I was born and raised in the Mid-West of the United States; I think that in this country, at least when I was growing up,  kids are more or less raised on boxed mac & cheese, more specifically, Kraft mac & cheese.

It wasn’t until my husband told me he couldn’t stand boxed mac & cheeses that I ever considered that someone might not like it.   He’s from England and I guess it’s just not as popular over there.  He said it didn’t taste like cheese and it didn’t taste like much of anything else either.  I contemplated that for a long time, I still do in fact.  Kraft doesn’t taste like a piece of cheese or even like homemade macaroni & cheese, but it was one of my favorite comfort foods.  NOTHING brought me back to childhood like a bowl of Kraft macaroni & cheese, and if I see sliced up hotdogs in it I might just as well be sitting at the big wooden dinner table with lion’s heads for feet in our old yellow kitchen, I can almost hear my Mom humming as she makes me lunch.

I’m not so keen on the crazy processed cheese powder or the idea of a hotdog (not an actual meat one anyway), but we have fake versions of these now and I’m on a mission to find the best vegan box of macaroni & cheese that’s out there!  What I’ve tried I’d found locally in Denver, I haven’t special ordered anything online!  I found the Road’s End Organics brand at Whole Foods and I found the Leahey brand at Nooch Market.  I just can’t bring myself to order food online very often – there’s nothing wrong with it, especially if you don’t live in a big city with vegan options surrounding you, but I feel like grocery shopping should take place locally and in-person if at all possible.  Though I’m sure one day I’ll make the switch and wonder why I wasted all that time driving to the store, after all, I order diapers online and love that they’re delivered in 2 days to my front door!

The following macaroni & cheese trials took place in the very controlled environment of my personal kitchen.  The tast testers were myself, my 3-year-old son, and sometimes special lunch guests.

 

 

Road’s End Organics Dairy Free Mac & Chreese – Cheddar Style Organic Pasta Dinner.  Soy Free, Lactose Free, Cholesterol Free, Whole Wheat Pasta.

This is the first vegan macaroni & cheese I’d ever tried.  I remember the early days of this, it wasn’t great.  I was searching for comfort food and it delivered in that it was pasta in the shape of macaroni and it was warm and squishy with a bit of sauce on it.  However, the sauce isn’t very creamy.  I’ve been eating this particular brand and style for about a year, so I’ve gotten used to it.  I buy it, though I wouldn’t say I ever crave it.  The pasta is good, but the sauce leaves my mouth feeling a little grainy or powdery – I believe part of it is that it’s whole wheat pasta, not the squishy white stuff of my childhood; it’s definitely missing something creamy.

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Road’s End Organics Dairy Free Shells & Chreese Cheddar Style

This style of macaroni & cheese isn’t the one I’ve been looking for either.  It doesn’t taste like cheese – it actually doesn’t taste like much.  I wondered if it was one of those things that people say tastes “like cardboard” but it wasn’t cardboard either.  However, it is warm and squishy pasta – it gets some points for that.  It’s also not very creamy.

When I come across a macaroni and cheese that doesn’t taste good or taste of much I do this thing I learned from my Dad – I put ketchup on it.  I’ve not come across another person who does this, it’s weird, right?  I also go with hot sauce too, hot sauce can fix almost anything.

My toddler ate it, but didn’t ask for seconds and he refused to eat leftovers the next day.

I DO NOT recommend buying or consuming this macaroni and cheese unless you’re absolutely required to.

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 Road’s End Organics Mac & Chreese Alfredo Style 

This is “Alfredo Style” so in my mind it doesn’t fall under my true search for vegan macaroni & cheese, but I thought I’d give it a whirl!

I’m pretty much not a fan of anything gluten-free, not that I’m afraid or closed minded, but there’s often a texture that comes with gluten-free, something powdery or grainy on my tongue.  It’s distracting.  I have had some great gluten-free food, but instant, processed gluten-free stuff is usually a little icky for me.  I deeply apologize for any gluten-free people here: I’m sorry for making that sweeping generalization AND I’m sorry that your options are reduced (especially if you’re also vegan!)

This box of macaroni and cheese wasn’t the macaroni & cheese I was seeking, but it is creamy.  I think what my mouth is craving is a box of cheddar flavored pasta, not alfredo.  While making this box I found the pasta to be very starchy and it’s definitely necessary to rinse it after it’s done cooking!

The first bite had a peppery flavor even though pepper isn’t in the list of ingredients.  There is also a lentil, raw beany flavor there.  I really hate that raw bean flavor!  NOT my new favorite, but after pouring my favorite sesame sauce over it…it’s awesome!  Alone, I wouldn’t buy it again!!

