@@lifesquixotic Yeah, that comment was odd. Going vegan is a great opportunity to increase the variety of dishes that you make. There are so many meals that taste amazing, and don't require meat. That's the case for deserts, sides, beverages, etc.
I love when you have over-qualified chefs review a wide range of commercial products. It's like having a Consumer Reports video for things we actually buy and use all the time. Genuinely insightful. Thank you!
@dariusftw3378 a lot of food that comes in a box is cheaper than the "make it yourself" alternative. don't knock the stuff people need to eat because you think you're above their situation
I love that Jack incorporates constituent chemicals that help create look/feel especially when he mentions how lactic acid and citric acid affects the food. More of him please!
@@GameTimeWhy Not at all, I just hate smart people with less personality than a sheet of cardboard with straight lines for eyes. I used to be like him, because I am the smart person at my school but I try to be liked for more than just that.
Interesting that Kraft is the bench-mark, shows how much one brand's flavour profile really sets the tone for expectations in an entire market. Interesting information about the science behind these flavours and why we are interested in them.
I saw your comment before I watched the entire video. You are not wrong! That dude could tell you the differences between varieties of a bowl of lard with a hair in it.
I really like this video. Also, as a blind person, it's really cool that the brand of the mac and cheese is said before them trying it. I hope you guys make more of these because this was fun to watch, and hearing all their different opinions was great too.
Wait. So I’m not denying you’re blind or anything, but how can you type and reply? Do you have some kind of app? Or like people read it for you or something? /gen
This is so validating to me, because I once bought Cheetos mac and cheese as nothing more than a joke and was truly blown away by it for the price. It doesn't try to be 'real' or 'authentic' and instead just ends up being indulgently tasty.
@@XanthosAcanthusthat makes so much sense. It's the only one I tried and it's what made me watch this video. One of the worst things I've ever had. The texture was sickening, like tasteless chewy glue
The problem with the shapes is you get less for more $. But, yeah. The thickness of the shapes + the ability to hold more sauce lends itself to a superior tasting product.
I'm autistic, and therefore super sensitive to minor differences, and I stand by the (scientifically studied) idea that the shape of food DRAMATICALLY affects flavor. My parents never understood why I liked spiral macaroni and not elbow macaroni, but to me they tasted completely different. Turns out the shape of food actually does affect the taste, and it's been proven in research. How they ran the tests was by creating different shapes of chocolate with the same batch and had people blind taste test them and describe the different flavors. It has to do with the fact that the shape of the food hits your tongue in different ways, and therefore reaches different parts of your tongue that have different taste receptors. We're not crazy!!!!
I can't believe I just watched almost 25 minutes of reviews of products I will never eat. And I enjoyed every minute of these three chefs' reviews and comments. Thanks very much.
Annie's has two directions: the healthy one with just milk added and the real one with milk and butter added. They suggest the butter as an optional step but it's 100% necessary. I'm wondering how they made it here.
All true, but also Annie's just doesn't taste the same as it did a decade ago. I'm guessing these chefs were like me & hadn't tasted Annie's in a while, so the sauce is a disappointment - thinner & bland. It's to be expected, since it's a General Mills product, now. It's not the same lovingly crafted hippy alternative that we used to know.
@JerryCayab Yeah, I tried Annie's a few months back & instantly knew it was different. It was never better than homemade, but I don't recall the sauce being thin & watery. I added some butter, cream & cheese (Cabot white cheddar, ironically), but at that point, I could have just made an actual Bechamel instead of an inconvenient convenience food.
How can you get past the first part? I feel like I'm taking crazy pills? How are they enjoying Kraft Dinner? That is so gross, it isn't even cheese, it is just starch on starch.
@@jordach545 It’s milk powder and powdered acids on starch and it’s a staple in nearly every American/Canadian household. Don’t underestimate the power of nostalgia.
I know exactly what happened with Annie's. Y'all didn't add the optional butter they specify on the package. Without that it does taste bland and even a little bitter.
@@whyplaypiano2844 There's no accounting for taste, but the fact that one of the chefs said they normally like Annie's makes me think that's what happened here.
This was the high quality content that I love about TH-cam. This was extremely satisfying. Every minute was just a joy. The chefs had great personalities.
Boy Jack is spot-on with his palate. Brittney seems like she eats a lot more organic\vegan stuff and didn't grow up on blue-box mac & cheese like the other 2
She mentioned a Jamaican auntie face so she’s probably Jamaican or a similar background. I grew up in the USA with Cuban and Colombian parents and I rarely ate things like peanut butter jelly sandwiches, box Mac and cheese, spaghetti-o etc. that are ubiquitous to US American childhoods but are not common in immigrant households bc yeah. Rice and beans or caldo was our comfort food, not Mac and cheese! In college I got into eating Mac and cheese (which I hated as a kid…) and I eat it occasionally haha , but it was definitely a treat my sister and I begged for as kids!
This difference is a positive for her. I had very rare Mac n Cheese dinners growing up. I don't like these at all if there are no other ingredients. Veggies, seafood, or meat.
Here's the rank list. Each category was given a 1, 0, or -1 based upon being highlighted, not highlighted, or crossed out (except for Cheetos which received two 0.5 scores for being ). Kraft original was not included since it was not addressed by category. Cabot 5 pts Cheetos 3 pts Velveeta, Sabatino, Cracker Barrel, Kraft Unicorn 2 pts Annie's, Daiya 1pt Great Value, Goodles 0 pts Trader Joe's -1 pt Stouffer's, Nature's Promise -2 pts 365, Muscle Mac -3 pts Banza -4 pts
" (except for Cheetos which received two 0.5 scores for being )" I'm not sure if this is missing a word after "being" or if the Cheetos mac 'n cheese existing at all rates it a .5.
i love when they all go "hm" or "huh" at like the same time. thats exactly how it feels to eat these kinds of mac and cheeses. plus having actual diverse pallets and people who maybe dont like vegan things vs people who like vegan things is like 10/10 channel moment.
David seems so easy to please and I loved it. Like he's clearly an expert and had a lot of informative opinions about the flavors, textures, etc but he was just happy to eat mac and cheese. Nothing aginst the other two, either, but I loved how often he would say something along the lines of, "and I'll be buying this one, too."
