- 6 minutes ago
Eight regular people blind taste test seven popular boxed mac and cheese brands to find out which one is best. From tweens and Gen Z to a boomer, athlete, pastry chef, food critic, college student, and world traveler, each brings a different palate. From Kraft, Annie’s, Cabot, Velveeta, and more, which brands will they love, and which will they be leaving in the box?
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LifestyleTranscript
00:02we've gathered a panel of eight people from tweens I just really like mac and cheese to
00:07boomers I am a retired New York City subway train operator and everyday eaters I love to eat to
00:16professionals I'm a pastry chef to blind taste test some of the most popular brands of boxed mac and
00:22cheese all items are prepared according to the boxed directions for the first round we're going
00:29to start them off with something easy and familiar the classic Kraft mac and cheese I know exactly
00:39what this is I feel like I could recognize the smell anywhere you know it is really good
00:49now let's hear from the panel one by one I eat the whole thing this brings me back to my
00:54childhood
00:55I immediately knew what this was as soon as I looked at it I think a lot of us did
00:59nostalgia
01:00is so powerful and such a meaningful part of a food and eating experience that being said it's not a
01:08great product I do love it even though it sucks it's a classic what can I say so I just
01:15remember
01:15making this in bulk sleepovers or camping or something it's just so easy to make think when
01:20you're a kid and you don't have a developed palate it's great you don't have you know the facilities to
01:26compare it to other things but if you're eating this as an adult it's a struggle food it tasted really
01:31good but I feel like I would like it more if it were creamier and there was like more cheese
01:38it's not
01:39the creamiest it's not the cheesiest it's probably made from powder I did like it but I also kind of
01:44didn't like it
01:45overall it was really good you just eat it and you just can't help but feel happy this mac and
01:52cheese
01:52is so familiar I remember like leaving the restaurant in my early 20s going home at like 1 a.m
01:59in the
01:59morning and popping out one of these on the stove top and eating it I really enjoyed the macaroni of
02:05it all I used to like just put my prong of fork in there and eat one piece by piece
02:10it looks like
02:11macaroni and cheese but it's not cheesy enough the flavor also is not cheesy enough I mean I
02:17would eat it that's how much I like macaroni and cheese you gotta like dress it up you know it's
02:23like a pig in a wig and we need some hot sauce you need some extra cheese in here I
02:28need a white flag
02:29I surrender this is the reason I stopped eating macaroni cheese my roommate used to eat it all the
02:35time just I don't have any nostalgic tie with this but oh boy I don't think this is for me
02:41no thank
02:42you I would eat it and I will eat this yes it's not the perfect mac and cheese but it's
02:48the perfect
02:49mac and cheese for what it's trying to be I ate it all I want more now the panelists will
02:54rate each
02:54product on a scale of 1 to 10 will their nostalgia hold up in the scoring or the childhood memories
02:59not
03:00enough to put this classic at the top panel do you know the brand sounds like this favorite has
03:09some room for improvement but what do they think of the next one oh I'm so excited any shells and
03:16cheese white cheddar more love in this I really love about this mac and cheese
03:30it's unexpected right I think we grew up with like a yellow cheese sauce and this is clearly a
03:35Vermont white cheddar it was pretty under season I wish it was more saucier and then the shells are
03:41interesting right you have these small little shells but I really don't like how they kind of
03:45stack on top of each other it's a lot of pasta in there I love shells because they're like little
03:50bowls for like the cheese to sit in and get two or three of them in your mouth at the
03:54same time they
03:54just kind of like explode I do like the shape and all of it but one thing that I noticed
04:00is that it
04:00was more salty I don't think I really like that I wish it was a little bit saltier this is
04:06definitely the kind of
04:07meal that I would make for my four-year-old and then end up finishing myself I like that the
04:13cheese tasted more
04:14cheesy than the than the last one another classic something I grew up eating if I'm not mistaken this specific
04:21one as well the white
04:23cheddar shell it's okay it's not it doesn't smell that bad like the last one from miles away it
04:29just it's again it's something that I will I will stay away from this is a keeper you can't have
04:37this
04:38back not my favorite but it definitely hits a core memory of mine tastes like home to me it's really
04:43hard to
04:44get mac and cheese wrong but somebody got this really right it's like a warm blanket for my stomach I
04:49want more
