Good & Gather Pasta Shells in a Cheddar Cheese Sauce Review

Good & Gather Pasta Shells in a Cheddar Cheese Sauce

We’ve been reviewing the Good & Gather brand’s frozen meals for a while now. See, this is actually a Target store brand, and we spend a lot of time at Target (we are Minnesotans, after all!) So we were surprised to see their latest little experiment: meals for children.

Of course, we had to try one. Just take one look at that cartoon elephant and tell us you’re not intrigued! The dish we chose is a classic mac and cheese, though it comes with the suspiciously adult-sounding name Good & Gather Pasta Shells in a Cheddar Cheese Sauce. We think that could use some workshopping. How about cheddar shellies, or elephant mac (which is what we’ve been calling it around the office), or just mac and cheese? Come on, Good & Gather; the world is your oyster here!

Anyway, this is super simple to heat up. Just peel back the film a little bit to vent it, then pop the meal into the microwave for two minutes and 15 seconds. Remove the film entirely, give it a quick stir, and pop it back in for another minute. It’s super simple. (If you want to read the full cooking instructions straight off the box, check out the package scans at the bottom of this review.)

Good & Gather Pasta Shells in a Cheddar Cheese Sauce

First up, we have to say that shells are a really great shape for a mac and cheese pasta. We love how they fill up with gooey cheese, which makes them super fun and tasty to eat. So we already have some affection for these.

There are two types of cheese here, both a sauce and a shredded cheddar, which means you get that melty, stretchy quality that you can’t get from just a sauce. It tastes pretty good, though we have to admit that there wasn’t enough sauce for our tastes. When you can actually taste the pasta through the sauce, you know you’ve skimped out a bit too much.

This is on the light side, with just 260 calories and 450 mg of sodium, but keep in mind that this is a child-sized portion; it’s not going to be enough for a grown adult human.

The Good & Gather Pasta Shells in a Cheddar Cheese Sauce is good in concept, but it does miss the mark in execution. With more sauce, this could be absolutely killer, but the stingy cheese portion really dampens the fun. It also needs a better name, because we can’t think of a single kid who would have fun saying “Pasta Shells in a Cheddar Cheese Sauce.” What about Cheddar Shellephants? Come on, Good & Gather, you’ve got so many options here!

To learn more about the nutrition content, ingredients, or cooking instructions for this frozen mac and cheese, check out our package scans below.

Good & Gather Pasta Shells in a Cheddar Cheese Sauce
Good & Gather Pasta Shells in a Cheddar Cheese Sauce
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