Tuesday, December 1, 2009 at 07:05 AM
Readers of my old blog, Nutrition By the Numbers, may remember my Mac & Cheese post. I was in a Price Chopper store, where they have NuVal scores on the shelf, and I had a serious revelation. I discovered that the “Character” Macaroni & Cheese (e.g., SpongeBob, Spider-Man, Pokemon) that I was throwing into my shopping cart every week so as to quiet the whining of my children, was indeed, a low-scoring product. Lower than low. I mean, I didn’t expect it to be high, but seeing those 4′s and 5′s on the shelf tag was eye-opening.
Kraft SpongeBob SquarePants Macaroni and Cheese: 4
Kraft Spiderman Macaroni and Cheese: 5
Kraft ScoobyDoo Macaroni and Cheese: 5
Some people might think that Annie’s Macaroni & Cheese would score better than Kraft. Wrong! The regular Annie’s scores the same as Kraft.
Annie’s HomeGrown Cheddar Cheese Regular Macaroni and Cheese: 5
Annie’s HomeGrown White Cheddar Shell Macaroni and Cheese: 5
So, I stopped buying it. I flat out told my kids that it wasn’t a good choice. They are used to this kind of talk. Mommy works for a nutritional scoring system after all. So, we just stopped buying it and they stopped eating it.
Now, the Kraft Whole Grain Macaroni and Cheese scores better. It gets an 18. No, it’s not stellar, but it’s better. So, yes, the kids are still in the aisle clamoring for Macaroni and Cheese PLEEEAAASE. However, now they say, “Mom, can we get the Healthy Macaroni and Cheese PLEEEAAASE???” I’m so proud! 
We don’t eat it too often, but certainly at this crazy-busy time of the year, it will make the dinner menu.
I know there are probably readers out there wondering why I’m waxing on about a product that scores an 18. After all, my previous Trade-Up Tuesday Posts have featured such NuVal Rock Stars as Barilla Plus Pasta and Shredded Wheat. Well, I’m talking about it because even though this increase was only 14 points on the NuVal scale, it was a big step for my kids. Marketing to children is huge in the grocery store. Somehow, I managed to get them to give up their favorite characters (who are all at eye level, by the way) and switch to a plain old boring box of macaroni and cheese. That is worth blogging about.
Today’s GiveAway
One lucky reader will win my Whole Grain Macaroni & Cheese GiveAway, including:
- 4 boxes of Kraft Whole Grain Macaroni and Cheese
- An aluminum NuVal water bottle.
To enter, leave a comment, telling me a trade-up you’ve made since learning about NuVal. If you’re just learning about NuVal and haven’t made a trade-up yet, check out www.nuval.com to get some ideas. One winner will be chosen at random.
The contest closes at 11:59 pm Eastern Time Tuesday December 1st! Good Luck!
Posted by: Melissa
Posted in: Macaroni and Cheese
Tags: Macaroni and Cheese, Trade-Up Tuesdays
Friday, October 9, 2009 at 11:44 AM
As I mentioned a couple of blog posts back, I got out to a Price Chopper store last week to help with an upcoming news story on NuVal. It was great to walk the store and see over 10,000 NuVal scores on their shelves. While I work for NuVal and get to see scores all the time, it really hits home when you can see them on the supermarket shelf and see how the products you like score.
And that is when I saw it. The product I have been tossing into my cart for over a year now in a quick attempt to avoid a mid-aisle meltdown: Scooby Doo Macaroni & Cheese. OK, I will confess. It is not just Scooby Doo who makes it into my cart. It’s SpongeBob Square Pants, Pokemon and Spider Man too. Back when the kids were smaller, before they had been sucked in by the power of Marketing to Children, we used to buy Annie’s Macaroni & Cheese. Once I started working for NuVal (but before we at NuVal had started scoring products in the Macaroni & Cheese category), I was pretty sure that Annie’s really wasn’t going to score much better. So I succumbed to the whine of “Mooooooommmmmm! Can we get Scooby Doo Macaroni and Cheese? Please!!!!!!!!” and bought it. It also does the trick on especially busy weeknights when I need there to be few fights at the dinner table.
So, (drum roll please), here you go, the scores my Mommy friends have been waiting for:
Kraft SpongeBob SquarePants Macaroni and Cheese: 4
Kraft Spiderman Macaroni and Cheese: 5
Kraft ScoobyDoo Macaroni and Cheese: 5
Kraft Easy Mac: 8
Now, Kraft does have 2 products that get a slightly better score.
Kraft White Cheddar Shell Macaroni and Cheese: 10
Kraft Whole Grain Elbow Macaroni and Cheese: 18
That’s great. But my kids want the ones with SpongeBob, Spiderman, and Scooby Doo!
And as for Annie’s, my instincts were right. The regular Annie’s Macaroni and Cheese does not score any better than Kraft. And the Annie’s Whole Wheat version scores only slightly better than Kraft.
Annie’s HomeGrown Cheddar Cheese Regular Macaroni and Cheese: 5
Annie’s HomeGrown White Cheddar Shell Macaroni and Cheese: 5
Annie’s HomeGrown Whole Wheat Shell Macaroni and Cheese: 21
Now, I know that some of my Super-Mommy friends will leave me comments with their recipes for homemade macaroni and cheese that has butternut squash in it and wheat germ too. That happened to me on CafeMom back when I wrote about Pepperidge Farm Goldfish vs. Annie’s Cheddar Bunnies. A mom wrote in and gave me her recipe for making her own “Fishies” from scratch. Yes, she shaped them into little fish. I am not making this up. Of course you could make your own Macaroni and Cheese and with the right ingredients, it would be healthier. Use a Whole Wheat Pasta, use a reduced fat cheese or a veggie slice alternative. Check out some NuVal Cheese scores and let your imagination run wild. But that is not the point! The point is that you are busy and your daughter has gymnastics and your son has cub scouts and you need to finish that thing for work and oh yeah, you need to get dinner on the table and get your kids to eat it quick so that everyone can back out the door for aforementioned activities.
You know what, you’re better off making a grilled cheese with a good 100% whole wheat bread!
Posted by: Melissa
Posted in: Macaroni and Cheese
Tags: Macaroni and Cheese
