner with a side of ketchup chips?
All Dressed, surely.
posted by joannemerriam at 11:41 AM on January 30, 2023 [10 favorites]
All Dressed, surely.
posted by joannemerriam at 11:41 AM on January 30, 2023 [10 favorites]
Mac & cheese & tuna peas was a staple in college. Exactly what it sounds like, and my wife and I discovered about that time that using plain yogurt instead of milk and butter made it tangy like it was made with extra sharp cheddar. Yum!
Once when we first lived together we were out of plain yogurt, so she tried using vanilla yogurt instead. Hard fail. I do not recommend this. It's been more than 25 years but we still laugh about that.
These days we buy the Annie's instead, but we still add tuna and peas more often than not. Once at the kid's suggestion we tried canned salmon instead of tuna, which wasn't bad at all. Ground beef (or fake meat crumbles) also work well.
posted by caution live frogs at 11:41 AM on January 30, 2023 [4 favorites]
Once when we first lived together we were out of plain yogurt, so she tried using vanilla yogurt instead. Hard fail. I do not recommend this. It's been more than 25 years but we still laugh about that.
These days we buy the Annie's instead, but we still add tuna and peas more often than not. Once at the kid's suggestion we tried canned salmon instead of tuna, which wasn't bad at all. Ground beef (or fake meat crumbles) also work well.
posted by caution live frogs at 11:41 AM on January 30, 2023 [4 favorites]
An ode to KD, told through an American lens, written by an author who is Canadian by birth and raised in an immigrant household where everyone denies having ever bought the stuff...seems quite fitting, some how.
posted by asnider at 11:44 AM on January 30, 2023 [3 favorites]
posted by asnider at 11:44 AM on January 30, 2023 [3 favorites]
Oh I miss it so much, it was my favorite food when I was a child. But the thing is, I really don't like it anymore. What I miss is the feeling of happiness and complete satisfaction, but when I buy a box and try it, it is disgusting. It's really weird. My children won't touch it with a barge pole, never would. They are spoilt.
posted by mumimor at 11:46 AM on January 30, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by mumimor at 11:46 AM on January 30, 2023 [2 favorites]
American living in Canada and yeah, KD does tasted markedly better than the US version. I have no idea why.
posted by Kitteh at 11:48 AM on January 30, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by Kitteh at 11:48 AM on January 30, 2023 [1 favorite]
Hot tip for Canadian MeFites: You can buy KD cheese powder at Bulk Barn and use it in whatever pasta (or other dishes) you like. I often use it to essentially make regular KD with whatever (usually better quality) noodles we have in the house, but I'll also sometimes use it to punch up a fancier, home-style mac and cheese recipe.
posted by asnider at 11:48 AM on January 30, 2023 [6 favorites]
posted by asnider at 11:48 AM on January 30, 2023 [6 favorites]
1) The same size and color of box is sold / labeled in Canada as 'Kraft Dinner' and the US as 'Kraft Macaroni & Cheese'. Whether the 'recipe' for the orange cheese powder differs between the two, I cannot say.
Perhaps it just tastes better when eaten in Canada. Or made with homo milk from a bag. I welcome a side by side.
2) Yes, it's not particularly delicious or nutritious; so if you're having it for the first time, you might say WHY???
But people have fond associations with it from childhood - as mentioned, it is a staple in the common 'picky eater phase' - or from Student / Broke Life when it was a cheap way to fill yer belly with buttery carbs.
3) Servings per package: 3. Ha, No. Perhaps for a small child. But as a solo teen or adult, part of the point of a Kraft Mac&Cheese Dinner meal is that you're going to enter 'goblin mode' and eat the whole thing yourself. It's a way to recover calories burned during ice hockey practice for cheap. In uni I knew a muscle-y rock/punk/metal drummer who would sometimes play double gigs - one for his band, then fill in for another band's drummer. He'd come home sweaty and exhausted, make TWO boxes at once, eat the whole thing, then go comatose for six hours before going to morning classes.
4) grilled hot dogs cut up, sriracha (rooster) sauce, fresh ground black pepper and green peas
posted by bartleby at 11:49 AM on January 30, 2023 [10 favorites]
Perhaps it just tastes better when eaten in Canada. Or made with homo milk from a bag. I welcome a side by side.
2) Yes, it's not particularly delicious or nutritious; so if you're having it for the first time, you might say WHY???
But people have fond associations with it from childhood - as mentioned, it is a staple in the common 'picky eater phase' - or from Student / Broke Life when it was a cheap way to fill yer belly with buttery carbs.
3) Servings per package: 3. Ha, No. Perhaps for a small child. But as a solo teen or adult, part of the point of a Kraft Mac&Cheese Dinner meal is that you're going to enter 'goblin mode' and eat the whole thing yourself. It's a way to recover calories burned during ice hockey practice for cheap. In uni I knew a muscle-y rock/punk/metal drummer who would sometimes play double gigs - one for his band, then fill in for another band's drummer. He'd come home sweaty and exhausted, make TWO boxes at once, eat the whole thing, then go comatose for six hours before going to morning classes.
4) grilled hot dogs cut up, sriracha (rooster) sauce, fresh ground black pepper and green peas
posted by bartleby at 11:49 AM on January 30, 2023 [10 favorites]
Definitely odd to call it Kraft Dinner in a headline about what it means to Americans
The author is originally from Canada, but it does seem odd that the headline editor wouldn't change it given that it seems to be intended for a primarily US American audience.
posted by asnider at 11:54 AM on January 30, 2023
The author is originally from Canada, but it does seem odd that the headline editor wouldn't change it given that it seems to be intended for a primarily US American audience.
posted by asnider at 11:54 AM on January 30, 2023
I leave in the northeastern US and had also never heard the term Kraft Dinner till the BareNaked ladies song. But boxed mac and cheese with peas and either hot dogs or tuna mixed is still comfort food. I do also love home-made mac and cheese, but consider it to be a completely different meal (one that I never make myself, I tend to default to cauliflower cheese if I'm going to make cheese sauce.)
Then again, I tend to just eat the generic store brand, because to the very limited extent that I can tell a difference between that and Kraft, I actually kind of prefer the former (maybe because I grew up with the store brands, or maybe my taste buds are just weird.) On a budget perspective; I can still get the store brand for $1 a box around here, at least on sale, whereas Kraft has been more than that for years already; since I can't tell the difference, why would I pay an extra 50-100%?
posted by Dorothea Ladislaw at 12:00 PM on January 30, 2023 [1 favorite]
Then again, I tend to just eat the generic store brand, because to the very limited extent that I can tell a difference between that and Kraft, I actually kind of prefer the former (maybe because I grew up with the store brands, or maybe my taste buds are just weird.) On a budget perspective; I can still get the store brand for $1 a box around here, at least on sale, whereas Kraft has been more than that for years already; since I can't tell the difference, why would I pay an extra 50-100%?
posted by Dorothea Ladislaw at 12:00 PM on January 30, 2023 [1 favorite]
The recipe changed in 2016 and it now tastes the way Elmer’s glue smells. People’s nostalgia for boxed mac and cheese is not for the current horrible product.
posted by corey flood at 12:00 PM on January 30, 2023 [3 favorites]
posted by corey flood at 12:00 PM on January 30, 2023 [3 favorites]
lol I have never in my adult life not eaten the whole box in one sitting (generally alone, to fully enjoy goblin mode). my inner child is a purist and generally disdains add-ins but I agree, black pepper does add some zing.
posted by supermedusa at 12:01 PM on January 30, 2023 [4 favorites]
posted by supermedusa at 12:01 PM on January 30, 2023 [4 favorites]
Ate it a lot growing up, but ever since discovering Alton Brown's recipe for homemade stovetop mac n cheese, I have stuck to the homemade stuff.
posted by COD at 12:03 PM on January 30, 2023 [10 favorites]
posted by COD at 12:03 PM on January 30, 2023 [10 favorites]
I never had the stuff when I was a young kid because my mom wasn't one for prepared foods but as a teenager when I started making random meals for myself the advertising must have gotten to me and I ended up buying some. It's never been something I ate too regularly, Mr. Noodles ramen filled my stomach in my broke student days, but I did like the stuff enough to even buy some from the foreign food stores in Japan for exorbitant prices every couple of months when I lived there.
