Homestyle To Go

Kraft is THE predominant mac n' cheese maker in the country.  They've got a massive line of macaroni and cheese products that just eats up the shelf space in your local grocer.  They've added a Homestyle line that gets cooked in the oven and I've been meaning to try since it debuted a few years back.  In the last few months Kraft has introduced a just add water version of their Homestyle line.  I know these won't be the same, but having heard good things about the standard line I was very excited to see these hit the shelves. 

The Review

Brand:
Kraft Homestyle Hearty Four Cheese

  Price:
$1.99 at Safeway (on sale from $2.99)

Packaging Description:
(On front)
Rich & creamy Kraft cheese sauce and macaroni topped with delicious, crunchy bread crumbs.

(On Back)
N/A

Preparation:
 *Take the paper cover off and peel off the plastic cover.

I don't know why I didn't take a picture of the plastic cover.  It's designed to look like noodles in cheese sauce.

*Take the three pouches out of the bowl and place them to the side. 

Counter clockwise from left we've got the seasoning packet, the cheese pouch and the bread crumbs

*Open the seasoning packet and dump the contents into the bowl with the pasta.

So powdered cheese before cheese sauce.  I can get behind this decision Kraft.

*Take the bowl to the sink and fill it with water to the line on the inside of the bowl.

Water, cheese powder and noodles... I know what this is going to make.

*Stir up the bowl so that there aren't any clumps of the cheese powder.

This will look all cheesy once it's cooked right Kraft?

*Place the bowl in the microwave and cook for four minutes and thirty seconds.

Fresh out of the microwave... that cheese powder seems to have disappeared. Maybe that means cheese infused noodles. Brilliant!

*Now get the foil cheese sauce pouch that you had set aside, open it and squeeze that cheese into the bowl.

Cheese... in it's semi liquid state.  Call the scientists!

*Mix up the noodles and cheese sauce.

Now it looks like mac n' cheese... but wait, we're not done yet!

*Find the breadcrumb packet, open it and sprinkle the breadcrumbs over the bowl.

These breadcrumbs are the finest breadcrumbs I have ever seen.

*Commence with the nomming!

Taste:
So out of the microwave there wasn't really any kind of cheesy smell to it.  It did pick up a hint of cheesy smell after I added the cheese sauce pouch to it.  The noodles were an elbow noodle that were ridged and were cooked.  The taste of the sauce could be best classified as a Velveeta cheesy taste.  The breadcrumbs weren't very crunchy and really felt like a flavorless fine powder that just sucked out moisture from the meal. Make sure that you let it settle before eating.  It will be watery at first if you don't.

Final Score:
While the bowl itself presented a fine amount of food, it really wasn't very good.  The cheese sauce was cheesy, but there wasn't much of a punch to it and it was very mild flavor.  The added breadcrumbs were too fine and didn't give it any kind of crunch that I was hoping it would (or that the packaging promised). They (the breadcrumbs) really only helped to reduce the very little moisture that the dish had after it came out of the microwave, which dried it out.  A noble effort by Kraft to bring to the microwave crowd the popular homestyle dish, they just fell short in the sauciness, flavor and the breadcrumbs.

Nutritional Information:
Serving Size 1 Package (112g) 
Calories  380  
Calories From Fat 110
Total Fat 13g (20% Daily Value)
Saturated Fat 5g (25% DV)
Trans Fat 0g  
Cholesterol 25mg (8% DV)
Sodium 1110mg (46% DV)
Total Carbohydrates 53g (18% DV)
Dietary Fiber 2g (8% DV)
Sugar 5g
Protein 13g