@@deprofundis3293dude was either negative or neutral on most of them though. They just didn’t show his opinion on everything so the positives stuck out. His opinions were solid on the different flavoured ones, and the higher quality boxes. They were low about the low grade/ knock offs and alternative brands.
as a mac & cheese lover who's had basically all these mac & cheeses (and some of the other varieties of brands mentioned), I appreciate the chefs honestly reviewing it as if it was a gourmet dish, and the visuals on screen of brand, price, and qualities helped a lot, thank you!
I just love that these are serious chefs w/ tons of professional experience reviewing Mac & cheese in just about the same way as any regular consumer. The only major difference is their vocabulary but even then they still explain everything in a way that a non pro can understand & relate to
Anyone else ever get a scorching hot batch of Flaming hot? Idk if it was an error or an early batch or what but the first box we got was so hot it would seriously give someone health issues. We bought one box of normal and flaming, ended up combining the two and still couldn't eat it. We've since picked up another box and it wasn't nearly as spicy, more in line with the snack.
The best boxed mac and cheese, according to the professional chefs in the taste test, was Cabot Seriously Sharp Shells and Cheese. They praised it for its natural cheese flavor, comforting texture, and overall taste.
The lineup of chefs here is great. They have unique tastes and personalities but have enough of a common thread among them to point out some clear winners and losers. Awesome video!
I appreciate how they weren’t hoity toity about eating these. Very refreshing. Some ppl HAVE to eat these foods so it’s sad when “professionals” look down on them very rudely. This was nice.❤
@@ayaa.1351Ah yes because everyone has access to fresh foods. Food deserts are a figment of the imagination and not a well studied public health issue. Poverty also doesn't exist, and children also have entire control over what meals they eat. /s
@@ayaa.1351well, yes. No one has to eat anything. But some people would literally starve if they didn’t eat cheap, boxed foods, so… yeah they kinda have to.
Jack’s tastebuds are so on point every time! I’m beyond impressed. The other two chefs were awesome too. I’d love to see a whole series of this trio trying things! :)
I loved that the chefs had opposing opinions sometimes, because we're not all made the same and folks have different tastes, and they all had great commentary. Shame that we don't seem to have Cabot up here in Canada. Guess I'll stock up on my next trip across the border!
I'd love a series on food science with Jack. Awesome nerd vibes going on. David and Brittney bring in some solid commentary for this as well (just not as nerdy). Great team!
I have a stoffers Mac and cheese in the microwave. Not what this video had me craving, but the closest thing we had in the house at the moment... And it is 10:08pm lol
I have never heard Stouffer's pronounced like "Stoo-fers" and I grew up going to their surplus store in Ohio next to their HQ for French bread pizzas fairly often. Stow-fers is the only pronunciation I've ever heard before today.
I thought I was tripping and all the ads I saw as a child were wrong the whole time.. nope. They just plain said it wrong.. I feel validated again. LOL
Brittany must be a healthy eater. She picked a lot of the alternative healthier options that don't really taste as much like real macaroni and cheese...at least not boxed processed cheesy goodness.
Plus she was picking apart the ones with preservatives or flavourings etc. - seems like the kind of person who would complain about "chemicals" in food
Maybe that's what she likes? Personally, as a child I really enjoyed vegetable tastes, and kind of like earthy-tasting things, and I still do. Those flavours are comforting to me, and others, like Brittany may relate.
@@HMJ66I wouldn’t blame her complaining about “preservatives or chemicals” - homemade versions wouldn’t have those neither because you’re using all natural ingredients and homemade versions taste better (professional chefs also make versions without preservatives or chemicals).
My favorite is Annie's Shells in White Cheddar, but with plain yogurt instead of milk and butter. It used to be a suggestion on the box and it gives it a thicker, tangier sauce.
I enjoy the fact that they critique with kindness and suggestions for some of the brands to be better. Really shows their profession through and through!
For everyone complaining that they aren't literally blindfolded: that's not what blind taste test means. It just means they don't know what the brand is until after they taste it so they are unbiased. Seeing is a huge part of tasting, why would you want to remove it?
@@mayhewfisher62 Not to mention to what Velveeta does to your digestive system on the next day. Feels like you're trying to move concrete. The fact that their sauce sample wouldn't drip is an example of this. Too artificial.
I LOVE cheetos mac n cheese, but it's very expensive and tge amount that comes in the box is alarmingly small. Like I'm not someone who eats huge portions but I could eat the whole box in one sitting.
love how each chef has different backgrounds and preferences, so you can see which one has similar taste to you when they are giving their opinions. I also think for a lot of these boxed mac and cheeses, they get better as you figure out your own way to augment or prepare the sauce.
I always get the Annie's Deluxe. It makes a BIG difference. I did buy the regular one once and it was very sad in comparison. Or even better, if you wanna be fancy, Annie's now makes one designed to be baked!!! It is quite luscious, rich in flavor. A great shortcut if you want "real" baked mac n cheese.
Happy that they loved the Cabot mac and cheese. As a Vermonter we take our cheese very seriously so hearing such high remarks on something as simple as box mac and cheese really makes me happy!
I didn't know Cabot made mac and cheese but I get their cheeses they sell around here all the time FOR mac and cheeses and broccoli cheddar soup. Imma have to hunt this down!
@@michellehawkins1027 i understand with the sauce, i like mac that doesnt have too much sauce. I want the sauce on my pasta, not pooling at the bottom of the bowl. More of a coat the pasta than drown it in sauce person
i also love the cabot mac and cheese, and i love the cabot cheese because a lot of their cheeses are naturally lactose free so they are easier on the stomach and absolutely delicious!!
Please, please, please let this be the start of a new series 🙏🏾 I enjoyed it so much I went back and watched the tomato sauce one (much prefer this format) and I hope to see future episodes soon. _hint hint_ 😏
daiya is by far my most loathed vegan mac and cheese alternative, so im glad to hear it ripped to shreds. it FEELS like the globs are just going to clog up your arteries, it's so thick. the creators did a great job getting as many as they could, but i definitely would have loved a few more vegan selections -- annie's does a few interesting ones, banza has a vegan cheese (although like the chefs, i find the gluten free pasta very lacking), a googles one too (although again, it's not *great* imo) and there are a few others that weren't mentioned here but i like including modern table, howl, field roast's chao, and pastabilities. would they hold up to real mac and cheese? no. but they're tasty in their own ways i think!
