Knorr Buffalo Chicken Pasta Sides

Noodle pack, my beloved! It's been ages since I've had one of these, even though I basically subsisted on them from age 10-24, because I was worried about their salt-bombiness. (Also this has MSG in it, and onion powder, which are brain diet non-approved, although I'm still not sure I believe in that stuff.) But this is a new flavor, so I gotta try it. It's soy-free and has the nice spiral noodle shape we know and love from cheddar-broccoli-flavor. I don't really like buffalo chicken flavored things, but that's fine because the main flavor notes here are: noodle pack and slight mouth burning. I guess a little chicken broth. There's no cheddar or broccoli in it, and yet if you told me this was the cheddar broccoli flavor with a little hot sauce or red pepper added, I'd say "well OK, but why'd you do that to it?". It is good because noodle pack is good but would be better if it were just cheddar broccoli noodle pack. However, if you love chicken broth and mild heat, or hate cheddar or broccoli, this could be the introduction to the noodle pack lifestyle you were waiting for! (In the age old question, "Am I nostalgic for my youth because of the noodle packs, or nostalgic for noodle packs because of my youth?", the answer is 100% the first one)

Overall
Cost: 7/10
Taste: 7/10 

Manischewitz Egg Noodles (Wide)

Merry Christmas indeed!! These are the only egg noodles at my store, and they are perfectly serviceable egg noodles, although the truth is I prefer generally a non-egg noodle (and entailed dishes). But 'tis the season for stroganoff, and these are the correct noodles for that. They cook in 6 minutes or so, and taste like egg noodle. Good texture, lovely curl, no complaints.

Overall
Cost: 5/10
Taste: 6/10

Annie's Deluxe Rich & Creamy Shells Classic Cheddar Cup

There sure are a lot of iterations of easy macs! This is a good one though. It is indeed rich and creamy, and I like the shell shape. It doesn't give me a particular tummy ache. The biggest downside is the goop pack (lol) is super hard to open and you need scissors for it or a ton of luck. For a convenience meal, this is annoying!! It's also probably like, super bad for you or whatever. But it's comforting and quick. 

Overall
Cost: 5/10
Taste: 7/10

Stouffer's Baked White Mac & Cheese

This was on sale, which is why I bought it, but it also raises the question of WHY it was on sale -- not expired, so maybe it's discontinued? Gross? Dangerous? We may never know. The reviews for this are decent, and indeed, the taste is just fine. Noodle and cheese is a typically foolproof combo. But it made me randomly nervously itchy, even though the ingredos are fine and in the end I was fine. The smell is just very "cream based frozen meal (tuna?)" vibes, I guess? Anyway. The taste is mostly creamy and bready, but not particularly cheesy, which is a disappointment. Also a little dry. Tastes OK, but for the calos, I'd rather have the regular mac and cheese (especially with brocco!).

Overall
Cost: 5/10
Taste: 6/10

Annie's White Cheddar Macaroni

I've had so many disappointing Annie's noodles that I had low expectations for this, but I'm sick and this was on sale. And it exceeded my expectations! Cooked up fine, wet, taste was super mild, made my stomach gurgle (but not hurt (yet)), not allergic, really no complaints. Thanks, Annie's! Like Easy Mac but less tasty/smaller, but less achy too.

Overall
Cost: 5/10
Taste: 7/10

Cheetos Mac 'N Cheese - Four Cheesy

Who knew I was going so hard on mac and cheese this week? But without the scary mustard sauces, it's all I got! So, this is more like the typical prep: add butter, milk, and cheese powder. The noodles are a classic spiral shape, too! I like the slightly longer spiral noodle, and they tastes basically like normal mac. The powder is really a bright orange, which is kind of disconcerting. It also doesn't mix in fully, so there were powder clumps leftover, but maybe I should have added a bit more milk. It is very cheesy. Maybe a little more tang than in plain yellow. I also feel it giving me a stomachache as we speak, even though I didn't use the full butter amount! Wah! Maybe there IS something to goat cheese after all. But this tastes better than the goat mac, although not as good as normal Kraft. Also I'm scared of secret mustard in the natural flavors now; I really have a problem. But so far so alive.