Nowadays I'll give it to my kids as a meal of last resort when I can't think of anything else to make or they keep vetoing everything else (my kids will eat a lot of things but they are also way too picky about their lunches, if they get a sandwich 2 days in a row they will complain and may not even eat it, I'm pretty sure I had sandwiches for the entirety of my school years). I will buy KD instead of the store brand stuff because their orange mac and cheese powder never dissolves as nicely. The white cheddar dissolves better but to me if you're going to eat mac and cheese it may as well be the orange stuff because who are you trying to kid here?
posted by any portmanteau in a storm at 12:03 PM on January 30, 2023 [1 favorite]
Nowadays I'll give it to my kids as a meal of last resort when I can't think of anything else to make or they keep vetoing everything else (my kids will eat a lot of things but they are also way too picky about their lunches, if they get a sandwich 2 days in a row they will complain and may not even eat it, I'm pretty sure I had sandwiches for the entirety of my school years). I will buy KD instead of the store brand stuff because their orange mac and cheese powder never dissolves as nicely. The white cheddar dissolves better but to me if you're going to eat mac and cheese it may as well be the orange stuff because who are you trying to kid here?
posted by any portmanteau in a storm at 12:03 PM on January 30, 2023 [1 favorite]
The recipe changed in 2016 and it now tastes the way Elmer’s glue smells. People’s nostalgia for boxed mac and cheese is not for the current horrible product.
Ah! That explains a lot!
posted by mumimor at 12:06 PM on January 30, 2023
Ah! That explains a lot!
posted by mumimor at 12:06 PM on January 30, 2023
One dollar a box is not dodging inflation. But box m&c was a good income indicator, when I was scraping the bottom, I'd get the white box generic, five for a dollar. Doing a little better, Kraft at four for a dollar. Really flush, Kraft and a half pound of chopped meat to mix in.
One thing that really has dodged inflation is soda. In 1975, we were buying two-quart bottles of coke for one dollar, and if you shop around on a holiday week, you can find a five two-liters for five dollars deal.
posted by Marky at 12:08 PM on January 30, 2023 [4 favorites]
One thing that really has dodged inflation is soda. In 1975, we were buying two-quart bottles of coke for one dollar, and if you shop around on a holiday week, you can find a five two-liters for five dollars deal.
posted by Marky at 12:08 PM on January 30, 2023 [4 favorites]
Related: The US strategic cheese reserve currently clocks in at 1.5 billion pounds, most of it stored in a massive underground warehouse (a former limestone quarry) outside of Springfield, Missouri. Because farmers produce more milk than people consume, the US buys it in the form of cheese and parks it in storage. The reserve has grown over the years, suggesting that the practice is not sustainable.
posted by CheeseDigestsAll at 12:17 PM on January 30, 2023 [10 favorites]
posted by CheeseDigestsAll at 12:17 PM on January 30, 2023 [10 favorites]
Kraft Dinner and PC White Cheddar mac and cheese were two of my nostalgic comfort foods and a go-to easy camping food, but sadly after I got COVID last spring my sense of taste changed for a number of different foods. One of them was box mac and cheese of any type, which overwhelmingly tastes of rancid fat to me now. I still make an attempt to eat it every so often, as my kids love it, but nope.
posted by fimbulvetr at 12:29 PM on January 30, 2023
posted by fimbulvetr at 12:29 PM on January 30, 2023
6oz macaroni
6oz evaporated milk
6oz grated melting cheese (grated yourself; no pre-grated)
Salt (to taste)
Put macaroni in pot. Add enough cold water to just BARELY cover. Boil until not quite al dente. DO NOT DRAIN!
Pour in evaporated milk, bring to a boil and then add cheese. Reduce heat to low. Stir continuously until cheese is melted and has formed a sauce (roughly two minutes). Add salt to taste.
Best part is, the ratio holds, so if you've got a 5oz can of evaporated milk, then just do 5oz of everything. Or 16oz. Or whatever. You can add butter, if you like, or sriracha, or whatever extra flavors you desire.
FOR THE LOVE OF GOD remember that evaporated milk is NOT THE SAME as condensed milk!!
If you use condensed milk you're gonna have a bad time. Thank Kenji Lopez-Alt once you've finished eating.
posted by aramaic at 12:49 PM on January 30, 2023 [10 favorites]
6oz evaporated milk
6oz grated melting cheese (grated yourself; no pre-grated)
Salt (to taste)
Put macaroni in pot. Add enough cold water to just BARELY cover. Boil until not quite al dente. DO NOT DRAIN!
Pour in evaporated milk, bring to a boil and then add cheese. Reduce heat to low. Stir continuously until cheese is melted and has formed a sauce (roughly two minutes). Add salt to taste.
Best part is, the ratio holds, so if you've got a 5oz can of evaporated milk, then just do 5oz of everything. Or 16oz. Or whatever. You can add butter, if you like, or sriracha, or whatever extra flavors you desire.
FOR THE LOVE OF GOD remember that evaporated milk is NOT THE SAME as condensed milk!!
If you use condensed milk you're gonna have a bad time. Thank Kenji Lopez-Alt once you've finished eating.
posted by aramaic at 12:49 PM on January 30, 2023 [10 favorites]
I never had KD growing up until I was 10 or so and a barely older babysitter made it for me and my sister (with ketchup and black pepper).
It was... palatable? I preferred Asian packet ramen.
I think I've only ever hadKD Kraft M&C once again, in college that a friend made for me.
Nope, not my thing. I will make the real stuff from roux, though I prefer carbonara better, but M&C can be reheated.
posted by porpoise at 1:03 PM on January 30, 2023
It was... palatable? I preferred Asian packet ramen.
I think I've only ever had
Nope, not my thing. I will make the real stuff from roux, though I prefer carbonara better, but M&C can be reheated.
posted by porpoise at 1:03 PM on January 30, 2023
We only got mac and cheese once in a blue moon when I was a kid because my family was both healthy and cheap - everything was always from scratch. As a result, I think it is incredibly delicious.
posted by Frowner at 1:07 PM on January 30, 2023 [6 favorites]
posted by Frowner at 1:07 PM on January 30, 2023 [6 favorites]
Alton Brown's recipe for homemade stovetop mac n cheese,
As commented slightly below, it's the Kenji Lopez-Alt no-drain recipe that's the perfect one-pot homemade creamy mac. I particularly like that I don't have to memorize a recipe --- it's literally a 1:1:1 ratio (treating fluid and weight ounces as the same unit, and using whichever is appropriate for each ingredient).
posted by jackbishop at 1:08 PM on January 30, 2023 [3 favorites]
As commented slightly below, it's the Kenji Lopez-Alt no-drain recipe that's the perfect one-pot homemade creamy mac. I particularly like that I don't have to memorize a recipe --- it's literally a 1:1:1 ratio (treating fluid and weight ounces as the same unit, and using whichever is appropriate for each ingredient).
posted by jackbishop at 1:08 PM on January 30, 2023 [3 favorites]
Helen Witty recommends dehydrating cheese if you want to make very cheesy recipes, so if you have an excess of cheese you like - perhaps diverted from a national oversupply - you could set yourself up with, as it were, homemade packaged.
posted by clew at 1:15 PM on January 30, 2023
posted by clew at 1:15 PM on January 30, 2023
When I moved out, I was deeply shocked to discover that the blue box mac & cheese my mom always made was DISGUSTING! Like, it was flavorless and had almost no cheese to speak of. So I called my mom, distraught that I'd some how managed to screw up boxed mac & cheese. After listening to my histrionics, she chuckled quietly and said, "I guess you really never noticed that put cheese slices in before I served it." Turns out, she'd been putting 3 Kraft singles slices in after the orange powder went in. 17 years of living with her, 10 or so of cooking with her, and I'd never noticed. She was so sly, she would even put the slices in when I cooked the mac & cheese when I was distracted with other things.