Personally this might be the bias of having very few options for both dairy and gluten free mac & cheese, but daiya isn't really that bad. Funky at first taste, but it's very easy to get used to.
Loved all three of these personalities, and great to know that the Cabot seems like a winner! Also, if you love mac and cheese and want to get ripped, the Devour frozen mac and cheese has 32g of protein and the sauce texture is more remisicent of a real cheese sauce than any of these once you heat it.
As a kid, I grew up near the Cabot factory in Vermont-- even took a field trip there in the 2nd grade. When I saw the Cabot mac n cheese come up, I knew it was gonna be a hit!
I love this review. Great mix of personalities and opinions. The format of blind taste test and individual analysis was worked well. Liked the real reviews of products that are accessible to anyone and would love to see more of this series with these chefs.
fantastic video. i love that they aren’t trying to be pretentious about the food quality and are willing to just enjoy. seriously genuine people, i love it.
also the insane level of knowledge is crazy! like the ability to just taste it and discern so many specific qualities just shows their level of professionalism
This is great! Love that you’re showing what their criteria is and that they’re being real about what’s reasonable for a store bought brand. Never seen most of these brands on Canadian shelves so I’m surprised the colours can be even more neon-orange than the Kraft🤣
I've wondered about this but it looks like the Americans (based on the noodle shape, anyway) still have the OG Kraft Dinner. I'm jealous, I don't like it since they changed the noodles here.
As a fellow Canadian I was hopeful they would have tried President's Choice or No Name mac and cheese. After near 40 years on this earth, when the mood strikes me to be lazy and eat mac and cheese, I buy the No Name stuff.
The guys who enjoyed the Cheetos Mac N Cheese should try the Jalepeño version. That is my favourite of the three (especially when you add crushed jalepeño cheetos into it)
I usually prefer hot Cheetos but I like the regular version of the Mac and cheese with regular crushed Cheetos. The spicy version over powers the cheese flavor for me
The favourite science teacher vibe is strong with Jack Logue, and I'm all in for it. I don't know how I happened across this video, or why I watched it, but it was worth it.
Loved this vid. Jack was on fire, David seems like a huge mac and cheese fan and I especially loved how Brittany pointed out which ones had more additives - something I have to pay attention to.
I discovered Cabot for the first time when it was on sale at Shaws and I was shocked at how much creamier it was than Annie's (which was our go-to). Glad to know it's not just me!
@@twistmygrinder4777 I think it's mostly a New England brand? If you go to their website you can look up if there are any products of theirs sold near you.
I love this new format. I would love for a panel of pastry chefs (specifically Chef Penny) taste test boxed cake mix. Then maybe Trixie Mattel as the 4th panelist. 😂
I really appreciate that you have one chef that hones in on the ingredients that may sound like chemicals but are key to the success of the product. Your panel on dumplings also had a member who explained the benefits of the chemical ingredients.
Absolutely! I found myself consciously remarking on how great the close-ups were along with the text overlays and the choice of when to show all three cameras side by side. It must have taken a lot of time to edit and was done so professionally I was really impressed!
I literally just tried the Annie's White Cheddar Shells for the first time like 2 weeks ago. I had seen Annie's in the grocery store for some time and finally decided to try it. I thought it was awful. I found it to have a very weird sweetness. I will never buy Annie's again. I will stick to the Kraft OG, Velveeta or the Kraft with white cheddar cheese sauce with bacon crumbles.
Wonderful video, and amazed at how on point Jack was for all the variants. David brought some great everyman vibes, while Britney was a bit judgey (complimentary). Great panel overall!
I want to go out and grab the Cabot one some time, that's interesting. I think it is worth pointing out though that if you're the standard by which all other competitors are measured, you are the king of that category. In that sense, BlueBox Kraft is the ultimate boxed Mac & cheese. People's taste can vary, but across the board, Kraft is the universal standard of Box Mac & Cheese.
Jack's ability to pinpoint tastes is awesome to see. Also, having tasted about 3/4ths of these I was always listening for descriptions that matched my experience (which Jack delivered again). Gotta shout out Cheetos here - probably my favorite (though occasional) of all of these.
Personally, I didn't care for the original flavor which they tried here, but I recommend everyone to try the cheesy jalapeño! Most haven't gone back to the original and I feel the chefs may have appreciated the jalapeño more
The reason the Annie’s didn’t crush these, as it should, is because you either followed the instructions by adding milk or you let the shells get too diluted / softened with water, or a combination of both.
I was about to comment the same thing. Annie's mac and cheese should be way thicker than the one in the video and whoever made it definitely added too much milk.
I'm sure they followed the instructions for all of them. You don't need to be so defensive considering all the macs could be improved by tweaking the recipe.
the order in which they ate them isn't necessarily the one shown; chickpea foods might also have been much more prevalent in her childhood, hitting a different note for her
@@girder123 Or, you know, Occam's Razor, it was the most pretentious they'd had up until this point. It seems like they were tried in order, they kept referencing past ones, especially the Anne's.
I would have loved to see the Trader Joe's frozen mac and cheese in the mix, it's the best frozen mac and cheese I've ever tried personally!! This was super fun to watch~
These are the types of videos that will actually change our society for the better, legitimately, like these are the types that the average family households are going to want to care about
I love that this isn’t just a “cheap food is gross amirite?” video. Each chef gave great feedback and I learned a few things. Great video!
They’re all so astute, professional and kind in their comments.
Kraft is and will always be my absolute fav!
Exactly what I thought
@@dexterechiverri6631fr
Food is food. I mean, it’s pasta & milk & cheese lol. Some salt..
real, boxed Mac n cheese is top tier tho
Jack was on point, david loved it all without any hate, and Britney gave descriptions. They all are really great.
incorrect descriptions 😂
How were her opinions incorrect?@@TheRoofWatchers
Jack - really knowledgeable with food science. Brittney - in touch with food health. David - understands people that eat food.
@@TheHomerowKeys She was wrong on basically all of the non-basic ones, she couldn't even tell the truffle mac had truffle in it.
@@anonnymouse169 To be fair, she hadn't tasted it yet and the truffle flakes did look like pepper.
Jack's palate is 10/10. He even recognized the nutritional yeast!
