Kraft Deluxe Macaroni and Cheese Dinner
Price: $2
Additives: None
Synopsis: Delish

For the return of Mac & Cheese Monday, I've chosen our first-ever nontraditional box of pasta and sauce. This ain't kids' macaroni and cheese. This is the serious stuff.

While Kraft Deluxe is more expensive than most of the standard powder-mix varieties, it does not require any additives at all, since the cheese sauce comes in goo-form in an aluminum pouch, rather than in the dehydrated form we all know and love. There are two distinct advantages of this. The first, obviously, is that Kraft Deluxe can be made at any time by anyone, even someone such as myself who often does not keep perishables such as "milk" and "butter" readily on hand at all times. But more important than that, since the sauce is not made from a powder, it lacks any kind of graininess at all. The sauce is simply smooth and creamy, without being soupy, and with a relatively delicate flavor. I liked it quite a bit.

Also, the noodles are larger than the standard size, which I guess is supposed to give it more of a homemade quality. Some skeptics will tell you that macaroni is macaroni, and that it doesn't matter what it's shaped like since it's all made of the same stuff. These people are wrong. Just ask any person such as myself who deeply prefers shells to elbow macaroni, or ask any 4-year-old screaming in the boxed dinner aisle because the store is out of Shrek-shaped noodles.

Moreover, Kraft Deluxe also delivers in quantity as well. For the same price as Simply Organic mac & cheese, you get not only a far superior product, but far more of it. The servings-per-box rate is "About 4" and I'd say that that is right. I ate until I was full, and there was still plenty left over for later.

All in all, you can't go wrong with Kraft Deluxe. It's a welcome return to Mac & Cheese Monday, indeed.