And now you all know the secret family recipe of our mac & cheese.
posted by teleri025 at 1:15 PM on January 30, 2023 [8 favorites]
And now you all know the secret family recipe of our mac & cheese.
posted by teleri025 at 1:15 PM on January 30, 2023 [8 favorites]
A box of this Mac & Cheese plus a can of Hormel Chili Con Carne, eaten right from the pan without sharing. (And strain it with the back of a spoon to save making the colander dirty, minimizing dishes!)
posted by wenestvedt at 1:17 PM on January 30, 2023 [5 favorites]
posted by wenestvedt at 1:17 PM on January 30, 2023 [5 favorites]
The US strategic cheese reserve currently clocks in at 1.5 billion pounds. ... suggesting that the practice is not sustainable
WILLING TO SERVE MY COUNTRY!
posted by wenestvedt at 1:20 PM on January 30, 2023 [15 favorites]
WILLING TO SERVE MY COUNTRY!
posted by wenestvedt at 1:20 PM on January 30, 2023 [15 favorites]
Three thoughts:
1) I have no doubt that the Canadian version is superior to the US version. My wife and I recently visited Buffalo / Niagara Falls (to see OK Go!) and everything in Canada was so, so much better. The Canadian Tim Hortons we visited was immaculate, the food was some of the best "fast food" and coffee that I've ever had, the employees were fun and helpful. So we wanted the same thing while we were staying on the Buffalo side. Ouch. The US Timmy's was dirty. One whole side of the store seemed to have gotten invaded by wasps of some kind and their dead and dying bodies were scattered every place. The coffee was terrible. The donuts tasted frozen, and the breakfast sandwiches were easily several steps lower than a vacuum sealed gas station microwave sandwich. 1 bite in and we threw it all away. Possibly some of the worst food I've had ever and I used to eat a lot of White Castle. McDonald's was the same way. I don't ever eat at US McDonald's anymore but the Canadian Big Mac was just what I remember US Big Macs tasting like 40 years ago. Bravo Canada. You haven't let your food go to shit like the US has.
2) I really like the store brand (IGA specifically) Mac and Cheese too. I get the feeling that Kraft changed the cheese recipe to be a lot more acidic like Unilever did to Ranch dressing so that it would be shelf stable for a longer time. The Kraft version is awful, like original Mac & Cheese plus a huge dollop of vinegar. It just ruined the taste across the board and that seems to be the case for both the envelopes of cheese powder as well as the squishy cheese packets. Next time we make it to the great white north, we'll be bringing home a suitcase full of Kraft Dinner, All dressed chips and Nestle Kit Kats.
3) I'm stunned that nobody has reposted the recipe for Greasy Honkey pie from 2010.
posted by ensign_ricky at 1:26 PM on January 30, 2023 [5 favorites]
1) I have no doubt that the Canadian version is superior to the US version. My wife and I recently visited Buffalo / Niagara Falls (to see OK Go!) and everything in Canada was so, so much better. The Canadian Tim Hortons we visited was immaculate, the food was some of the best "fast food" and coffee that I've ever had, the employees were fun and helpful. So we wanted the same thing while we were staying on the Buffalo side. Ouch. The US Timmy's was dirty. One whole side of the store seemed to have gotten invaded by wasps of some kind and their dead and dying bodies were scattered every place. The coffee was terrible. The donuts tasted frozen, and the breakfast sandwiches were easily several steps lower than a vacuum sealed gas station microwave sandwich. 1 bite in and we threw it all away. Possibly some of the worst food I've had ever and I used to eat a lot of White Castle. McDonald's was the same way. I don't ever eat at US McDonald's anymore but the Canadian Big Mac was just what I remember US Big Macs tasting like 40 years ago. Bravo Canada. You haven't let your food go to shit like the US has.
2) I really like the store brand (IGA specifically) Mac and Cheese too. I get the feeling that Kraft changed the cheese recipe to be a lot more acidic like Unilever did to Ranch dressing so that it would be shelf stable for a longer time. The Kraft version is awful, like original Mac & Cheese plus a huge dollop of vinegar. It just ruined the taste across the board and that seems to be the case for both the envelopes of cheese powder as well as the squishy cheese packets. Next time we make it to the great white north, we'll be bringing home a suitcase full of Kraft Dinner, All dressed chips and Nestle Kit Kats.
3) I'm stunned that nobody has reposted the recipe for Greasy Honkey pie from 2010.
posted by ensign_ricky at 1:26 PM on January 30, 2023 [5 favorites]
She was so sly, she would even put the slices in when I cooked the mac & cheese when I was distracted with other things.
HAHA, that reminds me of my gran. Her pan gravy was the most incredible gravy known to humanity, and no-one could replicate it, though everyone tried. Somehow, she always managed to get us out of the kitchen (where we were diligently helping and also spying) at the the strategic moments. Though she taught me most other recipes, I'm pretty sure her plan was to take this with her into her grave, along with the liver paté where she literally handed over the wrong recipes to my aunt and cousin.
But one day I came back to the kitchen after being sent out on some chore, and caught her pouring generous amounts of ketchup into the gravy. That wasn't the only secret ingredient, but knowing about the ketchup, I could begin to unravel the mystery. She was the type of old European lady who would never admit to using ketchup, officially, the bottle was only there for when us kids had hotdogs.
posted by mumimor at 1:28 PM on January 30, 2023 [12 favorites]
HAHA, that reminds me of my gran. Her pan gravy was the most incredible gravy known to humanity, and no-one could replicate it, though everyone tried. Somehow, she always managed to get us out of the kitchen (where we were diligently helping and also spying) at the the strategic moments. Though she taught me most other recipes, I'm pretty sure her plan was to take this with her into her grave, along with the liver paté where she literally handed over the wrong recipes to my aunt and cousin.
But one day I came back to the kitchen after being sent out on some chore, and caught her pouring generous amounts of ketchup into the gravy. That wasn't the only secret ingredient, but knowing about the ketchup, I could begin to unravel the mystery. She was the type of old European lady who would never admit to using ketchup, officially, the bottle was only there for when us kids had hotdogs.
posted by mumimor at 1:28 PM on January 30, 2023 [12 favorites]
I grew up on this stuff. my mom prided herself on buying Kraft and not some bargain brand. (she couldn't make it homemade if her life depended on it) so its very nostalgic for me.
I have become a much healthier eater, and probably a bit of a snob about it, so I generally don't eat m&c at all, and if I do its a fancy homemade one. but I'm not gonna lie, I just ate breakfast but I am fantasizing about a bowl of bright orange noodles right now.
It was the reverse for me. My parents were all about the homemade, healthy, all-natural cooking, so mac and cheese in our house was from scratch only. I would eat it but never really loved it. Then at some point in elementary school I was having dinner at a friend's house and his mother brought out the glowing yellow instant mac and cheese, and my mind was blown. I only got to eat it extremely infrequently since it was a hard no for my parents, but once in a while I'd get lucky and be at someone's house when it was served. I loved it just like I loved the occasional sandwich I'd get served made with sliced white bread and baloney -- it was neat to eat "normal" food instead of the homemade food that got me made fun of at lunch time.
Now I much prefer the homemade variety (and am appreciative of all the work my parents did trying to feed us good food, in ways I wasn't at the time), but I always keep some of the instant in the cupboard and every so often it just hits the spot.
posted by Dip Flash at 1:38 PM on January 30, 2023 [6 favorites]
I have become a much healthier eater, and probably a bit of a snob about it, so I generally don't eat m&c at all, and if I do its a fancy homemade one. but I'm not gonna lie, I just ate breakfast but I am fantasizing about a bowl of bright orange noodles right now.