That Daiyarea cheese is pretty bad IMO. I used to be vegan and then wondered after a few years why I was eating fake versions of things.
@@danjwalkersmh. Sounds like a genetic lacking you probbbbb. Evolve bruhhh. Survival of the fittest bruhhh. Adapt bruhhhhh
Yeah I feel he might be a super taster by how he described everything.
@@danjwalkeri mean you can be vegan and not eat fake cheese or meat
@@lifesquixotic Yeah, that comment was odd. Going vegan is a great opportunity to increase the variety of dishes that you make. There are so many meals that taste amazing, and don't require meat. That's the case for deserts, sides, beverages, etc.
I love when you have over-qualified chefs review a wide range of commercial products. It's like having a Consumer Reports video for things we actually buy and use all the time. Genuinely insightful. Thank you!
5:51
Do americans actually eat pasta that comes in a box lmfao? how hard is it to make a mornay and add some pasta
@@dariusftw3378 A lot harder than boiling some pasta and adding a packet of something I'd venture to guess
@dariusftw3378 a lot of food that comes in a box is cheaper than the "make it yourself" alternative. don't knock the stuff people need to eat because you think you're above their situation
@@dariusftw3378 Does the pasta you're adding not also come in a box? Almost every dry pasta comes in a box
I love that Jack incorporates constituent chemicals that help create look/feel especially when he mentions how lactic acid and citric acid affects the food. More of him please!
No way he’s so boring
@@esalyers_822he knows what he is talking about though.
@@GameTimeWhy Yeah but I just hate everything about him
@@esalyers_822 you hate smart people?
@@GameTimeWhy Not at all, I just hate smart people with less personality than a sheet of cardboard with straight lines for eyes. I used to be like him, because I am the smart person at my school but I try to be liked for more than just that.
Interesting that Kraft is the bench-mark, shows how much one brand's flavour profile really sets the tone for expectations in an entire market. Interesting information about the science behind these flavours and why we are interested in them.
They were the first to dominate the fake food market and so many people grew up on the powdered cheese flavor.
Velveeta is where it's at for me. You can have Kraft.
Velveeta is made by Kraft lol. ^^^
@@aliciazambri4237 Velveeta is a kraft owned brand, just made differently. I agree though, I much prefer it over standard kraft
I don't understand it personally, Kraft tastes like plastic cheese to me. I only liked eating the fun shaped ones as a kid.
Honestly, I love how they’re all taking this super seriously without being pretentious
two of them are but the lady is definitely being pretentious and only likes the gross ones
@@sirtraineewhat576 i too send angry letters because someone didnt like the same box mac and cheese as me
Idk jack is really trying too hard there
David's criteria are seriously throwing me off. He seems to be obsessed with making sure that mac and cheese has a neon-yellow radioactive color.
@@DeLePlays is it cuz u dont understand the jargon?
Jack is like a mac 'n' cheese wizard...he pretty much called everything.
I’m pretty sure he’s a food scientist based off his explanations
I trust Jack with my life
I saw your comment before I watched the entire video. You are not wrong! That dude could tell you the differences between varieties of a bowl of lard with a hair in it.
i think this sno-cap lard has a hint of....remington flat iron, or revlon and possibly loreal #6 light brown@@bgleadbetter
Now that’s a great educated chef!
0:12 Kraft
1:32 Annie’s
2:39 Velveeta
4:23 Great Value
5:43 Cheetos
7:12 Trader Joe’s
8:12 Banza
9:51 Daiya
11:30 365
12:49 Stouffer’s
13:58 Muscle Mac
14:46 Sabatino Tartufi
16:17 Nature’s Promise
17:23 Cabot
19:11 Goodles
21:04 Cracker Barrel
22:21 Kraft
"Stuuuufers"
My hero
I really like this video. Also, as a blind person, it's really cool that the brand of the mac and cheese is said before them trying it. I hope you guys make more of these because this was fun to watch, and hearing all their different opinions was great too.
i never thought about accessibility on such a video. lesson learned. thanks for commenting!
@@MW53516 I wasn't even expecting any likes, it means a lot.
@@MW53516this isn’t reddit, its likes, not upvotes 😭😭/lh
Are you actually blind?
Wait. So I’m not denying you’re blind or anything, but how can you type and reply? Do you have some kind of app? Or like people read it for you or something? /gen
This is so validating to me, because I once bought Cheetos mac and cheese as nothing more than a joke and was truly blown away by it for the price. It doesn't try to be 'real' or 'authentic' and instead just ends up being indulgently tasty.
Is the best for me
I swear everybody bought it as a joke and actually liked it
I bought them cause I looooove Cheetos so much. I absolutely hated the pasta and was so disappointed about it lol
One thing to know is that the little microwave cups are actually awful. The stove version is amazing though. I like the flamin hot version too.
@@XanthosAcanthusthat makes so much sense. It's the only one I tried and it's what made me watch this video. One of the worst things I've ever had. The texture was sickening, like tasteless chewy glue
I LOVE how professional chefs are so very familiar with so many boxed Mac & Cheese!! These folks have WORKED their way up to "Chef"!!!
Is Jack a supertaster? He nailed every one of the varieties. I want to see him on more blind taste tests!
Pretty sure he’s a food scientist
Kid just eats a lot of mac what can he say
How could you not know
Handsome too
He was totally wrong on the Annie's
Glad to hear a professional chef say the fun shaped kraft is better, mom never believed me. Validation.
😂😂😂
I felt the same way
Kraft mac n cheese is the best mac n cheese.
The problem with the shapes is you get less for more $. But, yeah. The thickness of the shapes + the ability to hold more sauce lends itself to a superior tasting product.
I'm autistic, and therefore super sensitive to minor differences, and I stand by the (scientifically studied) idea that the shape of food DRAMATICALLY affects flavor. My parents never understood why I liked spiral macaroni and not elbow macaroni, but to me they tasted completely different. Turns out the shape of food actually does affect the taste, and it's been proven in research. How they ran the tests was by creating different shapes of chocolate with the same batch and had people blind taste test them and describe the different flavors. It has to do with the fact that the shape of the food hits your tongue in different ways, and therefore reaches different parts of your tongue that have different taste receptors. We're not crazy!!!!
