If I can’t get 1990-era President’s Choice White Cheddar Shells, these are pretty good.
I keep a few boxes of this, blocks of instant ramen, cans of Boyardee lasagna (no substitutes) as shelf stable comfort food.
The Meijer store brand isn’t bad, for what it is. It’s been on sale for the last two weeks for only $0.49, half the price of the Kraft, when Kraft goes on sale. I only eat boxed macaroni and cheese a few times a year.
Indeed, it was considered among English speakers such a quintessentially sophisticated Continental food that its name was borrowed to describe a style of glamorous trendiness in male fashion.
In fact, that sort of glamorous trendiness is what the naive rustic Yankee Doodle thought he was imitating when he stuck a feather in his cap.
(The slang term “macaroni” to denote fashionableness underwent semantic degradation and ended up meaning ridiculously exaggerated and effeminate-looking style, but it started out as a compliment.)
I grew up in the 60s & 70s. My mom never made mac 'n cheese, ever. I had my first taste at a friend’s house when I was around 16 years old. The next time I had it I was probably into my 20s when I made it because my daughter asked for it after she had it at a friend’s house. Now my husband and I eat the version that comes with the bag of liquid-y cheese. I keep the regular stuff around for grandkids.
My question, when you eat mac 'n cheese, is it the main dish or is it a side dish? We always use it as a side dish. It’s our go-to side dish when we have hot dogs.
When I was a kid, it was often the main dish and had some kind of meat, like cut up hot dogs or bacon bits, in it.
In restaurants, I usually see plain mac & cheese as a side, but sometimes fancy mac & cheese with other items in it will be an entree.
In my family it was always a side, often paired with certain main dishes. My grandmother who made amazing fried chicken always did mac as one of the sides to that. I’ve also had the quintessential “casserole” type nonsense of the 1970s when my Mom would make mac and hot dogs, so that’s something I’ve seen as a man. Some of those noodle and meat casseroles were basically little more than home made versions of Hamburger helper, conceptually.
When I lived in Hungary in the late 90s and early 00s, the cheap-o Kraft mac-and-cheese was treated like gold by the American ex-pats. Whenever one of us would visit the US, we’d bring back as many boxes of Kraft mac-and-cheese as we can (as well as cartons of Marlboros – we didn’t like whatever Marlboro blend they were selling in Budapest, though I was a Lucky Strike light smoker at the time.) So, for us, it was clearly nostalgia, children-of-the-80s sort of stuff, but it goes back farther than that, as noted in the thread.
In terms of it being a thing in trendy restaurants, gastropubs and the like – that I’m not sure of. While it’s been a popular dish for ages, to me it feels like some time in the 2000s is when it started becoming popular, along with fancified variations, in these types of venues, much like mid/up-scale grilled cheese became a thing around this time or a bit later. It may have coincided with the renewed and increased interest in barbecue around the same time (as mac & cheese is a popular barbecue side dish.)
My favorite stovetop macaroni and cheese recipe is dirt simple: equal parts by weight macaroni (uncooked weight, please cook), evaporated milk, cheese. That’s it. I like to throw in a little bit of mustard for a little bit o’ sumthin sumthin, but quick, simple, easy. I’m not a big fan of the baked mac and cheeses; always preferred the creamier stovetop versions.
For those who want an exact recipe with instructions, here:
Kraft Mac & Cheese was introduced in 1937 during the Great Depression, advertised as feeding a family of four for just 19 cents. They sold 8 million boxes in the first year. Through WWII you could get 2 boxes for 1 ration stamp, and they sold 50 million boxes. It’s been an American staple ever since.
One of the items I have owned longest is a “rabbit of approval” fridge magnet I got in 1991. Second year of college sent off something like 5 box tops. It’s a well traveled magnet, been from Maine to NC to San Diego to NY.
It used to be “push the bunny butt to open” but I don’t know if that’s still the case.
My take on it is once you add a considerable amount of a protein (ham, tuna, hot dogs), it magically changes its name from M&C to [protein] casserole. Not fair at all to the little macs who worked so hard to blend with the cheese(s). I’d write a complaint letter.
BTW, Tj54, welcome to the Dope.
Yeah, welcome!
What is/are your favorite addition/s? I’m thinking pork, specifically baked ham and/or thick-cut bacon, cut into tiny bits.
Someone please tell me if it’s not considered good style to add questions to someone else’s OP. I’m not trying to hijack the thread, and I’d rather not start a new one just to ask about extra ingredients.
Do people eat this stuff?
I do a pretty nice macaroni cheese as an easy supper. Dried macaroni and cheddar and parmesan cheese, english mustard and garlic.
Same thing with the grated parmesan cheese in a green can. I use the Kirkland Parmigiano Reggiano on my pasta, freezing the bulk of it and parceling it out a half pint at a time for the ready reserve. DesertRoomie, though, prefers the Kraft stuff. I refuse to debase my pasta with it, and set the can by her with a, “Here’s your sawdust.”
I like Kraft. I like stovetop macaroni much more than baked. I may need to go over the “Things you like that everyone else seems to hate” thread. Except, given sales, I don’t think everyone hates it.
I like tuna in mine. Mix in a can of tuna and you get something like a cheesy tuna noodle casserole.
According to this, Beethoven’s favorite food was macaroni and cheese. From what I’ve read, it wasn’t the cheddar-heavy kind Americans are familiar with. Macaroni was quite the delicacy, so the European version Beethoven may have asked his cook to serve him while he worked on his latest masterpiece was probably macaroni or spaetzle, with some kind of good-quality grated cheese like Parmesan or Grana Padano, butter, and maybe some herbs or caramelized onions.
Here’s a little more info.
Questions are good! Conversations drift around a bit IRL, why not here? If you ask Do they eat Kraft M&C on Everest climbs? you’re pushing it. If the follow-up question is How many airplanes have crashed into Everest due to M&C overload in pilots? I predict a visit from a Mod for you. But, the Mods are good at steering the conversations back on track if they drift too far. For the right price. 
This is correct. Some thread drift is inevitable. We only moderate hijacks when they’re extreme, or causing trouble.
Yes millions of people. I don’t think Kraft is making boxes of it for fun.
I like to keep a box of M&C in the kitchen as a just in case kind of thing. If I’m wondering what to do with some ground beef or can of rotel tomatoes, just about anything goes with M&C. But for me, the iconic meat for M&C is cubed leftover ham.