It was the reverse for me. My parents were all about the homemade, healthy, all-natural cooking, so mac and cheese in our house was from scratch only. I would eat it but never really loved it. Then at some point in elementary school I was having dinner at a friend's house and his mother brought out the glowing yellow instant mac and cheese, and my mind was blown. I only got to eat it extremely infrequently since it was a hard no for my parents, but once in a while I'd get lucky and be at someone's house when it was served. I loved it just like I loved the occasional sandwich I'd get served made with sliced white bread and baloney -- it was neat to eat "normal" food instead of the homemade food that got me made fun of at lunch time.
Now I much prefer the homemade variety (and am appreciative of all the work my parents did trying to feed us good food, in ways I wasn't at the time), but I always keep some of the instant in the cupboard and every so often it just hits the spot.
posted by Dip Flash at 1:38 PM on January 30, 2023 [6 favorites]
ah I love marketing bullshit like this because it's so transparently cringy
results for 'kraft foods human rights':
Violation Tracker Current Parent Company Summary
Current Parent Company Name: Kraft Heinz
Penalty total since 2000: $107,784,894
Number of records: 94
Know the Chain: The Kraft Heinz Company
The Kraft Heinz Company (Kraft Heinz), a US company whose products include condiments, sauces, dairy products, meats, and coffee, ranks 27th out of 43 companies and discloses less information on its forced labor policies and practices than its peers. Since 2018, the company has taken only limited steps to improve (namely disclosing a human rights risk assessment on its supply chains and some information on its process for responding to grievances).
Kraft Heinz Opposes Sustainability Shareholder Resolutions
3 Black former Kraft Heinz workers sue for $30M, allege rampant racist abuse at Tulare plant
Kraft Foods Workers in Argentina Occupy Factory
In the Kraft Foods cookie and candy factory north of Buenos Aires, management refused to act on simple, government-proposed safety measures against swine flu—such as paper towels--and touched off a firestorm of worker discontent that included a 38-day sit-in, a police attack, and marches of thousands of supporters. Management’s response to the swine flu threat in July was to close the factory daycare center.
Unilever and Kraft call plantations using trafficked and child labor "sustainable."
and that's just one search encompassing 5 minutes of work! imagine the results if I were getting paid to pen a 3000 word ode to a giant corporation
posted by paimapi at 1:53 PM on January 30, 2023 [4 favorites]
results for 'kraft foods human rights':
Violation Tracker Current Parent Company Summary
Current Parent Company Name: Kraft Heinz
Penalty total since 2000: $107,784,894
Number of records: 94
Know the Chain: The Kraft Heinz Company
The Kraft Heinz Company (Kraft Heinz), a US company whose products include condiments, sauces, dairy products, meats, and coffee, ranks 27th out of 43 companies and discloses less information on its forced labor policies and practices than its peers. Since 2018, the company has taken only limited steps to improve (namely disclosing a human rights risk assessment on its supply chains and some information on its process for responding to grievances).
Kraft Heinz Opposes Sustainability Shareholder Resolutions
3 Black former Kraft Heinz workers sue for $30M, allege rampant racist abuse at Tulare plant
Kraft Foods Workers in Argentina Occupy Factory
In the Kraft Foods cookie and candy factory north of Buenos Aires, management refused to act on simple, government-proposed safety measures against swine flu—such as paper towels--and touched off a firestorm of worker discontent that included a 38-day sit-in, a police attack, and marches of thousands of supporters. Management’s response to the swine flu threat in July was to close the factory daycare center.
Unilever and Kraft call plantations using trafficked and child labor "sustainable."
and that's just one search encompassing 5 minutes of work! imagine the results if I were getting paid to pen a 3000 word ode to a giant corporation
posted by paimapi at 1:53 PM on January 30, 2023 [4 favorites]
Discomforting comfort foods: stirring the pot on Kraft Dinner® and social inequality in Canada
Our thematic analysis shows that food-secure Canadians tend to associate Kraft Dinner® with comfort, while food-insecure Canadians tend to associate Kraft Dinner® with discomfort. These differences in perspective partly stem from the fact that Kraft Dinner® consumption by food-secure Canadians is voluntary whereas Kraft Dinner® consumption by food-insecure Canadians frequently is obligatory.
These differences are magnified by the fact that food-insecure individuals are frequently obliged to consume Kraft Dinner® that has been prepared without milk, a fact that is outside the experience of, and unappreciated by, people who are food-secure. The food-secure perspective influences responses to food insecurity, as Kraft Dinner® is commonly donated by food-secure people to food banks and other food relief projects.
Ignorance among food-secure people of what it is like to be food-insecure, we conclude, partly accounts for the perpetuation of local food charity as the dominant response to food insecurity in Canada.
Kraft Foods Bites Into Labor Struggles in Tunisia and Egypt
At an Alexandria factory that came under Kraft’s control with the takeover of Cadbury, IUF reported this week, “Kraft has sacked five members of the board of the newly created independent union… following a protest over the non-payment of a government-decreed social allowance.” According to IUF, in order to squelch the union (which is supported by IUF and has enrolled most of the plant’s 300 workers) the company flouted both the social allowance policy and basic labor rights, and tried to justify its move by alleging the sacked members had “caused loss to the company by having instigated the protest.”
posted by paimapi at 2:10 PM on January 30, 2023 [7 favorites]
Our thematic analysis shows that food-secure Canadians tend to associate Kraft Dinner® with comfort, while food-insecure Canadians tend to associate Kraft Dinner® with discomfort. These differences in perspective partly stem from the fact that Kraft Dinner® consumption by food-secure Canadians is voluntary whereas Kraft Dinner® consumption by food-insecure Canadians frequently is obligatory.
These differences are magnified by the fact that food-insecure individuals are frequently obliged to consume Kraft Dinner® that has been prepared without milk, a fact that is outside the experience of, and unappreciated by, people who are food-secure. The food-secure perspective influences responses to food insecurity, as Kraft Dinner® is commonly donated by food-secure people to food banks and other food relief projects.
Ignorance among food-secure people of what it is like to be food-insecure, we conclude, partly accounts for the perpetuation of local food charity as the dominant response to food insecurity in Canada.
Kraft Foods Bites Into Labor Struggles in Tunisia and Egypt
At an Alexandria factory that came under Kraft’s control with the takeover of Cadbury, IUF reported this week, “Kraft has sacked five members of the board of the newly created independent union… following a protest over the non-payment of a government-decreed social allowance.” According to IUF, in order to squelch the union (which is supported by IUF and has enrolled most of the plant’s 300 workers) the company flouted both the social allowance policy and basic labor rights, and tried to justify its move by alleging the sacked members had “caused loss to the company by having instigated the protest.”
posted by paimapi at 2:10 PM on January 30, 2023 [7 favorites]
One thing that really has dodged inflation is soda. In 1975, we were buying two-quart bottles of coke for one dollar, and if you shop around on a holiday week, you can find a five two-liters for five dollars deal.
Unless you are out in the world, attempting to order a soda at a bar or event. I accidentally bought myself a five dollar can of coca-cola last week.
posted by We put our faith in Blast Hardcheese at 2:24 PM on January 30, 2023 [4 favorites]
Unless you are out in the world, attempting to order a soda at a bar or event. I accidentally bought myself a five dollar can of coca-cola last week.
posted by We put our faith in Blast Hardcheese at 2:24 PM on January 30, 2023 [4 favorites]
We always knew it as Kraft Dinner, then KD, and at a certain point in our late teens, my friends and I started referring to it as Yellow Death
I tried calling it Kilo Delta but it didn't catch on :^(
posted by GCU Sweet and Full of Grace at 2:33 PM on January 30, 2023 [3 favorites]
I tried calling it Kilo Delta but it didn't catch on :^(
posted by GCU Sweet and Full of Grace at 2:33 PM on January 30, 2023 [3 favorites]
I love marketing bullshit like this
Kraft is a bad actor even when compared to other megacorporations, and yet individuals like the author, and many of the people commenting on this thread, have positive feelings about their products.