04:49sounds like Annie's held up well panelists show us your scores does anyone have a guess as to what
05:00brand this might be Annie's looks like they know they're Annie's but how will they feel about our next
05:07brand craft vibes great value original cheddar mac and cheese okay there's kind of like a weird after
05:19taste has some kind of taste like made for kids there's definitely a sweetness okay well I ate it all
05:26again if
05:27somebody asked me what this is I would say this is Kraft mac and cheese with some honey drizzled on
05:34it it seems like
05:35it's maybe a Kraft knockoff with a higher sugar content the sauce is really greasy and it's very gloopy I
05:43might serve this to my four-year-old
05:45um if there weren't if there were not a lot of other options I do feel like the sauce isn't
05:52very creamy
05:53it's more like chunky almost like it has cheese melted in it but it's a box cheese so I imagine
05:59it's powder
06:00based but I'm not sure there's like clumps everywhere it's like a chunkier Kraft and also the noodles are
06:07smaller than the Kraft ones so it kind of makes me uncomfortable I don't know why um the color is
06:12a bit weird
06:13it just didn't taste like mac and cheese in general to me it just had a kind of like a
06:18tangy aftertaste I
06:20don't know I wouldn't have it again I wouldn't ever like eat this again I don't think I would choose
06:26this brand unless I was starving for this no thank you it tastes good I would eat it but I
06:32wouldn't say
06:32it's 100% I'm not gonna make this myself but if somebody gave it to me I'll eat it let's
06:39see how
06:39they score it is this team craft well with that behind us let's move on to our first non-dried
06:53cheese
06:53sauce oh this looks so good with Velveeta shells and cheese let's see what it tastes like I know
07:02what this is classic just like how mom made up what kind of cheese is it supposed to be this
07:09is so good
07:11I was really excited when I saw this one it just looks so good again with the shells I love
07:16shells and
07:17I like how it had that like really creamy cheesy look there's definitely a lot of sauce which is
07:23good I love it really saucy the cheese flavor isn't as like umami but it still is like very rich
07:30very
07:31salty got that punch to it you know it's like I got a sucker punch by salt and if I
07:38finish the whole
07:39thing I'm gonna end up in the dialysis center next door when I first saw this it kind of reminded
07:44me of
07:45goldfish I'm not sure why but I feel like the color was just similar or like the shape I was
07:51really excited to try this but it just tasted really weird and I didn't like this at all I don't
07:58know what what is on this pasta it looks something artificial something fake it kind of looks like
08:03model food that you're not supposed to eat I'm gonna paint a picture for you it's like that American
08:09single sliced cheddar cheese like they just like melted that in the pot with a bunch of water
08:19the cheese is umi and gooey and that's really what you want in a mac and cheese is it elegance
08:25and and premium no also that's not really what I'm looking for sometimes with mac and cheese I want
08:31something that is comforting and this definitely hits the mark there so it's doing its job everybody
08:36showed up to work I love it it's classic I ate it I want more some of our panelists are
08:42questioning the
08:43realness of the cheese and others were once again strolling down memory lane and Skyler painted us a
08:48pretty picture that isn't that far from the truth but let's see how that plays out in the scoring yes
08:54here's coming in strong with an 8 but this one has missed the mark for most of our panelists and
08:58once
08:58again Poe wishes he was in a different video panelists do you know what brand this is Alvita
09:04Alvita
09:08for round five we're going international some seasonings going on it reminds me like pesto I don't know what is
09:15that truffles with an imported tartuffe truffle mac and cheese from Sabatino see I need a fork
09:29um I like I like it it's actually pretty good I know it's a little bit cheating using the truffle
09:35oil and I I like the ideas of different dry spices inside I see parsley I see cumin but it's
09:42pretty
09:42pretty tasty for this one that's a good bowl of pasta it's covered in truffle I mean I'm so curious
09:50what those flakes are I don't think they're actual black truffle but it doesn't have that kind of
09:55synthetic truffle oil flavor it tastes more like actual mushroom or truffle that you're eating truffle
10:02black truffle really takes over it just overpowers the dish it like takes away from like what a mac and
10:10cheese should be you lose that cheesy umami flavor from the cheese itself this isn't mac and cheese but
10:17it's truffle pasta for sure walk with me here it's like top ramen seasoning smell and it's kind of
10:24lingering in my throat like I can smell it when I talk right now but I do like the noodle
10:30shape every
10:31time I took a bite it tasted differently each time and when I first like got it I thought that
10:39it smelled