I can't believe I just watched almost 25 minutes of reviews of products I will never eat. And I enjoyed every minute of these three chefs' reviews and comments.
Thanks very much.
Annie's has two directions: the healthy one with just milk added and the real one with milk and butter added.
They suggest the butter as an optional step but it's 100% necessary.
I'm wondering how they made it here.
That is literally my thoughts. Also...they should've gone with the aged cheddar for Annie's.
All true, but also Annie's just doesn't taste the same as it did a decade ago. I'm guessing these chefs were like me & hadn't tasted Annie's in a while, so the sauce is a disappointment - thinner & bland.
It's to be expected, since it's a General Mills product, now. It's not the same lovingly crafted hippy alternative that we used to know.
@JerryCayab Yeah, I tried Annie's a few months back & instantly knew it was different. It was never better than homemade, but I don't recall the sauce being thin & watery.
I added some butter, cream & cheese (Cabot white cheddar, ironically), but at that point, I could have just made an actual Bechamel instead of an inconvenient convenience food.
@@goreyfantod5213 This explains so much. I also haven't had Annie's in a while and my most recent taste was very disappointing.
Exactly, I use kerrygold salted butter and it makes it decadent af
This is the exact kind of high quality relatable TH-cam video about a random topic that I love watching, so thank you to the team that made this!
this comment is so me
How can you get past the first part? I feel like I'm taking crazy pills? How are they enjoying Kraft Dinner? That is so gross, it isn't even cheese, it is just starch on starch.
@@jordach545 just because you dont like it doesn't mean millions of other people can't enjoy it
I agree so much
@@jordach545 It’s milk powder and powdered acids on starch and it’s a staple in nearly every American/Canadian household. Don’t underestimate the power of nostalgia.
The best part about shell Mac is the way it suctions to your tongue like you’re being frenched, so you feel a little less lonely. Great design, 10/10.
😂😂
I’ll never read a better comment than this
indignity
This comment has a total Theo Von feel to it. Amazing 👍
I know exactly what happened with Annie's. Y'all didn't add the optional butter they specify on the package. Without that it does taste bland and even a little bitter.
Honestly, Annie's is kinda bad anyways, imo.
@@whyplaypiano2844 There's no accounting for taste, but the fact that one of the chefs said they normally like Annie's makes me think that's what happened here.
Yeah, butter is definitely not optional for Annie's.
@@Fafhrd42butter way less optional than the milk
they say the butter is OPTIONAL ON THE BOX??!!?!?!? I would never.
I love Jack's gastronomical approach to evaluating these brands
Indeed. People tend to scoff at all the "chemicals" in their foods without understanding why they're in there.
Yaaaaaas
Same!!
It "makes your heart happy"? WTF...... the guy is obnoxious
he is literally just pointing things out you gotta be obnoxious@@metromusic5725
This was the high quality content that I love about TH-cam. This was extremely satisfying. Every minute was just a joy. The chefs had great personalities.
Boy Jack is spot-on with his palate. Brittney seems like she eats a lot more organic\vegan stuff and didn't grow up on blue-box mac & cheese like the other 2
She mentioned a Jamaican auntie face so she’s probably Jamaican or a similar background. I grew up in the USA with Cuban and Colombian parents and I rarely ate things like peanut butter jelly sandwiches, box Mac and cheese, spaghetti-o etc. that are ubiquitous to US American childhoods but are not common in immigrant households bc yeah. Rice and beans or caldo was our comfort food, not Mac and cheese!
In college I got into eating Mac and cheese (which I hated as a kid…) and I eat it occasionally haha , but it was definitely a treat my sister and I begged for as kids!
@@wrinkleintime4257 She also said she grew up eating cracker barrel so who knows lol.
Nah he’s hating on Annie’s, which is easily the best of the first three they tried
This difference is a positive for her. I had very rare Mac n Cheese dinners growing up.
I don't like these at all if there are no other ingredients. Veggies, seafood, or meat.
@@Wyatt19961212 To be fair the white cheddar Annie's ain't great and they're on point on Annie's having a runnier sauce than the typical brand.
Here's the rank list. Each category was given a 1, 0, or -1 based upon being highlighted, not highlighted, or crossed out (except for Cheetos which received two 0.5 scores for being ). Kraft original was not included since it was not addressed by category.
Cabot 5 pts
Cheetos 3 pts
Velveeta, Sabatino, Cracker Barrel, Kraft Unicorn 2 pts
Annie's, Daiya 1pt
Great Value, Goodles 0 pts
Trader Joe's -1 pt
Stouffer's, Nature's Promise -2 pts
365, Muscle Mac -3 pts
Banza -4 pts
365 deserves an infinite negative score.
Vegan garbage being higher than Stouffer's is a travesty
the only comment that matters
I might have to try Cabot and the Cheetos ones lol.
" (except for Cheetos which received two 0.5 scores for being )"
I'm not sure if this is missing a word after "being" or if the Cheetos mac 'n cheese existing at all rates it a .5.
David just loves food. I want to follow David to wherever he’s going for lunch.
i love when they all go "hm" or "huh" at like the same time. thats exactly how it feels to eat these kinds of mac and cheeses. plus having actual diverse pallets and people who maybe dont like vegan things vs people who like vegan things is like 10/10 channel moment.
'Palates'. You stack boxes on the other thing.
David seems so easy to please and I loved it. Like he's clearly an expert and had a lot of informative opinions about the flavors, textures, etc but he was just happy to eat mac and cheese. Nothing aginst the other two, either, but I loved how often he would say something along the lines of, "and I'll be buying this one, too."
I feel like he was the only one who really 'got' the point of boxed mac and cheese
But it wasn't very helpful for future recommendations... For me at least. I prefer someone more picky, tbh.
@@deprofundis3293dude was either negative or neutral on most of them though. They just didn’t show his opinion on everything so the positives stuck out.
His opinions were solid on the different flavoured ones, and the higher quality boxes. They were low about the low grade/ knock offs and alternative brands.
as a mac & cheese lover who's had basically all these mac & cheeses (and some of the other varieties of brands mentioned), I appreciate the chefs honestly reviewing it as if it was a gourmet dish, and the visuals on screen of brand, price, and qualities helped a lot, thank you!