If you have some actual evidence that this essay is astroturf or the author was paid by Kraft, I would be very interested to see it.
(Especially because one of the founders of the magazine is a member of the Koch family.)
posted by box at 2:54 PM on January 30, 2023 [11 favorites]
Kraft is a bad actor even when compared to other megacorporations, and yet individuals like the author, and many of the people commenting on this thread, have positive feelings about their products.
If you have some actual evidence that this essay is astroturf or the author was paid by Kraft, I would be very interested to see it.
(Especially because one of the founders of the magazine is a member of the Koch family.)
posted by box at 2:54 PM on January 30, 2023 [11 favorites]
You know how you get older and eat junk food and your brain, which used to light up with pleasure when you dug into stuff like that, instead sends you a message that "this is not actually food, don't eat it"? Kraft Dinner was one of the first things my brain told me to back away from, and I was like 6.
posted by The Card Cheat at 3:12 PM on January 30, 2023 [5 favorites]
posted by The Card Cheat at 3:12 PM on January 30, 2023 [5 favorites]
FOR THE LOVE OF GOD remember that evaporated milk is NOT THE SAME as condensed milk!!
This is replacing "the end is near...repent" on my sandwich board when I finally lose the rest of my mind. See you in Times Square.
posted by Abehammerb Lincoln at 3:48 PM on January 30, 2023 [8 favorites]
This is replacing "the end is near...repent" on my sandwich board when I finally lose the rest of my mind. See you in Times Square.
posted by Abehammerb Lincoln at 3:48 PM on January 30, 2023 [8 favorites]
Corporate personhood has little or no compassion, being single minded and sociopathic. Some corporations are worse than others and Kraft gets no love from me. But being human means that better choices are easier to accept than absolutes.
Sometimes you bend your better choices a little to be transported back to being at the cutting board in the kitchen, eating the only thing you really know knew to cook. And enjoying the hell out of it, in spite of the karmic damage.
posted by ensign_ricky at 3:53 PM on January 30, 2023 [1 favorite]
Sometimes you bend your better choices a little to be transported back to being at the cutting board in the kitchen, eating the only thing you really know knew to cook. And enjoying the hell out of it, in spite of the karmic damage.
posted by ensign_ricky at 3:53 PM on January 30, 2023 [1 favorite]
I don't believe I've ever intentionally eaten Kraft Mac and Cheese although I suspect I've unintentionally done so, and my vague memories of the experience is why I've never wanted to reproduce it on purpose.
posted by Greg_Ace at 4:29 PM on January 30, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by Greg_Ace at 4:29 PM on January 30, 2023 [2 favorites]
Metafilter: Your favorite food sucks.
posted by Artifice_Eternity at 4:46 PM on January 30, 2023
posted by Artifice_Eternity at 4:46 PM on January 30, 2023
The Kraft (lack of) human rights and corporate (mis)behavior stuff is crossing the streams with the "there is no ethical consumption under capitalism" thread.
posted by gentlyepigrams at 4:50 PM on January 30, 2023 [4 favorites]
posted by gentlyepigrams at 4:50 PM on January 30, 2023 [4 favorites]
You know how you get older and eat junk food and your brain, which used to light up with pleasure when you dug into stuff like that, instead sends you a message that "this is not actually food, don't eat it"?
Is that a...thing that happens? How old am I supposed to be when it happens?
posted by We put our faith in Blast Hardcheese at 5:16 PM on January 30, 2023 [7 favorites]
Is that a...thing that happens? How old am I supposed to be when it happens?
posted by We put our faith in Blast Hardcheese at 5:16 PM on January 30, 2023 [7 favorites]
You know how you get older and eat junk food and your brain, which used to light up with pleasure when you dug into stuff like that, instead sends you a message that "this is not actually food, don't eat it"?
Is that a...thing that happens? How old am I supposed to be when it happens?
Well, I'm sitting here at 52 and still waiting for it, so YMMV. To be fair to The Card Cheat, this did happen to me with sugar about 20 years ago, but I can still shovel in any and all fat and salt laden junk food, which probably gets us back to the post topic.
posted by mollweide at 5:22 PM on January 30, 2023 [2 favorites]
Is that a...thing that happens? How old am I supposed to be when it happens?
Well, I'm sitting here at 52 and still waiting for it, so YMMV. To be fair to The Card Cheat, this did happen to me with sugar about 20 years ago, but I can still shovel in any and all fat and salt laden junk food, which probably gets us back to the post topic.
posted by mollweide at 5:22 PM on January 30, 2023 [2 favorites]
I'm a USian, grew up Los Angeles area, and we called it "mac and cheese from the box." Real mac and cheese is a baked casserole that has noodles, cheese sauce, cottage cheese, and yogurt or sour cream plus shredded cheese and potato chip or bread crumbs on top then baked.
Real mac and cheese is special occaision food, box mac and cheese is part of how i learned to cook. First learn to make a good pot of tea, then toast, then grilled cheese, then boxed mac and cheese, then box cake, and scratch frosting, then spaghetti, then recipes of your choice. It's good for learning because you have to follow directions.
Boxed generic used to be 15 to 39 cents while the brand stuff was 75 cents to a dollar at the discount grocery 20 years ago. Now add a dollar to both of those today in Anchorage.
posted by blnkfrnk at 6:34 PM on January 30, 2023 [5 favorites]
Real mac and cheese is special occaision food, box mac and cheese is part of how i learned to cook. First learn to make a good pot of tea, then toast, then grilled cheese, then boxed mac and cheese, then box cake, and scratch frosting, then spaghetti, then recipes of your choice. It's good for learning because you have to follow directions.
Boxed generic used to be 15 to 39 cents while the brand stuff was 75 cents to a dollar at the discount grocery 20 years ago. Now add a dollar to both of those today in Anchorage.
posted by blnkfrnk at 6:34 PM on January 30, 2023 [5 favorites]
A bunch of junk food under 20 mitheral loved are basically card board now but a little digging usual finds they have been reformulated to remove trans fats which, as it turns out, was yummy.
posted by Mitheral at 6:40 PM on January 30, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by Mitheral at 6:40 PM on January 30, 2023 [2 favorites]
Also, generally I don't allow foods to touch but box mac and Ranch Style Beans are allowed to touch in the same bowl. Other good flavor options for box mac are mixed frozen vegetables, Tabasco sauce, French fried onions, and fried baloney or "vegetarian lunch slices." ) And you can make it with just water not milk and butter, but it sucks.
posted by blnkfrnk at 6:41 PM on January 30, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by blnkfrnk at 6:41 PM on January 30, 2023 [2 favorites]
When I was a kid I’d never eaten any kind of mac & cheese until I went off to Shady Brook camp one summer, where I got into 4 or 5 five fights the first week, and that's what they served for dinner every single night.
And total calories available were probably less than a quarter of my usual daily intake. I must’ve been too weak to fight after that.
But I still couldn’t stand the stuff and haven’t had it since.
posted by jamjam at 6:49 PM on January 30, 2023 [1 favorite]
And total calories available were probably less than a quarter of my usual daily intake. I must’ve been too weak to fight after that.
But I still couldn’t stand the stuff and haven’t had it since.
posted by jamjam at 6:49 PM on January 30, 2023 [1 favorite]
I didn't experience Kraft mac and cheese until I was 23 and starving in DC and someone gave me a box. It was a lifesaver for me at the time.
The recipe has changed at least once since 2016. The 2016 version had cornstarch in it. Sometime between 2017 and 2021 they removed the cornstarch. Sometime in there Annie's decided to add cornstarch to make it "creamier." Annie's has since removed it from some but not all mac and cheese. (I think the organic doesn't have it but the non-organic does?)
