Le Suer(msp) English peas.
Yes, I believe those are the ones.
They are fan-frickin-tastic.
Mac n cheese(but not the powdered stuff) chili and corn, makes good left overs, freezes and reheats in the microwave very well, tastes pretty good, to me and the kiddo anyway, but, alas, would probably not be the best thing for Mr. VOW to eat.
My son was a totally weird, difficult, neuro-atypical kid while growing up. I present to you a single fact as proof: he totally disdained Kraft Mac’nCheese.
That was a shame, because as has been noted upthread (or is it “uptopic” now?), the stuff is a godsend for working parents.
I was able to get him to eat it only through some doctoring and some marketing: I made a variation called “Grown-Up Mac and Cheese” which in addition to the basic packaged ingredients contained a liberal dousing of pesto and chopped tomatoes, a smattering of grated real cheese on top, and sometimes a few bits of ham as well.
While “grown-up mac and cheese” is indeed a step above just the boxed stuff, the extra work slightly defeats the purpose, which is the utter simplicity with which one can get a child-friendly comfort food on the table.
My wife loved the stuff (Stauffer’s frozen mac and cheese) and the addition of some panko bread crumbs and butter on top, sort of like a streusel topping, then into the broiler long enough to brown and crisp the top…wonderful.
Tonight I made a pouch of Bear Creek Mac & Cheese. It’s not a cook pasta, then drain type, its a ‘4 cups water to a boil and dump the whole pouch in’ type. More expensive than the cardboard box type, but in my opinion, superior. They make a few varieties.
I like that kind too. Mac n cheese with the powdered cheese is good too, but not as good. It seems like everyone here uses mac n cheese as a meal. We use it as a side dish. It’s our favorite side dish to have with hot dogs - not mixed in but the hot dog in a bun. So one box for the 2 of us is plenty. There are usually leftovers.
On a side note, I didn’t have my first taste of mac n cheese until I was 16 years old in 1977 - not even homemade! I had it at a friend’s house and was kind of nervous about trying it (I’m a picky eater). It was probably something my dad didn’t care for, so we just never had it. It was ok, but nothing that I went crazy over. I don’t think I begged my mom to get it after I tasted it. I probably didn’t have it again until I was married with kids. Now I like it and eat it maybe once a month. But always the kind with the creamy cheese in the foil packet…unless the grandkids are eating it. The powdered cheese variety is the only kind they’ll eat.
Chronos: “The only problem I have with boxed mac and cheese is the size. One box is a really big meal for one, or a really small meal for two, and it doesn’t leave over well.”
Calvin Trillin reported developing a craving for Kraft macaroni and cheese, but was disappointed until he realized that he was really nostalgic for day-old Kraft mac and cheese.
The secret to reheating the Mac & Cheese is using more powdered cheese, milk and butter. Kraft used to sell thin tubes of powdered cheese, but alas they no longer want my money. Da Jungle, however, sells large, IE. one to two pound, containers of the stuff. One of those a year, and I’m golden, or in this case, orange. 
I’ve seen that powdered cheese in the bulk section at Winco.
I usually just add milk to reheat. Time, low heat, and a lot of stirring can bring it back to its glory. (There’s already enough grease and salt! 
)
~VOW
I don’t reheat it, it’s perfect cold. It’s kind of a fake cheesy lumpy pudding.
My mom was a total “make everything from scratch” type too, so we never had Kraft Mac ‘n’ Cheese at home. I didn’t discover it until college (introduced by the eventual spouse and his roomies), and I still love the stuff. I don’t eat it very often anymore, but I like the stuff with the nuclear-orange powder better than the one with the creamy sauce in the foil packet. We used to eat it with tuna back then too, though I haven’t tried that in many years. Now it’s making me kinda hungry for it.
Another college food I still love and we eat fairly frequently used to be called “Soup Starter.” It came in a bag and included veggies and pasta, and all you had to add was water and the cubed beef. It went through several name changes (the two I remember are Wyler’s and the current one, Mrs. Grass) and they don’t sell it around here anymore, but I still buy it by the case from Amazon. It’s one of our staple meals during the colder months.
Update on the tuna in oil and a box of off-brand mac and cheese: I was in a Save-A-Lot yesterday. Their brand of mac and cheese was 39 cents, and their tuna in oil was 69 cents. That would still be under a dollar if it weren’t for sales tax! I guess $1.03 isn’t bad. I resisted the temptation since I’m supposed to be on a low-sodium diet these days.
One of my kids loves cheap boxed mac and cheese. One day he was going to make himself some for lunch and we were all out. So I whipped up a quick batch from scratch and he was blown away. “Wow dad, this is like something you’d get in a restaurant” (he doesn’t have a very sophisticated palate). Then he started bugging me to make it for him all the time so I taught him how to make it because it’s super simple. I do encourage him to eat a varied and healthy diet because it’s not the healthiest:
- Get your choice of any pasta or macaroni boiling.
- Cut off a cube of butter (about 2 tablespoons) from a stick and get an equal amount of flour
- Put about 1/2 a coffee cup full of milk in the microwave for about 1 minute.
- Melt the butter in a small pan and using a whisk, gradually whisk in the flour until it’s a paste a little thinner than peanut butter.
- Whisk in the warm milk gradually until it’s a smooth, gravy-like consistency.
- Whisk in the shredded cheese(s) of your choice. I like equal parts sharp cheddar and parmesan. As for amount, I just add cheese until it seems “cheesy enough”.
The cheese sauce will be done when the pasta is finished boiling. Makes enough sauce for about a whole box of pasta, give or take.
I’m actually in the baked Mac and Cheese camp (Stouffers if I’m nostalgic, Trader Joe’s Hatch Green Chile Mac and Cheese by normal preference), but every once in a while I want stovetop style. But every time I buy the cheapie boxed stuff per the OP, I find myself enjoying the first few bites and then tossing the rest, even with additions. I just find it normally tastes of plastic - which may be from the packaging, or even my imagination.
While not exactly cheapie, my solution is from my favorite TV Chef, Alton Brown
Be careful with “a cube of butter”: While a stick of butter is the same total volume anywhere in the US, the proportions can vary. When I lived in Montana, butter sticks were only about twice as long as they are wide, while here in Cleveland, they’re more like four times. In other words, a Montana “cube of butter” would be twice as big as a Cleveland one.
They’re the same volume and weight; they’re just cut differently. A pound of butter is a pound of butter, and a stick is a 1/4 lb (1/2 cup) .
Yes, but a cube of the skinny Eastern “Elgin” stick is almost one-quarter of a stick, but a cube of the stubby Western sticks would be a tiny bit more than one-half a stick.
The long, thin sticks are “Elgin,” or eastern pack sticks. They are 4 3/4" by 1 1/4" by 1 1/4". The shorter, fatter sticks are Western-pack style butter sticks, which are 3 1/8" long by 1 1/2" by 1 1/2". Both have the same amount of butter (8 Tablespoons = 1/2 cup).
Exactly. Each 1-pound butter package contains 4 sticks. Each stick = 8 tablespoons = 1/2 cup = 1/4 lb. The longer skinny sticks and the shorter squatter sticks contain the same volume/mass of butter.
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“Cube” of butter doesn’t mean a cube, it means a stick.