Packaged Mixes
Packaged versions of the dish are available as a boxed convenience food, consisting of uncooked pasta and either a liquid cheese sauce or powdered ingredients to prepare it. The powdered cheese sauce is mixed with either milk or water, and margarine, butter, or olive oil. In preparing the dish, the macaroni is cooked and drained, then mixed with the cheese sauce. These products are prepared in a microwave, in a stove pot, or baked in an oven, often with any of the extra ingredients mentioned above.
A number of different products on the market use this basic formulation with minor variations in ingredients.
A variety of packaged mixes which are prepared on the top of the stove in a sauce pan are available. They are usually modeled on Kraft Dinner which was introduced in 1937 with the slogan "make a meal for four in nine minutes." It was an immediate success in the US and Canada amidst the economic hardships of the Depression. During the Second World War, rationing led to increased popularity for the product which could be obtained 2 boxes for one food rationing stamp. The 1953 Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook includes a recipe for the dish with Velveeta, which had been reformulated in that year.
Read more about this topic: Macaroni And Cheese
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