Kraft Dinner

It was invented by a Canadian immigrant.

Whatever is in that “cheese” / chemical seasoning packet is beyond vile.

I can always tell who is Canadian by how they refer to mac and cheese.

You just made it wrong 's all. You're s'posed to add an unspoken slice or two of real 'merican cheese to the puddle of powder, milk and butter before you mix in the elbow. Besides, Velveeta shells and cheese with the bag of neon sludge is where it's been for decades now!

I have the best recipe for macaroni and cheese.

The best.

We care not

I posted a recipe I was using at the time and the crowd went wild.

R6, I don’t believe you.

LOL @ r3. "South Park," which constantly disses Canadians, often made references to "Kraft Dinner". Didn't know WTF it was. Then found myself visiting Downtown Canada for work on a business trip, sitting in my heated hotel room watching a "Kids In The Hall" marathon, when a commercial for "KD" came on. The box looked exactly like Kraft brand Mac N' Cheese, but was labeled "Kraft Dinner". The Ad concluded with a big KD logo, as if to make it hip and trendy. Canadians pronounce the noodles as "pass-ta," which is annoying, yet cute in a way that only the people of Canadialand can pull off. Partner and I couldn't stop giggling (and of course we were stoned).

Meanwhile, boxed Mac N' Cheez was a staple for backpacking trips on Mt. Lassen when I was decades younger. You needed lightweight items that could be rehydrated with boiled water from whatever giardia-laden water source you could find. I'd pack powdered milk, and peas and carrots to add to it, along with half a stick of butter. It tasted great when starving and exhausted at 10,000 feet. Pure comfort food. Sometimes I'd catch a Rainbow Trout and just add it to the mix because there was only one small pan to cook with on the tiny white gas camp stove. Heaven!

You can really elevate the food by adding grated cheddar to the orange cheese powder. I stopped eating it because the low-grade noodles weren't digesting normally, if you get my disgusting drift.

**dehydrated peas and carrots.

"Does anybody who isnt living in abject poverty actually like this? If so please explain why."

People who really, really like cheap. They may not like the taste. But for some people "cheap" is better than taste.

Particularly when they don't have to it, but their kids don't have a choice.

Kraft Dinner: You don't have to be poor to buy us. You just need to hate your children.

Enough butter added can make anything palatable. Think Last Tango in Paris.

[quote]"pass-ta,"

Just wait til you hear us say "drama," R9!

As for KD, I liked the old version before the noodles were shittified by Kraft. I swear you could boil them for 30 seconds now and they'd still be mush. They used to have a weird, unnatural, slippery firmness about them that I liked. Now I eat Annie's, because it's way better. Don't tell the King of Canada, I'll be banished.

I've heard how you Canuckians pronounce Maaaaz-da too!

I remember my sister loving it as a kid & I refused to even taste it until I was about 16, then I loved it for a brief time. I used margarine (that’s what you were supposed back then instead of butter, right?) My favorite would be the unmelted bits of margarine that I’d eat whole.

I eventually tried Shells & cheese & thought that was superior because the cheese was creamy & not powdered.

I haven’t had Kraft in about 20 yrs or so; I briefly had Annie’s which was healthier, I bought a case from Costco & eventually ate all the boxes, though it took several months.

Maaaaz-da is equally grating - but the Canadiers are really fucking cute. Gravy on fries, too.

r14, Annie's "Cheese Shells" sucks. Doesn't have that artificial orange colour* and flavouring* goodness. See what I did there? Annie's is a factory in my town of Santa Rosa, CA, BTW. It's made by and for Lesbians Only.

OMG r9. I'm in Santa Rosa too.

r18, Haaaa! Oakmont here. We are OLD, pickled Queens, my partner and I.

Waving at r19 from Larkfield/Wikiup area! Keep each other warm!

I love it, the ultimate comfort food. I eat it a least one a week even though it reminds me of the poorer days of my youth, it's good to know I don't HAVE to eat it because it's all I can afford

I went out to dinner recently and ordered duck macaroni and cheese. I was expecting something like a homemade breaded mac and cheese, with perhaps a pan seared duck breast.

Instead it was Kraft.

Wait, R15. Does this mean Americans sat "mawz-da?" I've heard you with the paw-sta and drawh-mah. But mawz-da? Tf games are you up to down there?

[quote]Annie's "Cheese Shells" sucks.

*presses back of hand to mouth* (but thank you for the 'u's!)

