Safeway Macaroni and Cheese

December 15, 2006 | Reviewer: Sarah

Price: $1.99 (on sale)
Serving: 1 cup, 8 oz.
Calories: 350
Fat: 29%, 19g
Sodium: 52%, 1250mg
Protein: 15g
Carbs: 11%, 32g
Fiber: 7%, 2g

Safeway says: A Real Indulgence! Prepared to perfection with the finest quality ingredients, including fresh cream, and real butter, delicately topped with toasted bread crumbs.

Sarah says: Now don’t get me wrong, Safeway’s macaroni was delicious. But unfortunately, dear reader, I cannot give you a strong recommendation to buy said macaroni. Because while it was cheesy, filling, and, well, macaroni-y to the last bite, it was also HUGE. To their credit, Safeway does clearly state on the front of their box the fact the meal inside contains 2 servingsâ€”an apparent attempt to indicate to you, the buyer, that you are supposed to share.

But I ask you: who shares macaroni?

Not I. When I heat up some frozen macaroni at work, I want to eat every last cheese-a-riffic noodle in the box. When faced with the giant box of Safeway noodles and mystery cheese, I had a difficult decision on my hands. Act properly and eat the entire thing, thus consuming 700 calories, or be a wimp and break out the Tupperware?

Those who know me well will know that I ate it all. However, I wouldnâ€™t allow myself to be tempted into gluttony a second time, and thus would probably not purchase Safewayâ€™s macaroni again. I would really only recommend it to people with a strong willpower than my own, or those who are eating it for dinner after a very long (and calorie burning!) day.

As for the actual food? The noodles were of a good consistency, and the cheese was thick. The added â€œbread crumbsâ€ didnâ€™t really seem to be bread, as far as I could tell, but they were tasty nonetheless. The only other complaint that I had is the amount of time it took to cookâ€”approximately 15 minutes in the microwave! I could have boiled up an entire pot of Kraft in that timeâ€¦ and they come in spirals.

comments

7 Responses to “Safeway Macaroni and Cheese”

Colleen on December 16th, 2006

700 calories doesn’t seem like that huge of a dinner to me?
calamari on December 16th, 2006

Safeway’s going after the market of people who buy frozen food to serve as side dishes for the main family meal. They have been for a while; they do refrigerator-section side dishes like stuffed potatoes, too.

That said, 700 calories isn’t unreasonable for a full meal. I’ve never understood how people avoid starvation on those 350-calorie frozen meals.
Syrra on December 17th, 2006

@calamari Well, assuming that the recommended calorie intake is 2000 calories, it would really depend on how many times a day you eat, and how you proportion the calories. 700 calories a meal would total 2100 calories, without snacks, caloric beverages, or anything else. For people who work at a desk job, or otherwise don’t get a lot of exercise, this box would contain a large amount of calories, particularly considering that there aren’t really any vitamins inherent in MacNCheese other than what has it has been fortified with.
Colleen on December 18th, 2006

Yeah, but, who eats 700 calories for breakfast? Most people have coffee or coffee with cream and sugar for breakfast and nothing else, so for most people 700 isn’t a huge feast.
MaryAnne on December 18th, 2006

Ok, so I have to comment on this whole 700 calorie debate. Based on that yes, you’re supposed to consume approx. 2000 calories a day and it’s supposed to work in that breakfast is your largest meal, 700 calories is a doozie on mac and cheese. There isn’t any protein or veggies and you’re spending 700 of your 2000 calories on nothing that is providing nutrition to your body. However, since this is marketed as a side dish, serving it divided between 2-4 people plus a veggie and protein, you’d be good.

I’m not sure I understand what Colleen is saying… even if one were to have just coffee for breakfast, the point is that you’re not getting any nutrition out of your 700 calories.

Man, this makes me hungry.
Colleen on December 20th, 2006

True, true. They are 700 empty calories, which is never good. Except to fill up your stomach and provide you with the energy you need to live. But overall not much nutrients to your body.
Ruth Kaczmarek on September 5th, 2007

Granted, at 15 gms, it isn’t loaded with protein, but that’s a fair amount and cheese is whole protein (like meat). The sodium content is horrendous, though, so I’ll never buy it. I also tend to avoid meals in which fat gms exceed protein gms.