Me either. I was in the middle of responding to her and my words, the thread, all went poof right in front of me.

Another touchy subject, maybe? 😀

Anyhow, the boxed stuff is better than the microwave stuff.

Perhaps so. Hopefully my grand daughter will like the easy microwaved mac, if not, I am going to just try lentil or chickpea pasta with cheese.

The microwave mac is not as good as the stovetop box, it was a little too thick and my kids (and me) just didn’t like the taste as much. We hever had it as a side, always as a main, often with mixed-in sliced hot dogs or bbq sauce or peas, and salad or crudités on the side. Not the healthiest meal, but from time to time it’s fine. And, it’s so quick to make.

I think I remember those election-year boxes!

I had only tried to tell you I hadn't tried the microwave style, or the boxed either. But I had bought mac and cheese in canned form once. I thought I could quickly heat it over the alcohol stove on the boat in bad weather for something hot and satisfying. Only it was ghastly. The dog even refused to eat it. A lab who would eat any and every thing. ;)

Niece served us pasta made from brown rice with a little bit of an odd chew, but not at all objectionable last weekend. Served it with her scratch alfredo sauce which is very good. No one complained. Her husband was cooking the pasta and asked me to try one piece, see if done al dente. With the different texture, I couldn't tell immediately if it was cooked through or needed a few more seconds cooking.

mor, as a kid, I loved canned macaroni and cheese on heavily buttered toast!

Can you even get it any more?

https://abitofhome.ca/heinz-macaroni-and-cheese-400g.html

Apparently, you can.

I missed the original thread so don't know if it was really about mac and cheese. This is funny because my grandson and one of my friends (whose guilty pleasure is boxed mac and cheese when her husband is out of town) have an ongoing debate over the best boxed mac and cheese. He says it's this:

She says it's this:

We don't buy the Kraft stuff, but my friend is so funny about her secret passion for boxed mac and cheese, I gave her this ornament for Christmas:

Sometimes people delete threads they started when they find the trend of comments is not in agreement and is unsupportive.

Well, the question was about whether grandkids would like microwave mac and cheese.

I think they would. Everything tastes good at Grandma’s house.

rox, I was determined to make mac and cheese from scratch for my grandson because he gets NOTHING homemade at either of his parents' homes. Just boxed, packaged stuff that comes from Costco mostly. Well, he didn't like any method/recipe I tried (and they were all really good) as much as the boxed stuff, so I gave up. I did influence them to switch to organic boxed stuff. I don't ever fix it for him because I can fix other things that are healthier and he can eat the mac and cheese at home.

You sound like a good grandma, Oly

A pinch of nutmeg does wonders for mac and cheese, boxed or made from scratch.

My kids loved going to their grandparents on both sides. They always had food that we rarely got as kids and they rarely got at home. They’d buy food that the kids would find fun! Mom and Dad could worry about nutrition.

They also had their fill of wild blueberries and saskatoons at the grandparents. It balanced out.

What's a Saskatoon? Besides a city?

Saskatoons are berries that I believe the city was named after. Cree maybe.

They grow wild in Alberta and Saskatchewan and probably other provinces.

“Saskatoon, city, south-central Saskatchewan, Canada, on the South Saskatchewan River. It was founded in 1883 as the proposed capital of a temperance colony, and its name was derived from Mis-sask-quah-toomina, a Cree word for a local edible red berry.“

Microwavable mac and cheese is horrible. My daughter likes it though. Gag.

I grew up on Kraft dinner. My kids, too. They went to my mom’s, and she made them homemade mac and cheese. They didn’t like it nearly as well.

When DH was out of town for a few days, he asked what I was going to eat.I told him, Kraft mac and cheese. And I did. I made a box the first night, had some of it again the next night, then lunch, and last bit for a third dinner. all with salad. I’m good on the mac and cheese front for a few years, now; that sated my craving!

When my kids went to their other grandma’s, she gave them white bread. They’d never had it. LOVED it. They always looked forward to going.

The microwave stuff just isn't the same as the stuff in the box. I am not sure why. That being said, kids do like it, they are the target audience for that stuff. I make a very good homemade baked mac and cheese and that is what i eat and bring to family parties. The nieces and nephews didn't like it until they were a bit older. Or at least they preferred the stove top boxed stuff until around age 10 or so. They did eat it and like it, just not as much as the boxed kind. That has since changed.

If your granddaughter does not like the microwaved stuff Stouffers sells small frozen cups of mac and cheese in 4 packs. And I do find them a lot more palatable than the microwaved stuff.

Last fall, when I returned from my month-long ordeal with pneumonia and hospital and rehab, I somehow had a mac n cheese craving. I never ate mac n cheese, ever. But it was what I craved. DH got me a frozen Stouffer's, and I had a few bites. Finished dinner with a PBJ sandwich. I am cured.

About once a year, I get a blue box craving. Love it with some salsa stirred in and lots of black pepper. I make it, serve myself a cup or so and then I'm good for another year. Same with ramen.

