Freezer Meal Frenzy is all about frozen food reviews. However, sometimes a brand we love puts out a food that’s not frozen but it looks so good that we can’t help ourselves — we just have to try it. (We’ve been checking out some of Trader Joe’s refrigerated items, for example.) That’s the case with the Archer Farms Homestyle Macaroni & Cheese, which we’re reviewing today.
Now, this is one of those refrigerated meals that you could stuff into the freezer if you knew you weren’t going to eat it right away, so there’s an argument to be made that it’s close enough to a frozen food to count, but you won’t find this in the freezer aisle at Target. It’s actually in the deli section.
One of the benefits of this not being frozen, of course, is that the cook time is nice and speedy. Stick it in the microwave for three minutes, give it a stir, and cook it for one last minute. It’s fast and easy, and it’s an enormous serving of mac and cheese. Cooking a dish this large from frozen would definitely take more than four minutes — probably at least twice as long, in fact. (If you’re really curious, you can see the full cooking instructions by checking out our package scan at the bottom of this article.)
When all is said and done, this is a pretty basic mac and cheese — it doesn’t do anything super fancy or creative. However, there’s nothing wrong with a classic, and this dish definitely has a classic flavor.
The noodles are a little bit al dente, so you won’t find any soggy noodles here. The pasta shape is the classic elbow, though each piece is larger than what you’d find in, say, a box of Kraft macaroni.
The sauce is a delightfully creamy blend of cheddar and parmesan. It’s much more cheddar than parmesan, of course, which is the right blend here. It tastes great.
When we first decided we were going to write this review, we purchased several packages of this mac and cheese so all of our staffers could try it. While most of us enjoyed it plain, one of our staffers decided to put some pepper on it to give it a little more oomf. If you’re the type who likes pepper on mac and cheese, we recommend this little addition.
This whole package is pretty hefty, and it contains what Archer Farms counts as two and a half servings. However, it’s not entirely out of the question to scarf down an entire bowl in a sitting. If you take Archer Farms’ advice and eat a single serving, you’ll be gulping down 300 calories and 930 mg of sodium. If you go into a full-on feeding frenzy and eat the whole thing, that becomes 760 calories and 2,410 mg of sodium. Be careful with this one, folks!
The Archer Farms Homestyle Macaroni & Cheese is a great-tasting classic mac and cheese that we think you’re really going to love. Just be careful about eating too much, because this is loaded with calories and sodium. You probably don’t want to eat one of these every day, but as an occasional treat it is excellent.
To learn more about the nutrition content, ingredients, or cooking instructions for this Archer Farms macaroni, check out our package scan below.