I somewhat convinced we have different versions of KD and you still have the good stuff, btw. I live close enough to the border, one of these days I'm going to try to do a straight comparison.

Yes, "Mawz-da" down here in the U.S.

Gregg, you old prune, any recipe for mac n’dick cheese? Wouldn’t that be a splendid idea for your next imaginary dinner party?

r23, KD is like Mexican Coke for us, I guess.

r15, we moved here from SF last month, still trying to find our bearings. It's cold! But not Canada-cold. Have tried to start Sonoma/Santa Rosa threads here, but few responses.

BTW, I literally just made a batch of Kraft Mac and Cheese - purchased during COVID panic - and had a bowl. Had the munchies. It expired two years ago, but tasted just fine:) My partner is fast asleep. Am now trying to hide the evidence.

Several years ago the maker did something to the cheese packet to make it not taste anything like cheese. You can guess from there, OP.

Do you folks use butter or margarine when you make Kraft, Annie's or whichever type of boxed macaroni and cheese?

I insist on butter, as isn't it natural -- but margarine is fake? Is that the difference? Seems some or many don't know and don't care about the difference, right?

I do like Annie's when eating boxed and if not buying frozen or making homemade. It's now $2.89 or so when not on sale where I live...maybe 4 for $5 on sale? Still not bad in inflationary times, right? Maybe was $0.99 on sale pre pandemic?

No, OP I don't think its very good either.

I now live outside the US, so making Annie's mac and cheese is a fun treat for me when I go back to the US. Yes I know it's horrible rubbish, but I do love a box now and then. White shells and cheddar.

[quote] Then found myself visiting Downtown Canada for work on a business trip, sitting in my heated hotel room

I’m curious why you specify that your hotel room was heated. Are not all Canadian hotel rooms heated?

[quote] Gregg, you old prune, any recipe for mac n’dick cheese? Wouldn’t that be a splendid idea for your next imaginary dinner party?

How immature are you, R25?

I know you need to believe that my dinner parties are imaginary, so that’s fine. Says a lot about you though,

A guilty pleasure for sure (I grew up with it and it was something I could make on my own as a pre-microwave-owning. latchkey kid of the ‘70s), but who calls it “Kraft Dinner?” It’s Kraft Macaroni & Cheese, or just Mac & Cheese. That said, last time I made a box, it tasted different. Not bad, just different from what I remember.

^ See R9—it's branded as Kraft Dinner in Canada.

I like it for a little nostalgia, OP. I grew up po (but, thanks to my mom, didn't know it) so it brings back nice memories for me. Sometimes I cut up a hot dog or two and add that in while it's cooking.

Unfortunately, Greg has told me in no uncertain terms that it "sounds like shit."

r26 sounds cute af.

[quote] Unfortunately, Greg has told me in no uncertain terms that it "sounds like shit."

I apologize that Kraft Macaroni & Cheese with hotdogs sounds like shit, R35.

It does to me, but that doesn't mean I needed to tell you that.

Forgive me.

Ah, Greg, I still have a crush on you.

We need a return of Noodles Romanoff. A pasta side dish that actually had FLAVOR!

One time on the Whoopi Goldberg version of the Hollywood Squares, a question was asked to a Canadian celebrity that was obviously about the product we're discussing. He confidently answered, "Kraft Dinner!" and Tom Bergeron said, "I'm sorry, the correct answer is Kraft Macaroni & Cheese." The celebrity tried to explain they were the same thing, but the judges weren't hearing it. I've always wondered if that contestant got any kind of compensation for the blatant screw job.

I think the celebrity was one of the Barenaked Ladies.

You're sweet, R35.

These old commercials show that mac & cheese was only one of several varieties of Kraft Dinner originally. Not sure when the others fell by the wayside.

EVERY product made by what is now KraftHeinz is a poor imitation of what they were as recently as 5 years ago. Their entire R&D effort has been to reduce the cost to make their products. Oscar Mayer lunch meat is now mostly “mechanically separated chicken” aka pink slime. Oscar Mayer bacon now has as much water in it as the cheap store brands. . Heinz ketchup has less tomatoes and more corn syrup, notice how there is always clear liquid that comes out first. What happened is that after the merger / buyout, costs needed to come down further. So all of the lower cost formulations that didn’t initially pass the taste test went into production. Kraft doesn’t even make most of their cheese anymore it was all sold off and it’s made by contract packers.