When I was searching for a pic to post of the mac and cheese ornament above, this came up. I couldn't resist it for my friend. She is the tiniest little thing, really into health and is very active outdoors, so it's quite out of character for her to binge on mac and cheese. But she tells me when her hubby is out of town (not often) she sometimes will eat 2 boxes of the Annie's. I had to buy this for her today, just because of the laugh.

IP mac is greatttt .... said me and that cheesey tiger

Just because you don't like something, does that make it O.K. for you to fry a thread where others may wish to discuss it, depriving them of the opportunity to deal with some issue that is of interest to them?

ole joyful

We like mac and cheese :) I grew up with the Kraft blue box. And also the version where you use cream of mushroom soup, an unholy amount of brick velveeta, and your pasta.

Still like blue box and usually have one on the shelf for the occasional lazy cooking. Preferred over the box that comes with cheese goo.

We tend to keep a few kinds of noodle cups on the shelf. Basic blue Kraft cups are better than the cheese goo ones. It's easier to pour and stir in powder than get all the goo out of the packets. Hamburger Helper also has mac and cheese cups. They are the powder kind with the bigger elbow pasta. We think they are better than either one of the Kraft cups. I've got some Annies cheesy rice on the shelf to try out. Haven't tried any of the Annies stuff yet. Rice and Pasta roni cups are pretty good too, some different flavors that the cheesy ones.

The reason why the microwave cups are different is the treatment of the pasta. Box kits come with uncooked pasta that you cook up. Microwave bowls have pasta that was cooked and then dehydrated. The microwaving is rapidly rehydrating the pasta, not actually cooking it. Since the pasta loses a lot of starch with cooking and that's necessary for thickening and mouth feel, powder starch is added to the dry pasta to hydrate in during microwaving. Dehydrated goods can rehydrate back pretty close to original cooked, but often is a little bit different.

Mom never made it so I didn't grow up with it. I don't think I've eaten it out of a box in 50+ years. I generally cringe at mac n cheese...it just triggers my cholesterol warnings and looks unappetizing. Funny how that doesn't happen when I look at a slice of cheesecake... 🙄

If you have lactose problems, mac & cheese is one of the worst things to eat. I naturally avoided dairy as a child and still avoid milk today, which means that I cannot eat anything with a béchamel sauce.

Growing up, my sister loved Kraft Mac & Cheese, which is one of the reasons that I would always try to help cook lunch and dinner - to prevent my sister from making it. If she did make it, I would not touch it and would make myself something else.

As an adult, I would make other pasta and cheese casserole type dishes, but I would never use elbow macaroni, and I would use Italian cheeses, like Asiago, Provolone Mozzarella di Bufala, and Parmesan. I would also use a velouté sauce with it, generally with vegetable stock, and I would also add vegetables, such as broccoli to it. Cheese does not upset me as much as milk, but it depends on the type of cheese. Brie will upset my stomach, but I eat it anyway.

For some reason, I like penne pasta, but not elbow macaroni. Perhaps I have bad associations with elbow macaroni from childhood.

https://lidiasitaly.com/recipes/macaroni-and-cheese/

Lidia makes it by soaking the cheese in milk ... no need to make a roux.

DS was dating a girl who had a very limited palate. We went out for dinner once, and the only thing she considered on the menu was house-made macaroni and cheese. It wasn’t Kraft, it wasn’t orange, and it was delicious. She ate two bites to be polite. DS is a pretty adventurous eater, always was. That relationship was short-lived.

When my grandkids were small, I used the microwave Kraft mac n Cheese when we took them camping. The two that could eat it, liked it, one was allergic to dairy. It was the kind in a plastic tub, you added water, heated, and stirred in the powdered cheese.

When my boys were growing up and for the grands at home, I made the one I grew up with.

Cook elbow macaroni in water until done. Drain. Add MARGARINE, not butter. Grate mild cheddar cheese off the block into the cooked macaroni. Add milk to thin as needed. Do not use the pregrated kind. I just used the margarine only in the one that was allergic to dairy. (You can buy dairy free margarine if you check.)

My mother, who could not cook, made a "fancy" mac and cheese from a recipe out of a magazine and we hated it. (But we were kids, it probably would taste delicious now.)

bpath, I think your first comment on this thread just showed up this morning as I hadn’t seen it before.

My kids loved going to MIL’s as she always made them KD with big chunks of kubassa in it. They loved it with homemade garlic pickles. Of course, the Pac-Man shaped pasta tasted better.

MIL would also buy those Kraft pizza kits and let them make their own pizzas.

My husband likes to fry up leftover KD and eat it with HP Sauce.

Is there actual cheese in KD? I'm not sure if "Velveeta" is cheese -- or maybe there is some percentage of cheese in it? Is it the same concoction that's dried and sold in the tubular shakers of 'cheese for spaghetti'?

OK, I looked up Velveeta. The FDA requires it to be 51% real cheese. The article I read says it is "one molecule away from plastic".

Most kids are not 'adventurous eaters' and *bland* is their go-to. Velveeta on white bread is typical of this. I begged my mom to buy Wonder Bread. It was 'duck bread' in our house. Cheap, I'd tear it up to give to ducks in a nearby pond. (Not good for them either, but hey,)

As a child, I probably also had bland taste, but the school cafeteria always had hot sauce on the tables, and I put that on almost everything. I might have liked mac & cheese if it had enough hot sauce in it, but it would still upset my stomach.

