4/5 Stars 🌟🌟🌟🌟
Little kids have all the luck. They get the best clothes at Target (yeah, I WOULD like that sparkly rainbow tutu that says “girls rule” on it in my size). They don’t have to worry about bullshit like parallel parking and award shows. And they don’t have to blatantly lie to their friends by saying stuff like “actually, when you put almond butter on a date, it tastes *better* than a Snickers bar.”
Kraft Mac and Cheese saw a niche – namely that adults want to eat kids food – and I think that’s why they created this new frozen meal line. They’re national heroes.
Taste: 4/5. It’s not really so much that it *tastes* good, but it is strangely comforting – like eating a microwaved fleece blanket, covered in cheese sauce. (Which would probably be better than a lot of frozen meals, tbh.) The Mac and Cheese tastes just like the boxed stuff that, as a kid, I’d PLEAD my mom for, instead of the healthy dinner she put time, love and effort into (sorry, Mom). The apples are semi-healthy, or at least covered in cinnamon, the healthy man’s sugar. The handful of meatballs are…also there, much like Smith from Sex and the City. (That’s not a compliment.)
Ease of Cooking: ⅗. It’s a classic “vent, cook, stir, cook” situation but, at the end of the instructions, includes a note to “enjoy,” which is a nice reminder to not let the good life pass you by, as you scarf this down in 4 minutes while you refresh Twitter over and over and over again.
Appearance: ⅘. It’s beautiful. It’s stunning. I would cover my arms in tattoos of this Mac and Cheese. Okay, maybe I won’t go that far (only because I have the pain tolerance of a 3-year-old), but it does look like the picture, and that feels like a major accomplishment for our purposes.
Overall: ⅘. There’s nothing flashy to this one (I say, as if every other frozen meal is covered in quail eggs and truffle oil), but if you’re the kind of person who, like me, looks enviously at the kids menu every time you get take out from a restaurant, then you’re gonna wanna stock up on these now.