Thanks for the info, R43. I tried KD for the first time in years and I was shocked at how bad it was. I can't imagine it was expensive to manufacture before the merger/buyout, I shudder to think what's in it now. I don't even know if you can call it food now.

President's Choice 'Deluxe' white cheddar is much better, as is Annie's. I wanted to like the Cheetos mac n cheese but it was awful.

You didn't add anything to it, OP? Not even so much as black pepper?

For me, it always gets black pepper, red pepper flakes, heavy cream instead of milk, and a dash of granulated garlic powder, at the very least. But these days I don't make it unless I've got leftover taco meat, with which I include the aforementioned additions, plus a can of Rotel and a can of Ranch Style Beans. That doesn't turn it into haute cuisine by any means, but at least it's not inedible.

r36, you are kind AF. But am 61. At 65, my clearly MUCH older partner, a distinguished Top, does try to tell me that I'm his cute Twink. Throngs of random people do approach me on the streets, saying: "Gee, you don't look a day over 59 and 1/2!". My secrets? 1) Moisturize, and don't forget about the genitals; 2) Always use natural butter in your KD/Mac N' Cheese; and 3) Be kind to Canadians because you never know what they're going through.

Great info, R43. There are a few brands this has happened to. Campbells soup (the canned stuff, particularly the classic tomato) is one of them. It surprises me when huge brands fuck over their iconic items in particular, but I suppose not too many people notice. Kraft Singles (another nostalgic indulgence) are utter shite now, the texture is off and sticky, they're awful. They also fucked Cadbury's chocolate. And the aforementioned KD, the noodles AND the cheese of which are now basically inedible.

I wonder what my processed-food-hating mother would have said in the 80s if she'd known we were begging for the 'high' quality version of foods that would one day be made even shittier.

[quote] I insist on butter, as isn't it natural -- but margarine is fake? Is that the difference?

Yes, Rose, butter is natural.

Kraft Singles lol. I remember he processing nightmare that the new cheap formula caused. Made for lots of spare part sales. The highest priced IWS cheese is also the worst. My advice buy the store brand “deluxe” product. It’s a vastly better product than anything Kraft makes.

I just had Kraft Dinner for, um, dinner 🤗... Jealous bitches?

It's the Official Meal of the Province of Alberta.

That and Fascism.

I think the most heavenly lunch would be Kraft Mac and Cheese and a fried bologna sandwich.

It was probably at least tolerable before but corporations keep cheapening up anything they sell.

We can thank that fat cunt Warren Buffett since his company came in and bought KraftHeinz.

I save all year long to buy a box of Kraft Dinner for my birthday! They ship it from the Us, so by the time it gets here, it's already cooked! 😋😁

I add tuna to it, also I use just 3/4 of the macaroni in the box so it gives it extra cheese flavor and add extra butter

Kraft Mac & Cheese doesn't taste like it used to. If you have any Krogers nearby, their store brand mac & cheese tastes the most like the Kraft I remember from the 1980s. I did find out that you have to use regular whole milk and regular salted butter, which makes sense once you think about it, but I made a box with lactose-free milk and the unsalted butter I had in the house without thinking about it, and it wasn't quite right.

American here. Am I allowed to like Stouffer's Macaroni & Cheese unironically? I also like their lasagnas.

If I eat that stuff, I add tons of black pepper and hot sauce. It turns into buttery, orange soup if you use anything less than whole milk. You need to eat it all in one sitting (or throw half out) because it does NOT reheat well at all. I remember at a Cub Scouts gathering, we were putting the noodles in our noses and one got snuck in my nasal passage. I remember sobbing and freaking out in front of everyone. I did get some cred because of my bravery.

R58 I add cheddar cheese to the Stouffers kind and it’s pretty good

[quote]I can always tell who is Canadian by how they refer to mac and cheese.

Yeah, we don't commonly make it here.

Gurrl please....

Can't tell if R61 is joking or unaware that our staple food is mac and cheese?

Thank you for this R57:

[quote]If you have any Krogers nearby, their store brand mac & cheese tastes the most like the Kraft I remember from the 1980s.

I'm going to see if an American friend can send me a few boxes. Are the noodles more similar to 80s Kraft Dinner or just the taste? I want to try it either way but I miss those weird slippery noodles, the new ones are mushy trash, no matter how short of a time you cook them for.