I just love that these are serious chefs w/ tons of professional experience reviewing Mac & cheese in just about the same way as any regular consumer. The only major difference is their vocabulary but even then they still explain everything in a way that a non pro can understand & relate to
Kinda wished they’d tossed in the flamin hot Cheetos randomly, just to see their reaction to the radioactive red color.
That's my favorite. 😁
Flamin hot is way better than original cheetos mac
i was hoping for the jalapeno, it's my favorite mac n cheese period
Anyone else ever get a scorching hot batch of Flaming hot? Idk if it was an error or an early batch or what but the first box we got was so hot it would seriously give someone health issues. We bought one box of normal and flaming, ended up combining the two and still couldn't eat it. We've since picked up another box and it wasn't nearly as spicy, more in line with the snack.
Yess
The best boxed mac and cheese, according to the professional chefs in the taste test, was Cabot Seriously Sharp Shells and Cheese. They praised it for its natural cheese flavor, comforting texture, and overall taste.
... and simple ingredients like real food.
The comment I was looking for thank u
The lineup of chefs here is great. They have unique tastes and personalities but have enough of a common thread among them to point out some clear winners and losers. Awesome video!
I appreciate how they weren’t hoity toity about eating these. Very refreshing. Some ppl HAVE to eat these foods so it’s sad when “professionals” look down on them very rudely. This was nice.❤
Most chefs live off easy food like Mac and Cheese lol
No one has to.
@@ayaa.1351Ah yes because everyone has access to fresh foods. Food deserts are a figment of the imagination and not a well studied public health issue. Poverty also doesn't exist, and children also have entire control over what meals they eat. /s
@@ayaa.1351well, yes. No one has to eat anything. But some people would literally starve if they didn’t eat cheap, boxed foods, so… yeah they kinda have to.
Nobody HAS to. They are just lazy and don’t know anything about nutrition.
I appreciate this video because I love DESCRIPTIONS. It’s so fun to watch. Please bring this trio back for more!!
Jack’s tastebuds are so on point every time! I’m beyond impressed. The other two chefs were awesome too. I’d love to see a whole series of this trio trying things! :)
I loved that the chefs had opposing opinions sometimes, because we're not all made the same and folks have different tastes, and they all had great commentary. Shame that we don't seem to have Cabot up here in Canada. Guess I'll stock up on my next trip across the border!
Jack needs his own show! I learned so much. Anyone else???
What I love about these chefs over most, is that they aren't snobs. They'll eat the simple things too. They enjoyed some of these.
I'd love a series on food science with Jack. Awesome nerd vibes going on. David and Brittney bring in some solid commentary for this as well (just not as nerdy). Great team!
I love how y’all put the big brands first. It made me interested to what they had to say about others! Or how many more there are!
Y'all got me craving mac and cheese when I'm about to go to bed
please tell me you don't live in the Americas, it's 9am at the earliest
😅
Same
I have a stoffers Mac and cheese in the microwave. Not what this video had me craving, but the closest thing we had in the house at the moment... And it is 10:08pm lol
I just made a microwave kraft mac after this at night too lol.@@BrownCoatFan
I have never heard Stouffer's pronounced like "Stoo-fers" and I grew up going to their surplus store in Ohio next to their HQ for French bread pizzas fairly often. Stow-fers is the only pronunciation I've ever heard before today.
That's the British for you lol
I was offended.
Omg, i came to say this.... i had to stop video to comment
I thought I was tripping and all the ads I saw as a child were wrong the whole time.. nope. They just plain said it wrong.. I feel validated again. LOL
@@TrashHeapCustodianI'm Scottish and I'm just as surprised she pronounced it like that as you are 😂
I have never liked velveeta. I always hated going to a friends' house that had velveeta instead of kraft lol. I still eat kraft regularly as an adult
Brittany must be a healthy eater. She picked a lot of the alternative healthier options that don't really taste as much like real macaroni and cheese...at least not boxed processed cheesy goodness.
Plus she was picking apart the ones with preservatives or flavourings etc. - seems like the kind of person who would complain about "chemicals" in food
Maybe that's what she likes? Personally, as a child I really enjoyed vegetable tastes, and kind of like earthy-tasting things, and I still do. Those flavours are comforting to me, and others, like Brittany may relate.
Never trust a skinny chef!
@@irekhandzel4199 Then perhaps she shouldn't be judging one of the biggest comfort foods with no real nutritional value. Makes no sense.
@@HMJ66I wouldn’t blame her complaining about “preservatives or chemicals” - homemade versions wouldn’t have those neither because you’re using all natural ingredients and homemade versions taste better (professional chefs also make versions without preservatives or chemicals).
My favorite is Annie's Shells in White Cheddar, but with plain yogurt instead of milk and butter. It used to be a suggestion on the box and it gives it a thicker, tangier sauce.
I use plain yogurt with the Cabot one as well, very tasty!
How much yogurt do you typically add as your substitute?
If you don’t mind me asking. Thanks!
A large dollop, probably about a quarter cup@@brianna4263
@@brianna4263it’s 1/2 cup, but you can just kinda eyeball it to get it to the consistency you like.
Same. Plain Greek yogurt and a ton of cracked black pepper on top.
Im so high amd hungry rn
I enjoy the fact that they critique with kindness and suggestions for some of the brands to be better. Really shows their profession through and through!
They should do a follow up video where the chefs show their Mac n cheese recipes
I was hoping they’d give each chef their own recipe of Mac & cheese as the last one just to see how they’d react!
With Stouffer’s, you gotta heat it in the oven so the edges get nice and brown. That takes the texture and taste to the next level.
I was just about to post the same exact comment
It's always browned a bit around the edges in the microwave for me. And I loved the taste of that mac and cheese way more than Kraft's.
love stoffers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
For everyone complaining that they aren't literally blindfolded: that's not what blind taste test means. It just means they don't know what the brand is until after they taste it so they are unbiased. Seeing is a huge part of tasting, why would you want to remove it?
Visual can still give you a bias. You see something appealing and you sometimes trick yourself into thinking it's just a bit better.
@@MrMega200 Agree, especially with the neon Kraft color, and that of Velveeta too.
@@mayhewfisher62 Not to mention to what Velveeta does to your digestive system on the next day. Feels like you're trying to move concrete. The fact that their sauce sample wouldn't drip is an example of this. Too artificial.
