Road's Ends Organics Mac and Chreese

I love (and miss) the novelty of convince foods. Even though I have no desire to eat food from McDonalds, I miss the simple pleasure of going in, ordering, and leaving without asking any questions in mere minutes. Same went for packaged foods. I pretty much lived off of Kraft Mac and Cheese my first year out of college. I've seen gluten and dairy free mac and cheese in a box at the store once, passed it up, and then spent months trying to find it again. Road's End Organics has a Dairy Free Mac & Chreese Alfredo Style. Gluten free, soy free, lactose free, cholesterol free and vegan. Perfect! Over $3.00 a box at Wal-Mart? This was going to be a splurge. Especially since the blue box gluten and dairy filled versions were priced under a dollar in the same aisle...gr...

The good:

The product is organic. And soy free (most gf foods contain soy). The cooking instructions are pretty close to the Kraft version. It cooks pretty quickly - the noodles need 6-10 minutes of cooking time. The only ingredients that you need to add are a milk product of your choice or water as well optional butter or olive oil. I added bacon (ruining the vegan-ness of the meal) and that was quite tasty. You can never go wrong with bacon (unless cooking for a vegetarian or vegan, of course).

The bad:

It was really bland. I was more excited about eating my frozen veggies seasoned with salt and pepper. It was expensive. I had high hopes for the dish, so I realize the bar was set pretty high. It didn't taste like Alfredo and the color was an off-putting beige with dark specks. The best word to sum of eating it was "meh".

The ugly:

Not my prettiest dish.

Maybe I should stick with making my mac and cheese from scratch. It tasted much better and had lots of flavor.

(Note: I have issues with cow's milk products and butter, but my stomach loves goat and sheep's cheeses. My default from scratch mac and cheese uses goat's cheese.)