You can but the powdered cheese separately now, R56. Unfortunately, since it's shit now, I don't. And I looked into whether or not Annie's sells their cheese powder separately. Sadly, they do not. :(

The last time I bought Kroger mac & cheese I didn't finish it. The taste was sort of sour (my milk and butter were fresh) and the orange powder came in a white plastic pouch instead of the traditional foil. On the bright side, it's put me off mac & cheese for quite a while now.

[quote]I add tuna to it, also I use just 3/4 of the macaroni in the box so it gives it extra cheese flavor and add extra butter

In college I had a stoner-girl friend who roomed with me one summer. She used to mix tuna and Kraft M&C and top it with crushed saltine crackers.

[quote] I remember my sister loving it as a kid & I refused to even taste it until I was about 16, then I loved it for a brief time.

Mary!

I love Mac n cheese made from actual pasta and cheese. Especially with tuna

Most recipes for homemade baked macaroni and cheese suck. Undercooked macaroni in a bland vaguely cheese flavored white sauce. Here’s how to do it. Cook the macaroon until tender. Make the sauce out of equal parts store brand deluxe process cheese slices and the sharpest cheddar you can find. Shred and Connie in a food processor with enough buttermilk to make a paste. Heat in double boiler until melted. Thin with half and half if too thick. It should be slightly runny. Combine with macaroni and put it in a shallow baking dish. Too with cheese and brad crumbs and bake in a hot oven until just browned.

r66 interesting about the crackers, I sometimes will crumble some potato chips on top of the Stouffers mac & cheese.

Is Greg on this thread? I’m too, too lazy to read every post. Has he commented or shared a recipe? Relax, Greg, there’s thousands of recipes online. I used to make a macaroni and cheese from scratch for my husband but I didn’t get the accolades I expected and I don’t even like macaroni and cheese!

Are you allowed to eat it on lunch, or is it only for dinner?

r72: pssst...I've got something to tell you. Come here, over here, behind the corner.

(leaning in close to your ear and whispering)

You're allowed to eat ANYTHING at ANY TIME. Yes, really.

YOU'RE AN ADULT.

Pass it on.

Some people still like it. There's probably better boxed macaroni and cheese. And now, if you don't want to make your own, there's even better frozen M&C and some stores have good M&C in the prepared food section. There's many options beyond classic Kraft.

[quote]Can't tell if [R61] is joking or unaware that our staple food is mac and cheese?

I'm talking about making it from scratch, not kraft dinner. it's something Americans. No, Canadians aren't big on it unless they're getting it at a restaurant or if they're recently landed immigrants.

Every family has a lasagne family but they don't have a macaroni and cheese recipe.

lasagne recipe *

Canada’s turned into a joke county, has t it?

Canada is the GapPlaylist guy of North America.

I ate some of the boxed Kraft last night. Flu is going around and my stomach was kind of upset so I wanted something mild to eat and it hit the spot.

Canada is lame

How is lasagna associated with Canada? I've never heard that one before. Were there a lot of Italian immigrants to Canada?

It's just a thing we do.

And now for a truly orgasmic treat...

I only made Hamburger Helper without the hamburger.

R43, Heinz also makes Simply Heinz, which is made with sugar rather than HFCS. It’s good, in that it tastes the way ketchup is supposed to taste.

As far as I remember, ketchup has always had a bit of liquid that rises to the top. You shake the bottle to mix it back in.

Cheeseburger Macaroni Hamburger Helper should be ranked #1. We all know it's not fine dining but sometimes it hits the spot.

Dressed up (but only work-casual, not suit-and-tie) macaroni and cheese:

Make Kraft or other boxed mac and cheese. Add 4 oz. of sour cream, a handful or two of shredded cheddar – the sharper, the better – and plenty of black pepper. Salt if you like it very salty. Dump the mixture in a greased baking dish and top with buttered bread crumbs. Bake until the bread crumbs brown up a bit and the mixture tightens, around 30 minutes at 350. Delicious. You can make this a bit ahead of time and let it sit in a warm oven, covered. It's hard to to ruin.

To reheat: Put scoops of the cold, solid m&c in a skillet with a little oil. Fry, turning the scoops until lightly browned and thoroughly hot. Also delicious.

@r86, I agree, but sometimes my tastes run a little more exotic European, so I go for the Cheesy Italian... 🤗

🎵" O Sole Mio"🎵

r88 that did not get good reviews on their website, I haven't tried it though

[quote]and top with buttered bread crumbs.

Please forgive my ignorance as I'm no Chef Boy-ar-Dee, but what are buttered bread crumbs? Can you buy them? Do you have to butter them?

