Homemade Mac and Cheese
Posted by Shannon Buck on Tuesday, September 18, 2007
My children, nieces and nephews love this. It is usually served just as mac and cheese, but sometimes we add add-ins. Today’s were 3/4 lb of chicken and 1 can of whole kernel corn.
2 cups whole wheat pasta – one box costs .99 + tax and will make mac and cheese twice – so .52 cents for 1 meal. (You can use any pasta you have on hand, even spaghetti or lasagna noodles.)
about 1 cup of skim/reconstituted powdered milk – the cost here is too small for me to bother calculating. may need more or less. I mostly judge this by sight.
1/5 of a 32 oz. package of store brand of Velveeta block cheese. At 3.99 + tax for 32 oz. it will be .84 cents per meal. (I have not tested cheaper types of cheese. Feel free to do so.)
Just cook the pasta until almost done. Strain, put back into pan with milk and cubed cheese until cheese is melted.
$1.36 for 4 people to eat = .34 cents per person. If you do add-ins, you can stretch this for more people or 2 meals. You can also use an assortment of leftover meats and vegetables so that there is no extra cost for you.
******
NOTE: We have been experimenting with this recipe. We are using less and less cheese, and still finding that it tastes just fine. Also, we rarely ever use milk. We use water, and not much of it. Usually, we just quickly strain the pasta so that there is still a little water when we dump the pasta back into the pan. Test different amounts of everything and see what works for your family.
