Review of Stouffer's Farmers Harvest Macaroni and Cheese

For the sake of convenience and cost, I occasionally partake in purchasing a few microwavable lunch items to take to work during the week. As I am pretty picky on convenience foods and brands, I have my particular favorites, of which one of them is macaroni and cheese. First and foremost, there is no substitute for a good home baked macaroni and cheese. As a great accompaniment to fried chicken or all alone, homemade macaroni and cheese is that feel good meal most can identify with. A recent trip down the frozen food section at my grocery store revealed a new product line by Stouffer's known as the Farmers Market. The new label was released early in 2011 with product emphasis on using "real" ingredients such as whole grains and sea salt. The product label also touts the food being preservative free. The wholesome nature of this latest product line by Stouffers lured me in to give the Farmers Harvest Macaroni and Cheese a try.

Preparation

The preparation of this meal was done in my office kitchen. The initial steps involved removing product from box and ripping off plastic cover. I then placed the item in the microwave and heated for eight minutes as I was using an 1100 watt microwave. I then stirred the product and heated for an additional minute. The cooking time is two minutes more if the microwave is lower wattage. The product can also be heated using a conventional oven. The process involves placing tray (less the film cover) on a cookie sheet and cooking for fifty minutes at 350 degrees. I would line a cookie sheet with foil as there may be potential for bubbling and spillover.

Taste

After the super hot macaroni and cheese was pulled from the microwave, I noticed the macaroni noodles had that traditional chubby appearance like the regular Stouffer macaroni and cheese product. The thick cheddar sauce was a dark yellow and seemed to congeal or crust slightly in the corners of the carton. I think this may be a flaw with many microwave meals.

The macaroni tasted pretty much like the regular Stouffer's macaroni and cheese product. If I was blindfolded I would probably have a tough time telling the ordinary Stouffers product from their farmer's market product. Each bite of the Farmer's Market product went down much easier knowing I was eating a meal made with real cheddar cheese as opposed to some synthetic cheese powder or cheese "food". The dish also maintained a decent creaminess like a homemade macaroni and cheese. I would assume that is the product of the skim milk, cheddar cheese and soybean oil.

Price

The nineteen ounce box of macaroni and cheese set me back $3.50 at the regular price. I typically pay under $3.00 for microwave convenience foods because I am getting them at the sale price. This price is much higher than the competing frozen food macaroni brands which hover in the $2.50 range and even lower.

Overall Satisfaction

The packaging touts being free of preservatives but the ingredients lists potassium chloride and xantham gum. Yes though sound like preservatives or at least additives to me. The extensive list of additives and preservatives still is much lower on this Stouffer's product over the regular macaroni and cheese label sold by this company.

The ability to effortlessly crank out this meal in about ten minutes and know that the food tastes pretty decent is enough to consider a repurchase. I am not crazy about the price, but I am sold on the fact that the dish uses real cheddar cheese, milk, sea salt, and lower amount of preservatives