Thanks.

The best boxed mac ‘n cheese is Annie’s.

I haven't had Kraft mac and cheese since college. It's starving student food to me. My mom would never make it when I was growing up, she made mac and cheese from scratch. As an adult I've always made it from scratch too, or had frozen dinner versions like Stouffer's, which are fine but nothing great. Still better than Kraft. The Kraft stuff is just so artificial, and the "sauce" is just watery melted butter dyed orange. Gross.

There are a million ways to zhoozsh up mac and cheese, my favorite is the just crumble bacon over it before serving.

[quote]There are a million ways to zhoozsh up mac and cheese,

Zhoozsh up?

Oh, I'm definitely stealing this. Love it!

A line from “If I Had a Million Dollars” by Bare Naked Ladies (the most Canadian band of all time) goes something like “ if I had a million dollars I wouldn’t have to eat Kraft Dinner….Of course I would I’d just eat more”.

If you follow the directions on the box, you're now making it wrong. TikTok has figured out a much improved way of making Kraft mac & cheese.

No draining the pasta recipe - DL approved!

I make it in the microwave sometimes. I put in just enough water to cover the noodles and I don't drain it either. I use 3/4 package of the noodles instead of the whole box so that the sauce is more cheesy and usually add tuna to it.

I’ve made mine that way for years, R95.

I make my boxed mac and cheese (Annies, because R91 is right and even though I'm Canadian KD is trash - especially since the changes) the usual stovetop way but I add no milk, only butter and the cheese powder. I hate it saucy and not adding any milk intensifies the cheese flavour.

Where did you grow up, R75? I grew up out west (semi-rural) and home made mac and cheese wasn't as ubiquitous as boxed but it wasn't strange or exotic, either. I have my own recipe that I make a few times a year, although there are no associations with holiday meals that I think the Americans (or Americans from the south??) have.

I did assume you were talking about boxed, though.

I'm wondering if I should try the Annie's. I've had disappointments with DL recommendations, e.g., the Stouffer's macaroni and cheese and the Pepperidge Farm layered coconut cake.

R90, buttered bread crumbs = shorthand for:

Melt a couple of tablespoons of butter in a small pan. Add a bunch of dry breadcrumbs or panko from the box. Stir around with a fork over low heat until the crumbs have absorbed the butter and the butter is evenly distributed through the crumbs.

You can substitute homemade, aka fresh, breadcrumbs if you want. You can cook the mixture over the heat until the breadcrumbs brown a bit. I think both things are a waste of time in a humble dish like this that you're going to cook in the oven anyway.

You can also add some shredded cheese to the topping mix, which is quite tasty, too. Just don't add too much because you don't want a melted-cheese topping; you want a breadcrumb topping, with or without cheese.

Thank you, r101!

R99 : Southern Ontario. It's basically just shown up in restaurants etc recently. It was /never/ something I would have seen or eaten growing up. Only the boxed stuff.

I found the Stouffer's mac n cheese disappointing as well, R100, and cannot get the coconut cake here in Canada. Fwiw I don't think it's even close between Annies and Kraft - the former is the superior of the latter by a lot. It IS box mac and cheese, though.

That's interesting, R103. I didn't realize it was regional. Like I said, it's not like home made mac n cheese was something every family ate weekly in BC but it was something we ate enough for it to be a usual supper dish (in our home and my friend's homes).

My mom was a homemaker and my father worked, dinner was on the table at 5:45 and you ate what they gave you. My mom always made home made meals including her macaroni and cheese. Funny because now I get a kick out of the junky stuff like Kraft boxed.

But I do wish I could have the meals my mom used to make, as an adult they sound good but I was a fussy eater until I grew out of my teens and didn't appreciate them back then.

My mom didn't buy junk food, she made her own desserts and snacks like Chex Mix. So when I first got my drivers license I went to 7 Eleven and bought a bunch of junk food like Hostess pies, Twinkies, etc. just to have the forbidden fruit. :)

[quote]My mom was a homemaker and my father worked, dinner was on the table at 5:45 and you ate what they gave you.

One of my father's favorite lines: "What do you think we're running a diner here? You eat what your mother made."

The only exception would be when my mother made liver and onions. She would make a different meal for us kids.

R83 I went through a period where I loved Hamburger Helper as a treat. I’m a vegetarian but there’s not meat in the seasoning. I’d make it with red lentils and add some real cheese.