My favorite foods as a child were vegetables and salads.

I don't think kids inherently have bland tastes or preferences for junk food. They grow to prefer what they're given to eat. Kids get the foods their parents eat and let's face it - many adults have very narrow and often unhealthy food preferences. The reverse is also true - adults with broad and wholesome food preferences pass those along, in most cases, to their kids.

My mother made her mac & cheese with Velveeta, and all 5 of us kids loved it, even with the peas or broccoli that she always added. Toasted cheese sandwiches were always Velveeta, too.

This past winter I had a craving for it, bought some Velveeta, and was greatly disappointed. It just didn't taste anywhere near the same. I wonder how much the manufacturing of the product has changed in the past 50 years.

Neither, my husband nor I grew up eating junk food at home. Both my mother and MIL were excellent cooks. My husband is an excellent cook. Me, not so much.

My kids would eat both junk food and healthy food at my MILs simply because I think she got tired of cooking big healthy meals from scratch, with only one hand, while raising a family on the farm. In her later years she discovered the convenience of the microwave and Costco shopping. She really retired and enjoyed her grandchildren.🙂

My mother also got tired of cooking, setting a proper table every day, even having a tablecloth on the table for every meal, including breakfast. She loved to indulge the grandkids with their choice of meal or takeout or restaurant, as long as she didn’t have to cook. She loved her retirement, as well.

Kids are people. Some like sweet, some like sour, some like heavy foods, some like light foods. My sisters and I all grew up in the same home but have very different favourite foods.

I think those little KD microwave cups would be something kids would enjoy. Give it a try. If they don’t like them, ask them for ideas.

"I wonder how much the manufacturing of the product has changed in the past 50 years." That's a good question. But I also think our tastes and preferences may change with age. There are some foods my mother made when I was a child that I continue to love, but there are others I don't, or choose not to eat as often as I used to.

I don't think it's a matter of being an excellent cook or a poor one, rather a issue of what gets put on the table and what ingredients are used.

One of my daughters in law is poor cook but a wonderful mother. Her own mother is exactly the same. This particular set of grandkids eats only wholesome and mostly organic foods, made with simple but flavorful preparations. I once took them to one of the salad bar restaurants that were common here pre-pandemic. I took each in turn through the salad bar line and then we sat down to eat. The then 8 and 6 year-old kids told me what they wanted and then happily sat down with a plate of broccoli and cauliflower florets, beets, olives, cherry tomatoes, carrots, cucumber slices, garbanzo beans, etc with no salad dressing. They chose no mac salad, chocolate or tapioca pudding nor any of the other extraneous things that were available. They also each got one slice of pizza. Three different adults stopped at our table when they walked by, asking some form of "how do you get them to eat like that?" To which I replied something to the effect of "credit their mother, these are the foods they eat regularly and it's what they prefer".

My mother was an excellent cook and an excellent mother and so was my MIL. I am an excellent mother and a lousy but healthy cook. Thank goodness because I find the less you do with fresh food, the better it is.

My kids loved their junk food when they could get it. My daughter grew up to be a very healthy eater. It was her choice.

I don’t have grandchildren so I can’t comment on what those brilliant little souls would do.

FWIW, children do have tastes that are different than adults - for instance, research has shown it's impossible to make something that's too sweet for most kids, and I think many kids are more sensitive to strong flavors than adults, but I recall that there was some research done on kids eating spicy hot foods in cultures where that's common and it was shown there wasn't any natural aversion to it - same with dogs too. The difference in sensitivities has more to do with nurture than nature, it seems.

And I wonder whether someone, unintentionally or not, posted something that triggered removal of that conversation and we'll see it returned after the weekend?

Carol, I thought about what was posted.

I posted a song from the B a r e n a k e d Ladies about having a million dollars and eating Kraft Dinner with fancy (Dijon) lol catsup. It was a cute song. You never know.

We are told children taste things more strongly than adults. I dont know if that is true. We were told for years that taste could be mapped in areas of the tongue and that is not true. You don't have areas for salt and sweet etc. I know that as child I was more sensitive to tastes and textures but over all not the least bit picky. No pickles and no cream style corn. We were never forced to eat anything we didn't like except once which did not go well. We all ate pretty much anything. Mac and cheese was not a family favorite but we would eat it. Never boxed but made with Velvetta on the stove top. I make it with a bechamel sauce and sharp cheddar with a few tablespoons of blue cheese. Stir into cooked macaroni in a deep baking dish, a crumb coating(french bread crumbs and butter rubbed together), baked till bubbly and browned around the edge. DH loves the stuff. Me not so much. I had a friend who fed her kids all sorts of things, She would drop olives into her babie's mouth and the kid would gum them and she would pick out the pit from it's mouth.She was insane. I get the wide assortment of food thing but choking hazards are choking hazards.

Of course, even a child can like both Kraft Dinner and, say, fried rattlesnake with hot sauce. Hmm, I wonder how they taste togther…?