When I returned to the US in 2021 the three things I wanted were boxed mac and cheese, Triscuits and Grape-Nuts. It's funny the things you miss when you can't access them.
posted by rednikki at 6:50 PM on January 30, 2023 [1 favorite]
The recipe has changed at least once since 2016. The 2016 version had cornstarch in it. Sometime between 2017 and 2021 they removed the cornstarch. Sometime in there Annie's decided to add cornstarch to make it "creamier." Annie's has since removed it from some but not all mac and cheese. (I think the organic doesn't have it but the non-organic does?)
When I returned to the US in 2021 the three things I wanted were boxed mac and cheese, Triscuits and Grape-Nuts. It's funny the things you miss when you can't access them.
posted by rednikki at 6:50 PM on January 30, 2023 [1 favorite]
Aw, now I want there to be a double super size box, so I can build a Star Wars Droid named KD-Two-Four.
posted by bartleby at 8:46 PM on January 30, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by bartleby at 8:46 PM on January 30, 2023 [1 favorite]
generally I don’t allow foods to touch
Here today I am truly among my people.
posted by Abehammerb Lincoln at 9:05 PM on January 30, 2023 [4 favorites]
Here today I am truly among my people.
posted by Abehammerb Lincoln at 9:05 PM on January 30, 2023 [4 favorites]
Abehammerb, thank you. I have many rules about whether foods can touch; often they need a neutral food that can touch both as a little fence. Carrot sticks, for example-- great fence. Bread can sometimes be a fence. Both are often available at buffets.
I promise I am not this weird about everything! Just some foods can't touch.
posted by blnkfrnk at 10:09 PM on January 30, 2023 [3 favorites]
I promise I am not this weird about everything! Just some foods can't touch.
posted by blnkfrnk at 10:09 PM on January 30, 2023 [3 favorites]
Try mac and cheese with a can of albacore tuna mixed in sometime. It may sound gross but it's a life-changer.
posted by Ursula Hitler at 11:19 PM on January 30, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by Ursula Hitler at 11:19 PM on January 30, 2023 [1 favorite]
Even better than a can of tuna is a can of smoked tuna.
posted by gingerbeer at 11:38 PM on January 30, 2023 [3 favorites]
posted by gingerbeer at 11:38 PM on January 30, 2023 [3 favorites]
I bet one of those little 5oz cans of Hormel smoked ham would probably work well in box mac & cheese. It's not fancy, and the texture might put some off (halfway between spam and deli ham), but it's decent enough ham.
(In the powers-out days here after Hurricane Ian, I discovered those cans of Hormel smoked ham on the picked-over supermarket shelves, which I used to cook something-I-forget-what for dinner on the Coleman gas stove. Dad liked it so much I now also mix it in when I make him a pot of his great northern beans, as ham bones are getting pricier.)
posted by Fiberoptic Zebroid and The Hypnagogic Jerks at 2:28 AM on January 31, 2023
(In the powers-out days here after Hurricane Ian, I discovered those cans of Hormel smoked ham on the picked-over supermarket shelves, which I used to cook something-I-forget-what for dinner on the Coleman gas stove. Dad liked it so much I now also mix it in when I make him a pot of his great northern beans, as ham bones are getting pricier.)
posted by Fiberoptic Zebroid and The Hypnagogic Jerks at 2:28 AM on January 31, 2023
First meal: mac and cheese, and fruit or vegetable side.
Second meal: leftover mac and cheese mixed with part of a can of Wolf Brand Chili without beans and a tablespoon or three of ketchup, and fruit or vegetable side.
Sometimes the pasta is used in a stew, and the cheese sauce packet is added into a pan of mac and cheese to make it cheesier. I need to try the plain yogurt method, maybe sometime when we thaw out from the latest rounds of snowmageddon.
"Fancy" mac and cheese alternatives around here are Hamburger Helper and Tuna Helper.
posted by TrishaU at 2:46 AM on January 31, 2023
Second meal: leftover mac and cheese mixed with part of a can of Wolf Brand Chili without beans and a tablespoon or three of ketchup, and fruit or vegetable side.
Sometimes the pasta is used in a stew, and the cheese sauce packet is added into a pan of mac and cheese to make it cheesier. I need to try the plain yogurt method, maybe sometime when we thaw out from the latest rounds of snowmageddon.
"Fancy" mac and cheese alternatives around here are Hamburger Helper and Tuna Helper.
posted by TrishaU at 2:46 AM on January 31, 2023
I'd feel more warm and squishy about this story if I didn't live downwind from a Kraft plant
It's a tangent, but you've just reminded me of my years living in Denver. If you headed out along I-70 (say, to/from the airport), you drove past a gigantic Purina pet food plant. The smell coming off that thing was...powerful. I always wondered how the people who worked there managed.
What was worse, though, was the smell of the paper mill in my home town in Arkansas. You stopped smelling it after a while if you lived there, but if you left and returned...the best way to describe it is "gently fermenting car battery".
posted by Mr. Bad Example at 3:03 AM on January 31, 2023 [4 favorites]
It's a tangent, but you've just reminded me of my years living in Denver. If you headed out along I-70 (say, to/from the airport), you drove past a gigantic Purina pet food plant. The smell coming off that thing was...powerful. I always wondered how the people who worked there managed.
What was worse, though, was the smell of the paper mill in my home town in Arkansas. You stopped smelling it after a while if you lived there, but if you left and returned...the best way to describe it is "gently fermenting car battery".
posted by Mr. Bad Example at 3:03 AM on January 31, 2023 [4 favorites]
> Is that a...thing that happens? How old am I supposed to be when it happens?
Everyone's MMV, but for me it started around the age of 30 and I think it's down to a much more direct correlation between the nutritional quality of what I eat and how I feel afterwards than when I was in my 20s and I could eat basically anything in any quantity and feel fine.
KD is a weird case for me; when I was a kid and well into my 20s I loved lots of cheap junk food, so it's not like my tastes were above such fare, but I just never liked the stuff. Maybe it was because one of my mom's regular dishes was a mac and cheese casserole (with sausage and some canned vegetables thrown in) and KD seemed like a pale imitation of that?
posted by The Card Cheat at 6:02 AM on January 31, 2023
Everyone's MMV, but for me it started around the age of 30 and I think it's down to a much more direct correlation between the nutritional quality of what I eat and how I feel afterwards than when I was in my 20s and I could eat basically anything in any quantity and feel fine.
KD is a weird case for me; when I was a kid and well into my 20s I loved lots of cheap junk food, so it's not like my tastes were above such fare, but I just never liked the stuff. Maybe it was because one of my mom's regular dishes was a mac and cheese casserole (with sausage and some canned vegetables thrown in) and KD seemed like a pale imitation of that?
posted by The Card Cheat at 6:02 AM on January 31, 2023
My freshman roommate in college was a hiker and camper whereas I didn’t even own a single pair of rugged footwear.
One chilly autumn afternoon, Diana decided it was time to introduce me to the joys of hiking. She loaded a backpack with clanky, mysterious equipment and vessels, I borrowed some boots, and we headed into the forest that edged the campus, hiking uphill to a point with a pleasant view of the valley and some bolders for seating. Diana then pulled out her gear and a box of Kraft Mac’n’Cheese.
It was a long, cold, damp afternoon. We were hungry, and hot cheesy pasta would have been welcome. Sadly, Diana’s efforts netted unspeakable, inedible results. I’d only had the stuff maybe once before, but I wasn’t able to look at any form of mac and cheese for a long, long time and still avoid the kind from a box. (I did embrace hiking and camping though so her efforts weren’t entirely wasted.)
posted by kinnakeet at 6:46 AM on January 31, 2023 [1 favorite]
One chilly autumn afternoon, Diana decided it was time to introduce me to the joys of hiking. She loaded a backpack with clanky, mysterious equipment and vessels, I borrowed some boots, and we headed into the forest that edged the campus, hiking uphill to a point with a pleasant view of the valley and some bolders for seating. Diana then pulled out her gear and a box of Kraft Mac’n’Cheese.