Overall
Cost: 5/10
Taste: 7/10

Funny Farm - Deluxe White Goat Cheddar Shells & Cheese

Does this really make 3.5 servings? I'll be lucky to do 2, I think! It's just mac and cheese, except instead of powder we got that goopy sauce packet. A lot of salt, not a lot of butter, kinda nervous about the taste. Seems pretty nut free, and maybe even good for milk allergies if goat is better than cow, which is cool. It makes a big amount, and I feel like there should be even MORE goopy sauce lol. But it's OK. The noodles are good, delicate. The sauce doesn't have a very strong flavor. It's wet but almost watery! Maybe that's what goat gets ya. I'd be curious to try the yellow cheddar. It's OK, but too much and also nothing exciting. 

Overall
Cost: 5/10
Taste: 7/10

Pasta Roni Heat & Eat Rotini Marinara

Eek. The unbelievably horrible alfredo flavor definitely colored my interactions with this flavor, which was, I am relieved to say, not as horrible as that one. But even so, some of the noodles were almost black (and not burnt or sauce-covered -- a different, scary black) while some were normal noodle colored, and I'm not sure why. The sauce is basically tomato sauce and the noodles are basically noodles. Therefore it's OK, but I'll never get it again because the memory of the alfredo one haunts me still.

Overall
Cost: 5/10
Taste: 5/10

Pasta Roni Heat & Eat Penne Alfredo

Yikes yikes yikes. This is so bad. Even for "bomb shelter" food, you can do so much better. I thought it would be a goopier version of easy mac or something, but it's like a goopier version of Spaghettio infused wheat noodle with bonus chemical residue. The pasta is wheat, which is actually nice, but it's brown and the sauce is vaguely pink, so it doesn't look anything like the picture. It also doesn't taste like alfredo (or "alfredo flavor"), even though there is supposedly cheese in here. It tastes like weird tomato chemical paste. I literally couldn't finish it. Booo.

Overall
Cost: 5/10
Taste: 2/10

Annie's Spidey & Friends Mac & Cheese

I mean, who doesn't love mac and cheese? And the spidey theme is cute. The cheese here is paler than Kraft Dinner, and somehow that makes it taste less cheesy, which is either stupid OR it actually tastes less cheesy (I can't know for sure). It also wants you to put in a lot of milk and the butter is optional. I used butter but mine was still very wet, which I like but probably contributed to the less-cheesy-ness. I also added brocco. It was filling and decent but I do think I prefer a Kraft mac, sorry Annie.

Overall
Cost: 5/10
Taste: 7/10

Annie's Oven Baked White Cheddar & Shells Mac & Cheese

Listen, noodles and cheese is always good, OK? But this is annoying to make -- the oven!? -- and the ingredients do not mix well at all. Even though it seems to cook up fine, the mixing failure still annoys me. I added brocco to this and it was fine, glorpy and more glorp than cheese flavor, but fine. Filling if you eat 1/3-1/2 of the box, but IDK about 1/5 as a serving. I'm not mad about this, but I'm also not mad about it, yanno?

Overall
Cost: 5/10
Taste: 6/10

Knorr Four Cheese Pasta Side

Aw, my mom got me this noodle packet special because it didn't have soy protein in it. Thanks, mom! It's a new one for me, too. I was a little nervous because I do not like blue cheese at all, but happily the cheese mixture just tasted like "generic white-ish cheese sauce". There was a little bit of tanginess to it, but I wouldn't be able to ID the individual cheeses involved, that's for sure. I like this pasta shape a lot (see also: Cheddar Broccoli Noodle Pack), and the sauce was not outstanding, but it was "fine". All safe noodle packs are winners in my book. I'd eat it again!

Overall
Cost: 7/10
Taste: 7/10

Kraft macaroni & cheese - Frozen II shapes

I know what you might be thinking: does this really deserve its own entry, distinct from Regular Kraft Mac and Cheese, Spirals Kraft Mac and Cheese, or Easy Mac with Paw Patrol Shapes? But I claim to you: yes! Yes! It is distinct, and it is better. The quantity is less than the non-shaped macs, including spirals, which is good for my health, but the taste is also better, I guess because the noodles are firmer(?) and carry more sweet, sweet sauce. I also like Frozen II well enough (but the other shapes like Cars II and Spongebob II and even Paw Patrol Cop Dogs II taste equally good). Of course, the taste is creamier than Easy Mac. I will say that sometimes I get a liiiittle stomach ache after eating, but I suspect that's just what milk and fat and cheese will do to a girl. Worth it.



