Food vs. Food: Boxed Mac and Cheese

For this battle, the American standard, Kraft Macaroni and Cheese, was pitted against Back to Nature's (BTN) Crazy Bugs Macaroni and cheese. BTN has no artificial preservatives or flavor, and can that really make a better boxed mac and cheese? First let me admit. I don't like boxed mac and cheese. I just hate the powdered cheese flavor, preferring actual cheese instead. So, this is the first time I have ever made boxed Mac and Cheese in my adult life (I used to make it for kids I babysat in High School).


First, let's compare the prep. BTN noodles took twice as long to cook, making this a less instant meal, one of the appeals of boxed mac and cheese. For making the sauce, I used skim milk for both since that is what I had. But the biggest difference in the prep is that BTN calls for 1T butter while Kraft called for 4T (again, I used butter for both even though Kraft called for margarine). So, there is no clear winner here, Kraft cooks much faster, but has way more fat making this a dead heat.

Next, noodle taste. I tried the noodles before they were coated in sauce and they were like night and day. BTN was nice an firm, the way I like pasta. Kraft was thin and mushy, definitely not a good mouth feel. Here, I am definitely going to give it to BTN.

Finally, we have the cheese sauce. Personally, neither of them tasted like cheese to me and I did not really like either of them. I especially hated the yellow color of the Kraft. It is just so creapy to me. So, I guess I will give this one to BTN since it was not an unnatural color.

In short, I actually ate the BTN with dinner and had left overs for lunch later that week. I never touched the Kraft again. I just could not get over the yellow color and mushy texture. So, let's hear it for the winner! Back to Nature! Coming up soon, homemade mac and cheese. The only mac and cheese for me.