As I mentioned earlier, the local WinCo had restocked on Augason Farms food storage. One of the things that was there that I had not seen previously was the cheese sauce. Off the top of my head, the thing that would benefit mostly from this would be the simple meal of macaroni-and-cheese.
The LDS cannery people offer #10 cans full of elbow macaroni, and that stuff keeps quite a while. A case of that, a can of this cheese blend, and you can feed a lot of people without too much fuss. Nutritional value? Probably sketchy. But macaroni-and-cheese will fill up the entire church basement full of refugees without too much fuss. Bonus is that the kids are probably already used to it. Its a no muss, no fuss meal.
So…lets crank a can open and see what we have:
A can of … orange powder. What a shock. Theres a lot in there. There’s also a handful of oxy absorbers hidden in there too. I’m guessing this stuff is pretty hygroscopic, so get what you need and then seal that can back up. The can says to use a 2:1 ratio of water:mix. I followed the instructions and did exactly that.
The instructions say to bring the water to a boil and whisk in the mix, stirring for a couple minutes until it thickens. The thickening part seemed to take a while. My suggestion would be to use some of the starch-loaded pasta water to help thicken this stuff. I guess we better make some elbow macaroni to go with this.
Elbow macaroni is kind of a staple in many storage food pantries. Any interesting shaped pasta should work for this purpose…shells, penne, ziti, orrecchiette, orzo, etc. So, cook up some elbow macaroni until it is al dente, drain, and mix with sauce.
And…thumbs up. It was pretty good. It did need to be a bit thicker but thats easy enough to do. I might throw in a little butter, and perhaps use milk instead of water next time. But, overall…….good product. A little goes a long way, by the way.
Definitely good for mac and cheese. Theres a recipe on the can for making a queso dip. Im told that sprinkling this on popcorn would have some appeal as well. For me, it seems like an excellent choice for feeding a buncha people in a hurry with something everyone will like and that doesn’t require a lot of effort. So, yeah…I’ll pick up a couple cans this weekend and tuck ’em away with the LDS cans of elbow mac.
Go. Buy with confidence.
Its good for cheesy potatos as well……
Drop a can of drained Rotel Hot Spiced Tomato to give your cheese a little kick. If you feel a bit more octane, some added chopped jalepeno peppers. Only the pepper, none of the liquids. Cayenne powdered will also work.
I like mac n cheese too.
Thanks for the review. I’ve been curious about this powder.
My local (relatively, 70 miles away) Walmart carries it in their bulk food section.
I’ve only seen bulk food sections in Walmarts out here – has anyone else seen them?
You forgot the protein. Add some SPAM diced up. Tastes great. They have a low sodium version. I keep about a case on hand. I use it to make scalloped potatoes with SPAM chunks as well.
And it can also be used with 2 lbs of navy beans to make a great bean soup. Make a pan of corn bread to go along. Use a medium onion as well. And if your feeling a bit chancy. Some liquid smoke can flavor things up. Just don’t use to much.
Great suggestion made there. A single can will extend several individuals with food taste. I’m not too sure the individual flavor of canned meat would make a huge difference in taste – its the meat flavor of the product that is important.
Thanks for the test,additon of a protein would make a complete meal. A test using powdered milk/butter would be appreciated. Main concern is storage lifespan as considered this when delivering to a restaurant wholesaler of #50 sacks of mix with dehydrated potato but short storage(1year). Dried pasta has very little storage needs except protection from moisture(no need for canning). Vacuum packed pasta will last almost indefinitely, even packed in a waterproof tote in low humidity will last until needed
Your concern about storage life is driven by what you saw on a 50# sack. Perhaps the storage life was not predicated on the life of the product but rather the packaging and its effect on the product. In other words, milk powder in a paper sack is probably going to have a shorter life than milk powder in a nitrogen-sealed #10 can.