Admittedly, some days (ok, most days) we might need a little help getting a home cooked meal on the table. Quick and easy recipes are a big help and they’re a major part of why I do what I do. But beyond that, we sometimes need a quick and easy side to complete a meal that doesn’t take a lot of time and effort. My friends over at Walmart have you covered. They just launched a new line of Great Value frozen soups and mac and cheeses that are perfect for just that.
They’re fully cooked and ready to heat and serve. Being huge mac and cheese fans, I grabbed a box of each of them last week when I was strolling down the frozen aisle at my local store. They have two varieties of mac and cheese – Classic Mac & Cheese and 5-Cheese Mac and Cheese.
Inside the package, you’ll find the vacuum sealed mac and cheese and and packet of panko bread crumbs for the topping.
The package offers 5 methods for reheating the mac and cheese, but I opted for the stock pot method as suggested to maintain the quality of the food. It takes a little while longer than say, the microwave method, but all you have to do is drop the bag in boiling water for about 35 minutes. You can be getting other things ready while it cooks. The package also offers an oven, slow cooker, and stovetop method to reheat.
One thing that I did do different is add the bread crumbs after cooking and pop it into the oven for about 5 minutes to brown. The stock pot/boiling method doesn’t call for this, but I really wanted to try it that way. While I normally, don’t really care for bread crumbs on mac and cheese, I really enjoyed the texture difference with this.
My family really enjoyed the Classic Mac and Cheese. Jack is a huge fan of the mac and cheese one of the chain sandwich and bakery shops and he said he thought he liked this even better. It was super creamy with great flavor. Often times with dishes like this, I feel like the pasta gets over-cooked and mushy. I’m not sure if it is the way we cooked it or what, but the pasta wasn’t too soft at all.
A few days later (yes, we had mac and cheese twice in 1 week), we tried the 5-Cheese variety and loved it was well. It has a different type of pasta and a little bit different flavor being that it’s made with white cheddar, Romano, Parmesan, Havarti, and cream cheese. I’m not sure that I have a favorite between the two, as they both were good.
Coming in right around $5.50 with about 4 8-ounce servings, I’d say it’s a pretty good value too – especially when you consider the convenience.
I’m going to make it a little bit easier to grab some and try it for yourself! Comment below with your favorite meal-time shortcut product or recipe and I’ll enter you for a chance to win a $50 Walmart gift card! Deadline for entries is March 31, 2018 at 11:59 ET.
This is sponsored post, but all thoughts and opinions are all my own.
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This is a sponsored conversation written by me. The opinions and text are all mine.
One of our favorite short cut is Chicken Pasta I use half a rotisserie chicken, shredded, a 1# box of bowtie pasta and a jar of Classico Sweet Basil spaghetti sauce. Boil the pasta while shredding chicken. Drain pasta and place back in pot, add shredded chicken, spaghetti sauce, we also add a dollap of sour cream and gently mix together. Steam some broccoli and dinner is ready! You can use your favorite pasta, sauce and mix up the add-ins with Parm cheese, feta cheese, cream cheese whatever you have on hand. BTW, Great Value is the only boxed mac and cheese we buy!
My very favorite shortcut for meals is to use my slow cooker! I put my entrée and veggies in it before work (I often prep the night before) and it’s ready to eat when I get home. My favorite is roast beef with potatoes and carrots cooked all together. I often whip up another side like a fresh green salad or some mac n cheese to go with it. Some bread and sweet tea and the meal is ready in no time after work.
I can’t wait to try this.
My favorite meal shortcut is a rotesserie chicken, which I serve with mashed potatoes and corn. Then I make a casserole with the leftovers.
Home fries are one of my favorite side dish recipes. It isn’t really quick to make, but they are pretty maintenance free once you put them on the stove. We also eat the Great Value brand of boxed macaroni and cheese exclusively.
My new favorite meal shortcut is using the instant pot. It’s made a huge difference in getting meals on the table in a crunch. Thanks for the chance!
It would have to be better than my all-time favorite blue box Kraft because Kraft ruined it a few years back changing the ingredients. It tastes terrible now. I will try this one.
My favorite short cut for dinner has recently become premade mashed cauliflower, and microwaveable broccoli! My husband and I have decided to start eating better, but sometimes the “healthy” options are so time consuming it can seem so daunting.
I’m super excited you posted about this mac n cheese, though! I have two kiddos who LOVE mac n cheese, so this would make life even easier since I always try to make at least one thing everyone likes when I cook dinner.