Also, if you look at the photo on the box it looks like there’s some crispy bread crumbs to sprinkle on top – that is not true.  The rest of their boxes are not deceptive, but this one is!  The finished product does not look like the box photo; they must have added bread crumbs to make it look better.  Fool me once…

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Road’s End Organics – Dairy Free, Gluten Free Penne & Chreese

This box mixed up really nicely and looks good and creamy…but the gluten free, brown rice pasta tasted really beany and had a slightly grainy feel in my mouth.  It also needed salt (if you ask me).

I added in some vegan hotdogs just like my mom used to make for me.  Hotdogs and macaroni & cheese go hand in hand!  The hotdogs in the bowl were a nice treat, but the sauce was still yucky – I added ketchup, my regular bad-flavor-fixer.  My 3-year-old still said, “It’s a lot, a lot, a lot a-yucky.”

Totally agreed!!

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Road’s End 123′z & Chreeze

This is almost certainly the same exact thing as the Road’s End Cheddar Mac & Chreeze, but with letters and numbers.

When mixing together the sauce mix, almond milk, Earth Balance, and powder it was really sticky – no matter how much extra milk I poured in.  The numbers just squished together into clumps – defeating the purpose of having numbers and letters – if it’s impossible to differentiate them from one another.

There’s nothing creamy about this meal!  It is nearly flavorless, rather, it’s a bland flavor that I can’t put into words.  Maybe a tomato powder flavor combined with a salty sensation on my tongue.

It’s warm and squishy, that’s all it has going for it.  Definitely a candidate for my odd ketchup remedy or hot sauce!  My 3-year-old ate the whole bowl full, but he’s not always a consistent judge of a good meal and he didn’t want seconds or left-overs.

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Leahey Gardens Macaroni & Cheese – Gluten Free

Again with the gluten-free…sigh, sad face.  It’s just who I am, I’m unaccepting of some inferior GF products.  However, THIS IS CREAMY!  If you’re all up into that gluten-free business this just may be the macaroni & cheese for you!!  It’s certainly the best gluten free macaroni & cheese that I’ve had (that comes in a box and is prepared almost instantly).

Personally, I just can’t get past that beany, grainy, gluten-free thing.  I get distracted!

If you’re not gluten-free definitely READ ON!

{(Spoiler Alert!)}  Good news coming below  :)

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Leahey Gardens Macaroni & Cheese

This macaroni & cheese is  difficult to find.  I happen to know it’s available at Nooch Market in Denver, you can also order it online directly from Leahey, Pangea, or Vegan Essentials.  Besides Nooch Market I’ve never seen it in another store – you should request it though, and when it sells out you’ll probably have the pleasure of picking some up whenever you’re at the grocery store!

First of all, I love the packaging, it’s a thick paper bag with a fold-over top.  The coolest thing about that, besides not using paperboard, is that you can tear off the top of the bag and you’ve got yourself a free prize: 1 Twist Tie for future use!   I’m not a big fan of twist ties, but every now and then it’s nice to have one and this one is nice and hefty.

I cooked it up and served it in bowls for my son and I.  It looks awesome, it’s not a squished mess like some of the others I’ve tried so far.  The pasta is not mushy, it’s held its shape which is a great visual property.

My first bite: The pasta is smooth and soft with just enough firmness – not chewy, but it didn’t disintegrate as soon as it hit my tongue either.  The first flavor, I call the pre-flavor (as opposed to the after-taste) is amazing!  It has a true cheesy flavor, a slight Nutritional Yeast Flavor (I don’t mind that at all), and perfect salt levels.  The post-flavor/after-taste  experience is a little bit distracting, I was left with an oh-so-slight powdery/grainy texture between my tongue and the roof of my mouth.  Perhaps next time I will cook the sauce a little longer to make sure the cheese powder dissolves completely.

I had NO craving to put ketchup, hot sauce, or anything else on top of this Mac & Cheese to improve it!  I think this is the best vegan Mac & Cheese out there!  It’s not the Kraft of my childhood, but that crap is riddled with artificial colors and flavors…and cow’s milk.  I’d like to revise my previous statement: Leahey’s Macaroni & Cheese is THE BEST!  Get ready for memories from your deep childhood to come rushing back to you  :)

As I was writing this colossal blog post (really, it took me a long time and I don’t think I’ll be craving macaroni & cheese for a while!) I kept reading a blog called Food Babe and she was blasting Kraft for all the garbage they put in their macaroni & cheese.  Carcinogens totally negate any warm, fuzzy rush of childhood memories.  Besides it’s probably not as good as I remember…perhaps unless my Mom made it back in the old yellow kitchen of ours.

Are you a macaroni & cheese connoisseur?  What’s your favorite?  Are there any flavors/brands I’ve missed??

 

P.S. For the most part I’ve done my food styling with children’s dishes.  I AM NOT saying macaroni & cheese is only for children nor is it a child’s food.  It’s quick and fast for lunches, but I like it too!  I’m just have cuter kid’s dishes  :)