Overall
Cost: 7/10
Taste: 8/10

Freak Flag Broccoli & Cheese Mac & Freak

I always fall into this trap of thinking that organic food, being more expensive, will also be of higher quality and therefore more delicious. But that's clearly not true!! This actually wasn't that expensive, to be fair, but it also was (sadly) not very delicious. It wasn't offensive or anything, but ultimately tasted a bit like day-old reheated mac and cheese -- dry and clumpy, even though I used tonnes of milk and butter. The noodles were pretty firm compared to your Krafts, which is actually bad here I think, and the taste was somewhat garlicy(?) or horshradishy(?!) but otherwise no strong notes of either cheese or creaminess or even brocco. Alas.

Overall
Cost: 6/10 [2$ish]
Taste: 5/10

Kraft Triple Cheese Easy Mac

I know this isn't even called easy mac, but whatever, man, that's what this is. The idea of 'triple cheese' excited me, since as a kiddo I would sometimes double up on the cheese powder pouches in normal mac and cheese, forcing my parents to eat plain cheeseless elbows later. In retrospect, it is a little surprising that I was allowed to do this. 

But alas, this so-called "triple cheese" didn't taste any cheesier than the normal version. In fact, if I were forced to judge, it might even taste LESS cheesy. In general it's very similar to the baseline model -- maybe wetter(?)? In conclusion, it is fine.

Overall
Cost: 6/10
Taste: 7/10

Annie's Shells & White Cheddar Mac & Cheese

I love all noodles and cheese, but Annie's is honestly not any better than other noodles-and-cheeses, even though you'd think (or I'd think) it would be! This really was just not that good. I didn't use butter, but they didn't say you had to, so I don't blame me. It was gritty, and makes a good amount but also tasted really - artificial? Maybe that's just the white cheddar flavor, but it also made my ears itch and I plain didn't enjoy the experience. Kraft all the way, fam.

Overall
Cost: 5/10
Taste: 6/10

Kraft Deluxe Cheddar Cheese Macaroni and Cheese (Easy Mac)

Ah, fancy easy mac. Much like the white cheddar version, this is good, though noticeably different from non-deluxe mac. There's a goo packet instead of a cheese powder packet, but mixed in it's pretty good like a Kraft singles sticky coating. The packet is annoyingly hard to open (it's foil, not paper) but otherwise these are pretty addictive. I wish they were bigger, because I have a porblem.


Overall
Cost: 6/10 (about 1$ each)
Taste: 7/10

Barilla Rotini

These sure taste like noodles! Not my favorite shape, though, and without being made of veggie, I don't see the point. Better to have something tasty like ziti, or elbows, or whatever else is available. But they do the job.

Overall
Cost: 6/10
Taste: 6/10

Easy Mac (no cup)

What the heck is this? Easy mac in a bag that you need your own bowl for? Seems silly since I usually have easy mac on the go (in a hotel with no bowls, for instance), but now that I'm at home, an 18 pack of easy mac for 7$ is hard to pass up. This is actually somehow better than the cup version (IMO) in terms of taste/texture. It doesn't have the white powder in the noodles, which might be related, I'm not sure. You add 2/3 cup water to the noodles and microwave for 3.44 and then stir in the cheese powder (the hardest part since I use a small bowl). It really tastes very close to regular mac and cheese, more than the bowl easy mac does. Almost buttery even though I didn't add butter/milk. This is nice. I think it must be very bad for me since I feel feverish and stomachachey after eating it most of the time, but I will enjoy this 18 pack til it's gone and try to hold out on rebuying for a while. But it is super easy and enjoyable. And a good, appropriate portion.

Overall
Cost: 9/10 (less than 50 cents a pack)
Taste: 7/10

Velveeta Shells & Cheese - Queso Blanco Microwaveable Cups

I got these to change up my easy mac palate, but these are virtually identical to the Kraft White Cheddar Easy Mac, even down to the instructions and little goopy cheese sauce packet. The only differences are that the noodles are little shells instead of elbows, and the branding. But of course, Velveeta is owned by Kraft!! So Velveeta singles and Kraft singles are the same? Which explains why this tastes like the homemade Kraft-single-melty mac and cheese from my youth. Anyway, it's still very quick, easy, and comforting (and bad for you), but it's nothing new, so that's too bad. I wonder if there's a radically different type of easy mac available! Maybe Annie's? If quarantine continues, I will surely find out! Stay tuned!

Overall
Cost: 6/10
Taste: 7/10