10:39good but I feel like the smell was just like too strong and instead of like smelling really bad for
10:46me I don't like the taste or smell at all I don't I don't like it at all I was
10:54very confused by this
10:56this is for somebody else I'm who it's for um but I will say I don't think it's mac and
11:02cheese I love
11:03the truffly mushroom herby garlicky like it's very flavorful super umami but it didn't taste super cheesy to me I
11:13almost was wondering if it was a vegan mac and cheese because it almost tasted kind of like a savory
11:17vegetable creamy sauce which made me wonder if they were using those mushrooms and truffle to make it
11:22taste cheesy but I really liked it I thought it was so good it's kind of a sexy mac and
11:26cheese
11:26at least I can finish almost a bow was the truffle too much for our panel or did this unique
11:37take on
11:37a classic win their hearts let's see in the scores next up we have a relative newcomer to the market
11:53very orange goodles chedi mac will its high protein chickpea pasta throw our panelists for a loop
12:05oh my god
12:10I think that this tasted much better than the last one but I hated the texture the top was like
12:18more yellow than the edges in the bottom it was much more orange it's like somebody painted each
12:26macaroni with the cheese just put cheese on it I don't know how they got it so orange you know
12:32the creaminess isn't quite there it's just it's very sticky this does not look like the color of real
12:38cheese to me looks like something artificial I did not like the taste of it tasted awful the flavor
12:43was similar to Kraft but maybe not as good um I find the color of this mac and cheese concerning
12:49it's as if you did like like the worst spray tan before prom you know that you're really upset about
12:55people eat with their eyes first that's something as a chef I look back and say okay let's reformulate
13:00and restructure how we're formulating this cheese sauce so it doesn't give that perception
13:04it's just unappetizing this is another kind of model mac and cheese I think this is probably the idea of
13:11mac and cheese that Europeans have of American mac and cheese just because it looks so like you
13:17shouldn't be eating this there were just clumps of cheese in different locations and it coated my
13:21throat again it was just kind of lodged in my throat for a while before it settled in what kind
13:26of
13:26chemicals are in this again I will eat this but I would much prefer if we're gonna go this route
13:31go straight Kraft I'm sorry for whoever is eating this you shouldn't be doing that to yourself
13:37love yourself you know let's see how they rate this pasta before learning what the brand is
13:58so for this last taste we move to Vermont with the Cabot Creamery's seriously sharp shells and cheese
14:11yep this is like a cheese company made mac and cheese
14:18wait can I just have one last bite I'm almost done this is just my last one
14:25um it was really good it was salty though but I'm just really hungry so I did eat all of
14:33it
14:33I do wish I had it when I was hungrier um but I really liked the like really sharp cheddar
14:40kind
14:41of taste there was something like a little bit barnyardy like a little goaty I always like shells
14:46they are a little bit small it was a little bit sticky and the noodle did kind of get stuck
14:52to my
14:52back molar other than that I did like the white cheddar and I love a shell I like the texture
14:58of the
14:59pasta I don't like how this dish smells it does not taste like real cheese to me this tasted like
15:05a cheese company made it and added it to pasta to me was exceptional it had all the things that
15:12I
15:12like probably one of the more enjoyable mac and cheeses of the day I do think the coverage of the
15:17cheese sauce could be a little bit heavier I think it would have been good with a little bit
15:20more sauce as well I wish I would have eaten this earlier like one of our other folks said
15:25it's one of those things where I know I'm full but I kept eating it because I like the way
15:29it
15:30tasted I would definitely eat this again I know I know who made this yeah I think this is a
15:34decent
15:35mac and cheese it was one of my favorites for sure I liked it oh I would love to have
15:39some more
15:40this is the last one right thank god wow we finally found a winner for Kira panel show us your
15:47scores
15:48Poe isn't convinced but others are in for the cheesy mac from Vermont
15:57now having sampled seven different mac and cheeses let's see where they all scored
16:04Cabot was my favorite Sabatino Cabot was my overall favorite but I really enjoyed the truffles and the
16:12Sabatino Cabot Annie's Annie's it's Cabot for me I liked Cabot but I also love the truffle one if it
16:22can be considered mac and cheese well there you have it eight brave everyday food lovers sampled
16:27and rated mac and cheese with some winners it's not so winners and just a hint of confusion
16:33join us next time when our panel tackles the complex world of chocolate chip cookies
16:38you