It was a long, cold, damp afternoon. We were hungry, and hot cheesy pasta would have been welcome. Sadly, Diana’s efforts netted unspeakable, inedible results. I’d only had the stuff maybe once before, but I wasn’t able to look at any form of mac and cheese for a long, long time and still avoid the kind from a box. (I did embrace hiking and camping though so her efforts weren’t entirely wasted.)
posted by kinnakeet at 6:46 AM on January 31, 2023 [1 favorite]
So - I grew up with divorced parents, a mom who hated to cook - and would slap some KD on. Yes, I would eat it - with ketchup.
Then - I moved to live with my father, who would never touch KD, while he wasn't perfect - he did think that manufactured foods were bad - home cooked was better. So - I became a bit of a food snob - which got worse, when I started to earn a bit of money as a babysitter for a couple latch-key kids, and was expected to cook them dinner every night. The only food provided - and that they would eat was.... KD & hotdogs (which would have to be sliced into rounds and stirred into the mix) - I was... appalled... disgusted... 5-days per week, this is what these kids ate. Yuck.
It wasn't until decades later that I tried it at home, occasionally (1-2 times per year) - replace milk with cream - and use real butter instead of margerine. But - no ketchup - for 'seasoning', fresh ground pepper -or worcestershire sauce...
posted by rozcakj at 6:57 AM on January 31, 2023 [2 favorites]
Then - I moved to live with my father, who would never touch KD, while he wasn't perfect - he did think that manufactured foods were bad - home cooked was better. So - I became a bit of a food snob - which got worse, when I started to earn a bit of money as a babysitter for a couple latch-key kids, and was expected to cook them dinner every night. The only food provided - and that they would eat was.... KD & hotdogs (which would have to be sliced into rounds and stirred into the mix) - I was... appalled... disgusted... 5-days per week, this is what these kids ate. Yuck.
It wasn't until decades later that I tried it at home, occasionally (1-2 times per year) - replace milk with cream - and use real butter instead of margerine. But - no ketchup - for 'seasoning', fresh ground pepper -or worcestershire sauce...
posted by rozcakj at 6:57 AM on January 31, 2023 [2 favorites]
I grew up eating this stuff.
I still love it.
Sometimes with ketchup, sometimes without.
posted by freakazoid at 6:58 AM on January 31, 2023 [2 favorites]
I still love it.
Sometimes with ketchup, sometimes without.
posted by freakazoid at 6:58 AM on January 31, 2023 [2 favorites]
Is that a...thing that happens? How old am I supposed to be when it happens?
It is typically when your body starts rejecting or reacting to certain foods... So, for example I have just turned 50, and have finally managed to kick sugar, switch to decaff and punt carbonated sodas - but this week I am dealing with a nasty 'gout attack', which I have linked now to certain foods - which will have to go...
posted by rozcakj at 7:32 AM on January 31, 2023
It is typically when your body starts rejecting or reacting to certain foods... So, for example I have just turned 50, and have finally managed to kick sugar, switch to decaff and punt carbonated sodas - but this week I am dealing with a nasty 'gout attack', which I have linked now to certain foods - which will have to go...
posted by rozcakj at 7:32 AM on January 31, 2023
I'd feel more warm and squishy about this story if I didn't live downwind from a Kraft plant
It's a tangent, but you've just reminded me of my years living in Denver. If you headed out along I-70 (say, to/from the airport), you drove past a gigantic Purina pet food plant. The smell coming off that thing was...powerful.
When I was in college, I lived 20 miles from a cereal plant. When the wind blew in the right direction, you could definitely smell it.
Thursdays was when they made the Crunch berries.
posted by a non mouse, a cow herd at 10:28 AM on January 31, 2023
It's a tangent, but you've just reminded me of my years living in Denver. If you headed out along I-70 (say, to/from the airport), you drove past a gigantic Purina pet food plant. The smell coming off that thing was...powerful.
When I was in college, I lived 20 miles from a cereal plant. When the wind blew in the right direction, you could definitely smell it.
Thursdays was when they made the Crunch berries.
posted by a non mouse, a cow herd at 10:28 AM on January 31, 2023
for me it started around the age of 30 and I think it's down to a much more direct correlation between the nutritional quality of what I eat and how I feel afterwards
Something sort of similar happened for me at roughly the same age. Right across the road from I worked at the time were both a McDonald's and a Burger King, side by side. One day after finishing a lunch from one of them it struck me - "Hey, I'm always disappointed in the fare from either place, and my stomach never feels great afterward. Why do I keep doing this to myself?" After that I think it took me a few more times of saying "Oh yeah, that's why I wasn't going to eat that anymore..." before I quit eating fast food completely.
Because of that, I empathized with the people who ate what comedian Patton Oswalt referred to as a failure pile in a sadness bowl (NSFW language); I could definitely see myself having chosen such a thing more than once in my previous life, if it had existed back then. I still laugh at his routine, but yeah I get the impulse too.
posted by Greg_Ace at 10:41 AM on January 31, 2023 [2 favorites]
Something sort of similar happened for me at roughly the same age. Right across the road from I worked at the time were both a McDonald's and a Burger King, side by side. One day after finishing a lunch from one of them it struck me - "Hey, I'm always disappointed in the fare from either place, and my stomach never feels great afterward. Why do I keep doing this to myself?" After that I think it took me a few more times of saying "Oh yeah, that's why I wasn't going to eat that anymore..." before I quit eating fast food completely.
Because of that, I empathized with the people who ate what comedian Patton Oswalt referred to as a failure pile in a sadness bowl (NSFW language); I could definitely see myself having chosen such a thing more than once in my previous life, if it had existed back then. I still laugh at his routine, but yeah I get the impulse too.
posted by Greg_Ace at 10:41 AM on January 31, 2023 [2 favorites]
for me it started around the age of 30 and I think it's down to a much more direct correlation between the nutritional quality of what I eat and how I feel afterwards
I'm 45 and that's never happened to me. Sure, immediately afterwards, occasionally I'll feel something off (especially if I ate too much) but the next day? No way. And doesn't matter if I ate too much sushi or salad bar or too many cheese fries or cake, the feeling afterwards is the same.
The only reason I moderate sugar/fat etc is because my blood results from yearly checkups, not because eating them makes me feel any different.
posted by The_Vegetables at 12:49 PM on January 31, 2023
I'm 45 and that's never happened to me. Sure, immediately afterwards, occasionally I'll feel something off (especially if I ate too much) but the next day? No way. And doesn't matter if I ate too much sushi or salad bar or too many cheese fries or cake, the feeling afterwards is the same.
The only reason I moderate sugar/fat etc is because my blood results from yearly checkups, not because eating them makes me feel any different.
posted by The_Vegetables at 12:49 PM on January 31, 2023
Sheeeeitt if you could afford *brand name* boxed macaroni dinner I question your bona fides. We were eating fuckin government pasta with ketchup.
posted by aspersioncast at 3:30 PM on January 31, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by aspersioncast at 3:30 PM on January 31, 2023 [2 favorites]
When I returned to the US in 2021 the three things I wanted were boxed mac and cheese, Triscuits and Grape-Nuts. It's funny the things you miss when you can't access them.
Oh man, I would have a really hard time going without Triscuits and Grape-Nuts. They are pillars of my diet.
Something I like about both of them is that they are among the simplest commercial processed foods out there. Triscuits has 3 ingredients, and I think Grape-Nuts has 4 or 5. It's probably down to both of them having maintained pretty much the same recipes for a century or so.
posted by Artifice_Eternity at 6:28 PM on January 31, 2023 [1 favorite]
Oh man, I would have a really hard time going without Triscuits and Grape-Nuts. They are pillars of my diet.
