Mac-Suey!

In my preliminary hunting I've seen lots of the standard fare mac n' cheeses (well as standard as one can get when we're talking about something like just add water to noodles and cheese powder) and what's gotten me real excited is when I find those 'out there' meals. Meals that are strange flavors or ones by manufacturers who aren't known for making mac n' cheese.

The internet has allowed me to find all kinds of interesting potential meals, but seeing them in stores means that a store's buyer is brave (or demented) enough to bring these great choices the waiting American public.  My lunch today is just that.  A meal that has you saying WHO made that and why in the heck would anyone even buy it.

The Review

Brand:
Nissin's Chow Noodles Cheddar Cheese Flavor

Price:
$1.09 at Safeway (This was bought almost 2 years ago, so I'm pricing this based what this brand sells for today)

Packaging Description:
None


Preparation:
*First you need to take off the other plastic wrap.  Inside of that is a plastic tray with a paper cover.

*Open the paper cover by peeling up the corner (The packaging says which corner) and make sure you've peeled up the paper cover up to a line printed on the paper cover, which is about 60% of the cover.
*Take out the cheese packet and add water to the line on the inside of the tray.
*Fold the cover back over and put in the microwave for five minutes.
*Let the noodles sit for a minute once removed from the microwave.

*Add cheese powder and mix it up until the clumps are all gone.

I'm sure the powder is a little clumpier than normal... it only passed it's best by date by 18 months ago  >_<

* Commence with the nomming!

Taste:
It smelled mac n' cheesy.  It looked mac noodles n' cheesy and surprisingly it tasted very cheesy.  The noodles were obviously not the normal elbow macaroni, as these are basically the same noodles that you'll find in those cup of noodles.  These noodles also tasted exactly like cup of noodle noodles.  The cheese wasn't too salty and I was pleasantly surprised by the whole thing.  It did taste a little different than normal, but that was because of the noodles and didn't have anything to do with the cheese.

Final Score:
This meal was a complete and total surprise.  It was good.  That's right. GOOD.  The cheese was tasty and didn't feel salty (a huge surprise considering that this is basically a cup of noodles meal and those come with their own salt licks) and was made interesting by the very different noodles.  I enjoyed this way more than I thought I would and if the container didn't have two servings it would have all ended up in my stomach.  I caught that it was two servings about 70% through it and forced myself to stop.  At two servings it's pretty bad for you fat & sodium wise and that is this meals biggest flaw.  With the size and how it's packaged you're not going to stop yourself from eating the whole thing.  One doesn't simply stop eating the tray of food when it's made to look like it's 'a' serving with how it's packaged.  If you can find this locally, you owe it to yourself to try it.  This is by far the best instant mac n' cheese I've ever had. 

**NOTE**  I need to point out that this meal was purchased quite a long time ago when I had originally decided to do this blog (almost 2 years ago now).  It sat in on top of the cupboard with my many other just add water options waiting to be eaten.  I didn't throw this one away (like I did all the others) because I haven't seen this flavor in stores locally since I bought this.  I know it's still available as Nissin's website lists it and I can buy it places online (Amazon for one but sold in packs of eight) so I felt this was still worth reviewing.

Nutritional Facts:

Serving Size 1/2 Container (50g)
Servings Per Container  2

Calories  230  Calories From Fat 90
Total Fat 10g (15% Daily Value)
Saturated Fat 4.5g (22% DV)
Trans Fat 0g (0% DV)
Cholesterol 5mg (2% DV)
Sodium 670mg (28% DV)
Total Carbohydrates 28g (9% DV)
Dietary Fiber 1g (4% DV)
Sugar 4g
Protein 7g