Customer Reviews

Annie's Homegrown Deluxe Shells & Real Aged Wisconsin Cheddar, 11-Ounce Boxes (Pack of 12)

5 star:		(25)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Annie's Creamy Deluxe Shells & Real Aged Wisconsin Cheddar is made with all vegetarian ingredients and even organic pasta. The sauce is made from cheddar cheese, cream, whey, dry milk, natural flavors and annatto for color.

The 12-ounce box is enough for two to six people depending on how hungry you are at the time. We serve this as a side dish with many meals and normally can get about four to six servings from one box.

When making the pasta, use a large stockpot filled halfway with water because if you even use a medium to large saucepan, it might boil over. The instructions say to use a medium saucepan, but I can't recommend that personally as it always boils over. Once you have the pasta cooked, all you do is add the packet of creamy delish cheese sauce.

This is probably the only box of macaroni and cheese with information on where to get a "Be Green" bumper sticker. I also like the cute "Rabbit of Approval" sticker on the Annie's Homegrown products. They are all delicious and you feel good eating such a healthy product.

~The Rebecca Review

Annie's Deluxe macaroni and cheese comes with a pouch of cheese sauce, which tastes better than any dry powder variety and it is quicker to mix. Regardless of how thoroughly I mix the cheese powder, milk and butter, the dry powder varieties do not taste as good as Annie's Deluxe. Our 3 year old really enjoys Annie's Deluxe and I feel better offering her this rather than Kraft macaroni and cheese. Even if the taste wasn't as good as Kraft, I would choose Annie's since the ingredients are natural and some are organic. Kraft uses artificial color in their dry powder macaroni and cheese, though I don't think they do in their deluxe version. Kids (and adults) don't need artificial colors!

I would give Annie's Deluxe a 5 if they would reduce the sodium content and make a Deluxe version that included whole wheat pasta and was ALL organic (currently only some of the dry powder versions are all organic). And while I am creating my dream version, I would give Annie's a 10 if they would enrich it with some calcium and other vitamins and make a whole wheat bunny shape version! :) My big hangup is that the sodium is too high (like all the other brands). It would still taste great with a lot less salt (if kids are not given high sodium in the first place, their taste buds don't crave it). Unless pasta is whole wheat (or other whole grain), there isn't much nutrition in it, so whole wheat pasta that is enriched is the way to go! Annie's offers many varieties that include some of the improvements I am looking for, but it would be great if they would include them all in one version.

Boxed macaroni and cheese is truly junk food no matter who the manufacturer, but Annie's is doing great things to make it better. Knowing that macaroni and cheese is often "kid food" is reason enough to improve it nutritionally.

The price is reasonable on Amazon and at WalMart, however most of the grocery chains and Wholefoods charge too much! The best price I found was at Annie's home website when they offered 25% off and free shipping.

My children and I agree: this is the best tasting mac and cheese on the market. This is a great price, too... about 1.30 a box less than I usually pay. When kids are eating several boxes a week that adds up quickly.

I do agree with the other reviewer about the ways this mac and cheese could be even closer to perfection. But I have one child who is very careful about what she will and will not eat, and for her, this product is a gift. Highly recommended.

These are ok, but the Annie's elbows & 4 cheese is much better. In my opinion shells are not as good for macaroni and cheese. Elbows have a better texture and they trap cheese inside the elbow tubes. These shells are also too small, and the cheese in the pouch is not as tasty as Annie's 4 cheese sauce. Get the Deluxe 4 cheese instead, it's much better.

I grew up a Kraft boy, and you wouldn't find me with off-brand boxes of macaroni and cheese. No, sir. Just the authentic and best for me.

When I got older, I realized (thanks to Mark Bittman's superb cookbook, How to Cook Everything -- if you happen to be in the vicinity of a bookstore, pick it up) that boxed stuff is horrid, compared to making actual pasta with actual cheese.

But, well, sometimes I just want something out of a box. (And our seven-year-old ALWAYS does, for he has the insane and tasteless taste buds of a child.) In those cases, I always went back to Kraft, until we started shopping at Whole Foods and bought a pack of Annie's to try out -- very skeptically in my case, as I'd had a lot of off-brand stuff that failed to live up to the Kraft ideal. Even so-called "premium" and "deluxe" stuff like the Velveeta Shells and Cheese was just totally weird and off-putting.

But, heresy of heresies, it turns out that the Annie's stuff is actually BETTER than Kraft. Both the regular box with the powder, and this stuff with the cheese-gel, taste better than Kraft, through some feat of food science alchemy. Try 'em out. Personally, I give the nod to the Deluxe over the regular, just because it's twice as easy to make (no mixing milk, butter, and powder -- just rip the pouch and mix with the noodles), and "easy to make" is pretty much the whole point of boxed food; but it is a lot more expensive, so if you're price-conscious and willing to put forth a bit of effort, get the regular Annie's.

(Or, better yet, get that Bittman book, and learn to make pasta with sage and parmesan for the same price and just about as much work...)

always a fast, easy and great meal. i love this product, it tastes like velveeta shells and cheese, only you know it's better for you and better for the enviroment. nothing bad to say. oh, heads up, the wheat version is pretty nasty.

I'm very happy with this product. The preparation is extremely easy and I find it to be very tasty. I would say this is a cut above most types of boxed mac and cheese. I wouldn't hesitate to recommend this and for those with children...you will have some smiling faces once they try it!

I love this mac & cheese. It has all of the comfort food aspects of easy mac (warm and gooey, orange cheese) but without that vague chemical aftertaste. It tastes so cheddar cheesey and is wonderful to keep on hand for those days when there is just NO food in the fridge (you don't even need to add milk to this!). My favorite comfort food when I'm sick.

Annie's Homegrown Deluxe Shells & Real Aged Wisconsin Cheddar is the best mac-n-cheese straight out of the box I ever tasted. Kids and grown-ups agree.

A note to the other reviewers- don't try to ruin my mac-n-cheese comfort food experience with your cardboard tastin' whole wheat pasta and no salt sauce. If you're so inclined to have it just how you would make it, go ahead and make your own. It's just mac-n-cheese after all.

This mac and cheese is not only great tasting but it does not have all the junk that other products have. One time eating it and I was hooked.