Street Cents

Mac and Cheese

Street Cents testers cook and taste five different brands of macaroni and cheese and tell us which one they think is the best... and worst brand.

Street Cents had a hankering for macaroni and cheese. So we chose five brands of stovetop macaroni and cheese and put them to the taste test.

President's Choice Deluxe Cheddar Macaroni & Cheese Dinner, 225g, $0.69

Kraft Dinner The Original Macaroni & Cheese, 225g, $0.99

No Name Macaroni & Cheese Dinner, 200g, $0.49

Kraft Thick & Creamy Deluxe Cheddar Pasta & Cheese Sauce, 400g, $2.70

Lipton Sidekicks Pasta Homestyle Cheddar, 131g, $1.69

A note about serving size and price: The amount for one serving of macaroni and cheese was listed differently on each package. The average was 66 grams before it's cooked and prepared.

For 66 grams uncooked, the Lipton Sidekicks Pasta is the most expensive at $1.08 when you factor in the cost for milk and margarine. No Name brand is the cheapest at $0.22.

The Test

A Vancouver Home Economics class was kind enough to cook up and taste test all these Mac & Cheeses for Street Cents.
Then they rated the:

packaging

preparation process

appearance

cheesiness

texture and consistency

taste

price

product overall

Comments
Here's some of what they said.

No Name Macaroni & Cheese Dinner's packaging, "Boring and plain."

Kraft Dinner The Original Macaroni & Cheese looks "Pretty appetizing."

Lipton Sidekicks Pasta Homestyle Cheddar's taste, "The sauce may be a bit rich for some people."

Kraft Thick & Creamy Deluxe Cheddar Pasta's cost, "It's way high for what you're getting. You could just buy KD and add Cheese Whiz."

Blind Taste Test Results
1st place: Lipton Sidekicks "So creamy, good."
2nd place: Kraft Dinner The Original "I like it."
3rd place: Kraft Thick & Creamy "Tastes like Cheese Whiz."
4th place: No Name "Gross, no flavour."
5th place: PC Deluxe "Ew. Tastes like cardboard."

original air date: November 25, 2002

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