Whole Cheese

A mainstay of the American grocery store is still the deli department.  A place where you can get meats, cheeses and all kinds of prepared sides by the pound.  Major grocery stores and boutique ones alike all have a variety of goods.  Some even have hot case items.  Normally the hot case items at a standard grocery store includes all kinds of fried staples like corn dogs, chicken strips and potato wedges, but those higher end stores grace our pallets us with expanded selections that in some cases may include mac n' cheese.  I've known for a long while that Whole Foods has a hot case mac, it's time it got reviewed.


Brand:
Whole Foods Market Hot Case Macaroni & Cheese

The only grocery store where you can go in with a whole paycheck and come out having purchased two loaves of bread, some cheese and a few bananas.

Price:
$8.18 ($8.99 per lb) at Whole Foods

I had just asked for some macaroni and cheese and didn't think to say how much. The guy working the deli counter just loaded up a small container.  I really didn't want that much, but it ended up being a good late dinner for two with some leftovers for another time.

Packaging Description:
N/A

Preparation:
*Make your way to your local Whole Foods.  Some would say to follow the tree hugging hippies, but since there are so many here in the SF Bay Area, we may end up at Trader Joe's instead.

*Find your way to the corner of the store where the deli, hot case and buffet/salad bar are located.

*Grab a number from the red number dispenser and wait for them to call it. 

*Once your number has been called, tell the nice employee behind the counter that you'd like some macaroni and cheese.

Most everything in the hot case (and the other open buffet style cases all) runs the same $8.99 a lb so go wild!

*The deli employee will ask how much you want.  You can tell them a measured amount, or to fill one of their different sized containers.  Just know, a pound of macaroni and cheese is a lot of macaroni and cheese.

Scoop it, scoop it real good.

*After paying for your food you can take it home to eat, or you can eat at the tables they've got towards the front of the store.  At the store they've got utensils and anything else you may need to eat there.

*Pop open the carton.

Almost one pound of mac?  I'm not afraid of you! Bring it I say!

*Commence with the nomming!

Taste:
When at the counter you don't really smell anything specific thanks to the fact it's all covered and behind glass.  Taking a whiff out of the carton you're greeted with a nice cheesy smell.  The noodles are cooked. While the top of the mac has grated Parmesan sprinkled on it.  The pasta itself is rather cheesy, though it does have a little something else taste wise besides the cheese, but it wasn't something I could put my finger on.

Final Score:
Once again I learned something as I was taking steps to complete the blog.  Reading the ingredients (you'd be surprised how little we actually do this) gives you all kinds of insights into the meals we eat.  I saw that there was onion in the dish.  Thinking about it, the onion is most likely what gave the mac the extra zing.  It's not a bad thing, just something that if I was making a dish at home, I'd be likely to ignore that ingredient.  Who am I kidding, I would totally ignore the onion if it was on the recipe list.  As a dish that is hot, ready and just waiting for you to order some, there are a great number of worse options out there that aren't even ready for you when you walk on in.

Nutritional Information:
Checking around the Whole Foods site, I couldn't find any kind of nutritional information on the dish.  Because you're buying by weight, if you're going to try and be reasonable your goal should be in the 4-6 oz range.  Calorie content should be similar to other homestyle varieties.