Tag Archives: mac n cheese

Product Review, The Veg Life

Kraft Dinner Plant-Based Original Review

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Isn’t living in the future great? Kraft Dinner now makes a vegan option! I’ll admit I didn’t eat Kraft Dinner all that much before I went vegan, but as a Canadian, it still fills me with joy to see a vegan option now available.

For those who don’t know, Kraft Dinner is a boxed mac n cheese. The box comes with dried pasta noodles and a powdered flavour packet. It’s very simple to make: boil the pasta, add the flavour packet and/or some milk (or water) and butter then mix.

Similar to Mr. Noodles, it’s a cheap, fast meal to throw together.

I’m happy to report the vegan one follows the exact same steps and as far as I could tell, didn’t take any longer. (Though again, I haven’t made Kraft Dinner for at least 10+ years) The box was the same size and shape as the non-vegan counterpart, and it even had a comparable price!

You can see the box is only slightly skinnier than the non-vegan

At Wal-Mart, the Original (non-vegan) Kraft Dinner was $2.27 and the Plant-Based is listed at $2.67 – and that’s not a sales price!

$2.67! That is the cheapest price for a vegan alternative I’ve seen, ever. Usually when I buy Daiya Mac, it’s around $5.67.

Despite the cheaper price and the box being the same size, the vegan one didn’t quite make a full bowl of mac n cheese. I would say it was a little more than half. However, I tested it mostly by itself. Usually when I make Daiya mac, I’ll add peas and some sort of protein (sometimes notdogs, sometimes a Gardein nugget). This time, I just added a Gardein Original Breakfast Sausage patty, cut up. If you add a few extras, it’ll probably end up being a full bowl of mac n cheese.

I also noticed the flavour packet, the powder inside was white, instead of the classic yellow colour that Kraft Dinner is known for. They do make a White Cheddar vegan one, but my box said Original, so I was a little confused.

That is, until I poured the powdered onto the noodles and stirred. The pot quickly became that classic Kraft Dinner yellow before my eyes, almost like magic. I’m not sure why the powder is white, and it turns yellow, but it was a happy surprise.

As far as taste goes, it was a little almond-y, but that may have been my fault because my hand twitched when I added the milk. (It was Silk Unsweetened Almond, if you’re curious) Other than that, it tasted like cheddar mac n cheese. You could definitely tell it wasn’t Daiya’s – as I’ve said in the past, Daiya has a very specific flavour – but it definitely wasn’t bad at all.

I also noticed the noodles were a little… doughier than the Daiya noodles. Like if you get thick crust pizza, the amount of chewing required was surprising. Whenever I make the Daiya Mac, the noodles are always very soft. You can flatten them on your tongue and swallow them whole. At first, I thought maybe I overcooked them, but no matter how little or long I leave the noodles boiling, they’re the same consistency.

The Daiya Mac is also gluten-free, and the Kraft Dinner isn’t, so that may be why. Obviously I can’t say for sure, but that’s my current best (only) guess for why the noodles are such a different texture.

Again though, I wouldn’t say this was a negative, it just surprised me because I wasn’t expecting it.

I unfortunately wasn’t able to ask a non-vegan friend to taste test it to see how it compares with it’s non-vegan counterpart, but I would definitely recommend trying it if you haven’t yet.

Especially because it’s only $2.67!

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Product Review, The Veg Life

Annie’s Deluxe Rich & Creamy Shells and Vegan Cheddar with Broccoli Mac N Cheese Review

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I’m gonna be honest, this mac n cheese is not that good compared to Daiya’s. That’s not to say that this one is bad per se, it’s just… not the one I’d recommend.

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So, this box of mac was shells, with pieces of broccoli in it. I liked that they were shells, I don’t know why the go-to shape is macaroni, but shells worked just as well. The box is the same size and portion as Daiya’s (both boxes only make one bowl), which was great! I was actually a little considered because the box looked smaller for some reason, but when I put them side by side, they were the same.

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The noodles were packed loose in the box, which I don’t really mind because that means less packaging, which means less harm to the Earth (which is always a win!), but the sauce packet was surprisingly smaller.