@@MrMega200 have never understood the allure of that stuff.
As others have said, the visual is a huge indicator to anyone who has lived.
YES! I've been praising Cheetos Mac n' Cheese for so long and especially their jalapeno mac n' cheese and everyone always calls me crazy!
I LOVE cheetos mac n cheese, but it's very expensive and tge amount that comes in the box is alarmingly small. Like I'm not someone who eats huge portions but I could eat the whole box in one sitting.
love how each chef has different backgrounds and preferences, so you can see which one has similar taste to you when they are giving their opinions. I also think for a lot of these boxed mac and cheeses, they get better as you figure out your own way to augment or prepare the sauce.
David is a true box mac n cheese lover. Respect
I always get the Annie's Deluxe. It makes a BIG difference. I did buy the regular one once and it was very sad in comparison. Or even better, if you wanna be fancy, Annie's now makes one designed to be baked!!! It is quite luscious, rich in flavor. A great shortcut if you want "real" baked mac n cheese.
Happy that they loved the Cabot mac and cheese. As a Vermonter we take our cheese very seriously so hearing such high remarks on something as simple as box mac and cheese really makes me happy!
I didn't know Cabot made mac and cheese but I get their cheeses they sell around here all the time FOR mac and cheeses and broccoli cheddar soup. Imma have to hunt this down!
I get Cabot for my other half who loves cheese, sadly anything cheesy or creamy makes me ill even just thinking about it.
@@michellehawkins1027 i understand with the sauce, i like mac that doesnt have too much sauce. I want the sauce on my pasta, not pooling at the bottom of the bowl.
More of a coat the pasta than drown it in sauce person
i also love the cabot mac and cheese, and i love the cabot cheese because a lot of their cheeses are naturally lactose free so they are easier on the stomach and absolutely delicious!!
Please, please, please let this be the start of a new series 🙏🏾
I enjoyed it so much I went back and watched the tomato sauce one (much prefer this format) and I hope to see future episodes soon. _hint hint_ 😏
daiya is by far my most loathed vegan mac and cheese alternative, so im glad to hear it ripped to shreds. it FEELS like the globs are just going to clog up your arteries, it's so thick. the creators did a great job getting as many as they could, but i definitely would have loved a few more vegan selections -- annie's does a few interesting ones, banza has a vegan cheese (although like the chefs, i find the gluten free pasta very lacking), a googles one too (although again, it's not *great* imo) and there are a few others that weren't mentioned here but i like including modern table, howl, field roast's chao, and pastabilities. would they hold up to real mac and cheese? no. but they're tasty in their own ways i think!
I have never had a daiya product I enjoyed it was so satisfying to hear them destroy it lmao
Personally this might be the bias of having very few options for both dairy and gluten free mac & cheese, but daiya isn't really that bad. Funky at first taste, but it's very easy to get used to.
I was pleasently suprised they rated more than one vegan option. Very few people watching a video on mac and cheese are vegan after all.
The Annie’s vegan is one of the most accessible and best in vegan options
I don't mind daiya, but I prefer Annie's. I love daiya's frozen pizzas though
Loved all three of these personalities, and great to know that the Cabot seems like a winner! Also, if you love mac and cheese and want to get ripped, the Devour frozen mac and cheese has 32g of protein and the sauce texture is more remisicent of a real cheese sauce than any of these once you heat it.
As a kid, I grew up near the Cabot factory in Vermont-- even took a field trip there in the 2nd grade. When I saw the Cabot mac n cheese come up, I knew it was gonna be a hit!
I love this review. Great mix of personalities and opinions. The format of blind taste test and individual analysis was worked well. Liked the real reviews of products that are accessible to anyone and would love to see more of this series with these chefs.
Can we have a follow up to this with all the chefs making Mac n cheese their favorite way?
I agree, I want a follow up so badly
I can't believe how successfully I've been gaslit into wanting to see if i can like kraft again
fantastic video. i love that they aren’t trying to be pretentious about the food quality and are willing to just enjoy. seriously genuine people, i love it.
also the insane level of knowledge is crazy! like the ability to just taste it and discern so many specific qualities just shows their level of professionalism
This is great! Love that you’re showing what their criteria is and that they’re being real about what’s reasonable for a store bought brand. Never seen most of these brands on Canadian shelves so I’m surprised the colours can be even more neon-orange than the Kraft🤣
I've wondered about this but it looks like the Americans (based on the noodle shape, anyway) still have the OG Kraft Dinner. I'm jealous, I don't like it since they changed the noodles here.
As a fellow Canadian I was hopeful they would have tried President's Choice or No Name mac and cheese.
After near 40 years on this earth, when the mood strikes me to be lazy and eat mac and cheese, I buy the No Name stuff.
Seen a fair few of these in store in Canada.
@@Lucysmom26 I dunno, I can't tell a diff between American KD and Canadian KD.
There is a youtube video comparing US and Canadian Mac and Cheese. Its by the guys who do US vs Can videos. They are different tastes.
That black guy just really loves Mac and cheese 😂
There’s something oddly satisfying about seeing a chef not being super picky about everything
The guys who enjoyed the Cheetos Mac N Cheese should try the Jalepeño version. That is my favourite of the three (especially when you add crushed jalepeño cheetos into it)
OMG, your addition!
It's my favorite mac n cheese period. I love it so much. I bought it as a joke and I was blown away.
I soooo expected to love this. Literally couldn't eat it. Gave the remaining packages to the food bank.
I love the hot version with crushed regular puffs in it. Cheetos really brought their A game with the line of macaroni products, in my opinion.
I usually prefer hot Cheetos but I like the regular version of the Mac and cheese with regular crushed Cheetos. The spicy version over powers the cheese flavor for me
The favourite science teacher vibe is strong with Jack Logue, and I'm all in for it. I don't know how I happened across this video, or why I watched it, but it was worth it.
Loved this vid. Jack was on fire, David seems like a huge mac and cheese fan and I especially loved how Brittany pointed out which ones had more additives - something I have to pay attention to.
I discovered Cabot for the first time when it was on sale at Shaws and I was shocked at how much creamier it was than Annie's (which was our go-to). Glad to know it's not just me!
Where can you get Cabot besides Shaws? I’ve never heard of it.
