8 Boxed Mac And Cheese Brands You Should Totally Avoid
Mac and cheese is the ultimate comfort food, but not all boxed versions deserve a spot in your pantry. While convenient for busy weeknights, some brands cut corners with artificial ingredients, weird textures, and flavors that barely resemble cheese.
It is time to reveal the boxed mac and cheese options that might leave you wishing you’d just made a sandwich instead.
1. Great Value Mac & Cheese
Walmart’s budget offering might save pennies, but costs you in flavor. The powder never fully dissolves, leaving gritty patches throughout your dinner.
I once served this at a family gathering when I ran out of my usual brand. My nephew asked if we were eating “sad noodles” – a nickname that perfectly captures its bland, lifeless character.
2. Velveeta Shells & Cheese Original Microwave Cups
Convenience shouldn’t taste this artificial. The microwave version bears little resemblance to regular Velveeta, with a chemical aftertaste that lingers uncomfortably.
The texture somehow manages to be both watery and gluey simultaneously, while the shells often cook unevenly – some crunchy, others mushy. Skip this sad excuse for a quick meal.
3. Cheetos Mac ‘N Cheese Bold & Cheesy
Florescent orange spirals swimming in what can only be described as liquified Cheetos dust. The overwhelming artificial flavor feels like a practical joke played on your taste buds.
My kids begged for this novelty mac after seeing commercials. After one bite, my daughter declared it tasted “like someone dropped Cheetos in soapy water.”
The novelty wears off faster than the orange stains on your cookware.
4. Annie’s Vegan Mac (Almond Milk Formula)
Plant-based doesn’t have to mean flavor-free, but nobody told Annie’s. This vegan offering tastes predominantly of nutritional yeast with an overpowering almond undertone.
The sauce never achieves creaminess, instead separating into an oily film floating atop mushy noodles. Even committed vegans deserve better than this disappointing dairy-free disaster.
5. Daiya Deluxe Cheezy Mac
The pioneers of dairy-free cheese should’ve stopped at shredded mozzarella. Their mac sauce pouch squeezes out a substance resembling scented craft glue that smells vaguely of feet.
I’ve tried every vegan mac on the market while supporting my daughter’s dairy-free journey. This one made her cry, “I’d rather just eat plain pasta!”
The aftertaste lingers like an unwelcome houseguest.
6. Kraft Easy Mac Cups
The classic brand’s portable version is a shadow of its boxed counterpart. The noodles remain perpetually al dente in some spots while dissolving into paste in others.
The cheese sauce achieves an impressive feat – simultaneously watery yet clumpy. You’ll find dry powder pockets stubbornly refusing to incorporate.
Even college students deserving of sympathy should aim higher.
7. Whole Foods 365 Organic Mac & Cheese
Proof that organic doesn’t guarantee quality. Despite the premium price tag, this mac delivers a bizarrely sweet flavor profile that several tasters compared to frosted cereal milk.
The organic cheese powder clumps stubbornly, creating unpleasant pockets of concentrated flavor. What’s particularly disappointing is how a brand built on quality can produce something so fundamentally flawed.
8. Market Pantry Mac & Cheese
Target’s house brand commits the cardinal sin of mac and cheese – tasting like absolutely nothing. The noodles cook up gummy while the powder creates a sauce that’s somehow both flavorless and excessively salty.
The color resembles industrial safety equipment more than food. For just pennies more, you could enjoy something that actually tastes like cheese instead of this bland noodle disappointment.