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Not only was the sauce packet small, but it was also a lighter colour. I didn’t really mind the lighter colour, but was surprised that it tasted watered down.  And I even added vegan margarine and almond milk to it! It was a much mellower taste than Daiya’s. Like, if someone was trying to make mac n cheese from a memory of how it tasted. It was there, just very subtle-y. You could actually probably use this mac n cheese and turn it into another pasta dish without knowing it was originally mac n cheese.

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The dried broccoli tasted pretty much how you’d expect dried broccoli to taste, and the pieces were very small. I mean, I like eating raw broccoli by itself, so maybe I’m just a freak, but if you’re gonna write on the front of your box/advertise that the mac n cheese has broccoli in it, you’d think there would be more broccoli in it, y’know?

All in all, this mac n cheese is pretty underwhelming. Maybe years of eating Daiya has desensitized my taste buds, but it was a pretty subtle flavour. If you don’t like how strong Daiya products taste, then I’d definitely recommend you try this one! Maybe you’ll love how subtle a flavour it has. But for me, this was a miss.

Except for the shells. Whoever was in charge of choosing the shape was on their game.

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Product Review, The Veg Life

Daiya Deluxe Cheddar Style Cheezy Mac Review

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*IMPORTANT*

This is the last product review of 2019! (It’s also the last post)

Right now, my plan is to come back on January 17th (with the first Throw Away Fic of 2020) in which case the next product review won’t be until Feb. 13th and then continue on the pattern of the 13th of every month.

I hope you all have an awesome holiday season, get presents you actually want, and I’ll see you all in the New Year.

AI

Ah, Daiya. You’ve yet to disappoint me (with the exception of yogurt, but that isn’t your fault, I hate the consistency) and I’m so happy I get to finally review the mac n cheese you have!

Nothing was really stopping me before, I just try to pick the products I review so they go somewhat with the seasons – hence the burgers in the summer, and the soups and heartier foods in the winter. This particular product was hard to decide on though, since you can eat it any time. It’s kind of like Kraft Dinner, you can eat it at any time.

Technically, mac n cheese is a hearty food, so that’s why I decided to do the review in the winter.

Aaand that’s enough babbling – onto the review!

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I can’t say taste-wise if it tastes like real cheese, but I can say it tastes like Daiya cheese. Which many people find to be… a bit strong. (To put it mildly) Let’s just say: if you like how powerful Daiya tastes, you’ll like this.

The box claims it makes 3 servings, but who are we kidding? 1 box = 1 bowl. It is very filling, the way mac n cheese should be. You know after you eat a bunch of food and then you’re ‘gross full’? It’s on the cusp of that and when you eat a bunch of vegetables where you feel full but not like you could vomit. (Maybe that’s why they say to eat it in multiple sittings?)

It also says on the box to just dump the cheese packet over the cooked pasta and mix. That is the gist of mac n cheese making, but if you follow those directions, it comes out very thick. What I like to do, is cook the pasta, drain it and then add it back into the pot/sauce pan and melt some butter and a bit of dairy-free milk and then add the sauce packet. I find this helps thin it out a bit and lessens the Daiya taste a smidge, too.

Overall, the dish is pretty basic – noodles + cheese pack – but I’m a fan of not over-complicated foods. It’s mac n cheese in a box, what do you expect?

If you want to jazz it up, you can add some salt and pepper, and (if you’re feeling even more adventurous) you can add some No Name Bacon Bits. Or, they have other versions of the mac n cheese, one I think comes with bacon bits, and the other comes with vegetable bits. (I don’t like the vegetable piece one as much as the others)

1 box is usually around $6, and in keeping with the vegan food prices? That’s not that bad at all. I definitely try to keep some of these on hand for a lazy meal – they’re super easy to throw together too! Maybe 10 minutes to cook and mix everything, and they’re filling.

This is one of the best vegan ‘convenience’ foods I’ve tried. I definitely recommend trying it out, especially for the long winter ahead. Time to stock up now!

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