Something I like about both of them is that they are among the simplest commercial processed foods out there. Triscuits has 3 ingredients, and I think Grape-Nuts has 4 or 5. It's probably down to both of them having maintained pretty much the same recipes for a century or so.
posted by Artifice_Eternity at 6:28 PM on January 31, 2023 [1 favorite]
The box mac n cheese is what we have as a side when I've made chicken breasts/pork chops in the oven, or on the grill, or bought a rotisserie chicken because I did the grocery shopping in person that day and don't want to cook too. Easy-peasy, boil, drain, cut half a butter stick up in tiny chunks, get a couple ounces of 2% or whole milk (1% is watery compared to 2%), and stir until blended. Let sit for a minute or two while you get plates and slice chicken. Maybe throw a bag of microwave steamer broccoli in the microwave once the water boils. I get a five pack every couple of weeks. Kerrygold butter is godly, though I usually have Land o lakes or Challenger stick butter. Also, fabulous when I have a migraine, and I am craving SALT and CHEESE that doesn't require pants. I can do it with just one light on in the kitchen.
I usually make the Velveeta version of mac n cheese for holidays, since that's the recipe my (step)mom learned shortly after she married my dad. Lots of stirring with that one, a wooden spoon is best as it has the rigidity necessary to not flip spoonfuls of half-melted Velveeta and pasta all over the stove. I made a pot for my husband to take to work to feed his coworkers, and they sent home a clean pot. Well, not spotless, but I had no leftovers to dispose of.
Amazon has a mac n cheese powder in a bottle by Hoosier Hill Farms, that looks like old school Kraft. Also did not know they made a KD SHAKER (of course imported from Canada) Neat.
posted by tlwright at 6:56 PM on January 31, 2023 [2 favorites]
I usually make the Velveeta version of mac n cheese for holidays, since that's the recipe my (step)mom learned shortly after she married my dad. Lots of stirring with that one, a wooden spoon is best as it has the rigidity necessary to not flip spoonfuls of half-melted Velveeta and pasta all over the stove. I made a pot for my husband to take to work to feed his coworkers, and they sent home a clean pot. Well, not spotless, but I had no leftovers to dispose of.
Amazon has a mac n cheese powder in a bottle by Hoosier Hill Farms, that looks like old school Kraft. Also did not know they made a KD SHAKER (of course imported from Canada) Neat.
posted by tlwright at 6:56 PM on January 31, 2023 [2 favorites]
> Related: The US strategic cheese reserve currently clocks in at 1.5 billion pounds, most of it stored in a massive underground warehouse (a former limestone quarry) outside of Springfield, Missouri. Because farmers produce more milk than people consume, the US buys it in the form of cheese and parks it in storage. The reserve has grown over the years, suggesting that the practice is not sustainable.It just now occurred to me this would be a great subject for a heist movie, especially if you could get Nick Cage to sign on.
posted by Fiberoptic Zebroid and The Hypnagogic Jerks at 12:23 PM on February 1, 2023 [3 favorites]
Was never a big KD fan, but I still eat a fair bit of Top Ramen, only... dressed up a bit. Throw in an egg, dollop of chili garlic sauce or spicy chili crisp, drizzle of sesame oil, some cilantro and green onion, sliced bbq pork, maybe that leftover rice I've been meaning to get around to finishing off... Even if I just want to make some stir-fry noodles, a brick of Top Ramen is hard to beat, for cost.
posted by xedrik at 5:44 PM on February 1, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by xedrik at 5:44 PM on February 1, 2023 [1 favorite]
a great subject for a heist movie
Would you accept Jack Reacher incinerating the whole thing in a climax of righteous rage?
posted by clew at 7:13 PM on February 1, 2023
Would you accept Jack Reacher incinerating the whole thing in a climax of righteous rage?
posted by clew at 7:13 PM on February 1, 2023
cut half a butter stick up in tiny chunks, get a couple ounces of 2% or whole milk (1% is watery compared to 2%)
So as someone who hasn’t been able to enjoy milk as a beverage for decades, I do have to point out the irony of using reduced fat milk along with half a stick of butter.
posted by aspersioncast at 8:53 PM on February 1, 2023 [1 favorite]
So as someone who hasn’t been able to enjoy milk as a beverage for decades, I do have to point out the irony of using reduced fat milk along with half a stick of butter.
posted by aspersioncast at 8:53 PM on February 1, 2023 [1 favorite]
Metafilter: doesn't require pants
posted by Greg_Ace at 9:45 PM on February 1, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by Greg_Ace at 9:45 PM on February 1, 2023 [1 favorite]
I can’t drink milk as a beverage anymore either, though I was still enjoying it when I was an undergraduate — and do now consume about 300 ml/day with my 500 ml of coffee, and I can’t tolerate either without the other, unfortunately.
Yet there may be a brighter side:
It’s strange how refreshing I used to find a glass of milk when now, I want to double over a little at the very thought of how cloying it would be.
posted by jamjam at 10:21 AM on February 2, 2023 [1 favorite]
Yet there may be a brighter side:
Can something as simple as a cup of coffee with milk have an anti-inflammatory effect in humans? Apparently so, according to a new study. A combination of proteins and antioxidants doubles the anti-inflammatory properties in immune cells. The researchers hope to be able to study the health effects on humans.
It’s strange how refreshing I used to find a glass of milk when now, I want to double over a little at the very thought of how cloying it would be.
posted by jamjam at 10:21 AM on February 2, 2023 [1 favorite]
Oh me too, I used to chug it in quarts. Can’t even put it in coffee now.
posted by aspersioncast at 7:13 PM on February 2, 2023
posted by aspersioncast at 7:13 PM on February 2, 2023
I used to chug it in quarts.
STOP DRINKING IT OUT OF THE CONTAINER WERE YOU BORN IN A BARN
posted by Greg_Ace at 9:20 PM on February 2, 2023
STOP DRINKING IT OUT OF THE CONTAINER WERE YOU BORN IN A BARN
posted by Greg_Ace at 9:20 PM on February 2, 2023
Now I need to pick up a box of triscuits on my next grocery run. I recall they're available in a number of new flavours?
Triscuit - the tri is for electricity!
posted by porpoise at 10:53 PM on February 2, 2023 [2 favorites]
Triscuit - the tri is for electricity!
posted by porpoise at 10:53 PM on February 2, 2023 [2 favorites]
Kids wanted something hot for lunch today so instead of sandwiches I made some KD. It'll only be lukewarm by the time they eat it but they seemed happy with the choice.
posted by any portmanteau in a storm at 6:46 AM on February 3, 2023
posted by any portmanteau in a storm at 6:46 AM on February 3, 2023
STOP DRINKING IT OUT OF THE CONTAINER WERE YOU BORN IN A BARN
A. Basically.
B. I already stopped, I said “used to.”
C. We’re talking those “milk chug” containers, so technically a pint at a time. I’d just pound the whole thing. Still disgusting, but imo not in a “drinking out of the jug and putting it back in the fridge” way and more in a “milk is pretty gross” way.
posted by aspersioncast at 6:39 AM on February 4, 2023
A. Basically.
B. I already stopped, I said “used to.”
C. We’re talking those “milk chug” containers, so technically a pint at a time. I’d just pound the whole thing. Still disgusting, but imo not in a “drinking out of the jug and putting it back in the fridge” way and more in a “milk is pretty gross” way.
posted by aspersioncast at 6:39 AM on February 4, 2023
Aw, geeze. I should expand on my first comment in that - yeah, food insecure, anything hot with carbs and something that tastes like protein and lipids are absolutely formative memories.
Perhaps a cultural difference - my M&C were ramen packets (but the much better E. Asian kind), or rice + stuff like fermented tofu + granulated sugar. Or white rice and lard.
My family's instant ramen is Nissin/ Gong Djai Mein/ Tow-headed Noodles.
posted by porpoise at 11:04 PM on February 5, 2023
Perhaps a cultural difference - my M&C were ramen packets (but the much better E. Asian kind), or rice + stuff like fermented tofu + granulated sugar. Or white rice and lard.
My family's instant ramen is Nissin/ Gong Djai Mein/ Tow-headed Noodles.
posted by porpoise at 11:04 PM on February 5, 2023
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posted by 0xABADBABE at 8:49 AM on January 30, 2023 [18 favorites]