@@twistmygrinder4777 I think it's mostly a New England brand? If you go to their website you can look up if there are any products of theirs sold near you.
@@twistmygrinder4777Cabot is a vermont brand, and is fairly new-england specific. Frankly your best bet is to order online. Worth every penny.
@@twistmygrinder4777 Meijer if you have one near
I don’t have a clue as to how I landed on this video but it was surprisingly enjoyable! Cabot, I’m looking for ya!
Supermarket salsas would be an awesome idea for the next video. It would also be cool if each chef gave each product a rating 1-10.
Yes!!!
It's not about who is better but how each product represents itself.
I love this new format. I would love for a panel of pastry chefs (specifically Chef Penny) taste test boxed cake mix. Then maybe Trixie Mattel as the 4th panelist. 😂
Anything to bring back Penny!
I’m down for Trixie reviewing ANYTHING. 😂
I really appreciate that you have one chef that hones in on the ingredients that may sound like chemicals but are key to the success of the product. Your panel on dumplings also had a member who explained the benefits of the chemical ingredients.
Glad to see Cabot got the love. It is by far my favorite boxed mac 'n' cheese
Vermont White Cheddar!
Delicious
Dude your video editor needs a raise! They did a phenomenal job with this one!
Absolutely! I found myself consciously remarking on how great the close-ups were along with the text overlays and the choice of when to show all three cameras side by side. It must have taken a lot of time to edit and was done so professionally I was really impressed!
I literally just tried the Annie's White Cheddar Shells for the first time like 2 weeks ago. I had seen Annie's in the grocery store for some time and finally decided to try it. I thought it was awful. I found it to have a very weird sweetness. I will never buy Annie's again. I will stick to the Kraft OG, Velveeta or the Kraft with white cheddar cheese sauce with bacon crumbles.
Wonderful video, and amazed at how on point Jack was for all the variants. David brought some great everyman vibes, while Britney was a bit judgey (complimentary). Great panel overall!
If you want to describe someone as judgey in a complimentary way, maybe "discerning" would be a better choice😅
You guys always find the best chefs with the best personalities. I wanna try each of their take on Mac and cheese they know what they’re talking about
A follow-up video featuring their own mac & cheese recipes is a great idea.
That's a fab idea
I want to go out and grab the Cabot one some time, that's interesting. I think it is worth pointing out though that if you're the standard by which all other competitors are measured, you are the king of that category. In that sense, BlueBox Kraft is the ultimate boxed Mac & cheese. People's taste can vary, but across the board, Kraft is the universal standard of Box Mac & Cheese.
"And back to the shells"
"Which again is a great thing"
Kudos to the editors for that transition! Had me cracking up.
Jack's ability to pinpoint tastes is awesome to see. Also, having tasted about 3/4ths of these I was always listening for descriptions that matched my experience (which Jack delivered again).
Gotta shout out Cheetos here - probably my favorite (though occasional) of all of these.
annie’s white cheddar shell wins end of story
Jacks palette is on another level.. Super taster
I love kraft Mac and cheese and seeing pros enjoy it validates me
The Cracker Barrel havarti one is the supreme mac ❤
58 cents for Mac N Cheese? Wow.
Love how at 5:56 Jack instantly guesses Cheetos just by the color.
Cheetos mac & cheese slaps and I'm tired of pretended it doesn't. It knows what it is and does its job perfectly.
My only problem with it is the shape
I was blown away by it honestly. really impressive mac
@@dantethunderstone2118I like the shape tbh, all those curves/grooves give that all needed surface area to really help in catching all the sauce.
Personally, I didn't care for the original flavor which they tried here, but I recommend everyone to try the cheesy jalapeño! Most haven't gone back to the original and I feel the chefs may have appreciated the jalapeño more
@@_esmeralda_5112 I found the didnt cook well and started to fall apart even at al dente
Well, since a majority of the comments call out one individual, I’ll give some love to Brittney and David. I enjoyed your perspectives! ❤
Jack is like a mac 'n' cheese wizard...he pretty much called everything.. David is a true box mac n cheese lover. Respect.
Jack is a real expert, not just a professional.
I tried Cheetos mac and cheese because of this video and now I'm addicted. It's delicious!
I hope they do more videos like this with other packaged foods, maybe with Pasta-Roni, frozen pizzas, rice mixes, canned soups, etc.!
The reason the Annie’s didn’t crush these, as it should, is because you either followed the instructions by adding milk or you let the shells get too diluted / softened with water, or a combination of both.
I was about to comment the same thing. Annie's mac and cheese should be way thicker than the one in the video and whoever made it definitely added too much milk.
Plus I add pepper to Annie’s white shells
I'm sure they followed the instructions for all of them. You don't need to be so defensive considering all the macs could be improved by tweaking the recipe.
@@birb7353except it definitely was much thinner than normal. Stating facts isn’t being defensive. The chefs even admitted they usually like Annie’s.
Yep. The best mac and cheese, imo, have very little milk but lots of butter.
lets be honest. maybe jack has a great palate, but david carried the video with humor and being so laidback
No idea how Brittney thought the disintegrating chickpea pasta was a 'step above' everything she tried until that point.
the order in which they ate them isn't necessarily the one shown; chickpea foods might also have been much more prevalent in her childhood, hitting a different note for her
@@girder123 Or, you know, Occam's Razor, it was the most pretentious they'd had up until this point. It seems like they were tried in order, they kept referencing past ones, especially the Anne's.
Some people like chickpea pasta
@@Furlugeshe did seem pretty pretentious
Because she’s stuck up and full of herself like every other black girl on this planet.
I would have loved to see the Trader Joe's frozen mac and cheese in the mix, it's the best frozen mac and cheese I've ever tried personally!! This was super fun to watch~
Yes!! The best
I came here to say this!!! it's the goat!
That hatch green chili variety is fabulous too!
Yes! Really disappointed they had the frozen Stoffers but not frozen Trader Joe's.
I came back after seeing a glowing review of Goodles and knowing my memory couldn't cosign that statement. Thanks, chefs.
These are the types of videos that will actually change our society for the better, legitimately, like these are the types that the average family households are going to want to care about
I died a little when it was pronounced like "stoofers."
Knife in the heart
Please bring all of these chefs back for another blind taste test! 🙌
I love seeing these professional chefs talking about unicorn macoroni