Mac and cheese is a true classic, and that’s undoubtedly why the Classics Macaroni & Cheese is in Stouffer’s Classics line of frozen food. This is a meal that doesn’t experiment with the traditional formula, but still delivers a satisfying flavor.
This took a little long to cook, at six full minutes. We’d expect that for a lasagna or something with a lot of thick cuts of meat in it, but that’s a bit much for a mac and cheese. When we pulled this out of the microwave after the six-minute recommended cook time, it did seem a bit overcooked. The sauce was bubbling up and getting all over the film that seals the top of the meal, and the edges seems a bit crusty.
To clarify, we had peeled back the film to stir this dish after four minutes, then carefully placed the film back on top before heating for the final two minutes, as the directions on the box instructed us to do. It’s a good thing we’d replaced that film before the second stint in the microwave, because otherwise the sauce would have probably gone everywhere. And we should warn you to be careful when removing the film because it can be a steam burn hazard.
The cheese sauce may look a little runny in the image above, but trust us when we say that this is an optical illusion. This sauce is actually thick and gooey, like a good macaroni sauce should be. It also has a little bit of a sour cream flavor to it. We checked the package and the ingredients don’t list sour cream at all, but we would have sworn there was some in this dish. (If you’ve never added sour cream to a homemade mac and cheese, you should definitely try it.)
The pasta is the classic elbow shape, but this is pudgier than, say, a Kraft macaroni noodle. While we tend to gravitate toward fun shapes like spirals and shells in our macaroni, it’s hard to argue with a true classic. Plus, the slightly larger version used here is pretty much the perfect macaroni noodle size.
Don’t be fooled; the 330 calories advertised on the box is for half a dish of macaroni, not the full thing. A single box has 660 calories (280 from fat) and a whopping 1,720 mg of sodium. If you’re watching your sodium, keep this meal out of your house. It has so much sodium that just looking at it funny will increase your sodium levels.
Stouffer’s Macaroni & Cheese is about as classic as it gets. It’s a simple dish — just elbow noodles with cheese sauce — but there’s something charming about its simplicity. Stouffer’s has created the exact meal that comes to mind when you hear the word macaroni, and it will really satisfy a mac and cheese craving.
To learn more about the nutrition and ingredients in this frozen macaroni dish, check out our package scans below.
