Ranked: Mac & Cheese
A staple to nearly every thru hiker’s diet - macaroni and cheese. Beware, not all mac & cheese is created equal! We have tried all the top brands and have curated a taste for the best ones out there. Find out how to properly prepare this back country specialty and which ones we recommend you try.
To provide a full-scale comparison of your mac & cheese options, it is first crucial to understand the correct cooking technique of backcountry boiling. I know it sounds pedantic, after all you have boiled water with noodles countless times before now, but the subtle differences of doing so with a same flame that is temperature controlled makes a big difference.
How to properly cook Noodles in backcountry
#1 Add your Water
As basic as this sounds, this is something I struggled with. I wanted to add as little water as possible so that there was less to drain from noodles later. Adding too little water will cause the water to become starchy and thick.
#2 Add Pasta to Boiling Water
Similar to cooking at home, if you have your stove on full blast to boil the water, you need to turn it down a little bit. There is significantly less insulation between your food and an open flame with a backpacking pot. Your noodles are likely to burn if the heat is wide-open.
**If the noodles have never been cooked before you cannot simply add boiling water to your noodles. The noodles themselves must boil for a little bit.
#3 Stir, Stir, Stir
The bottom of your pot is very hot and the noodles with stick and burn. It is an absolute pain to chip brunt noodles out of your pot so make sure to give it a good swirl every 20-30 seconds.
I typically let my noodles boil for 3-5 minutes depending on the noodle. Thicker noodles like penne take longer.
#4 Pour Noodles and Water into Bag
Turn off your stove completely and pour the noodles with water in your Ziploc bag. NOTE: your noodles will not be fully cooked at this point. They should be slightly firmer than al dente. Put your bag with the noodles and water inside your pot for insulation and cover. REMEMBER THE STOVE IS OFF. I then give it another 3-5 minutes to continue to soften in the hot water.
#5 Drain Water and Add Cheese Packet
Drain excess water (it is up to you how to dispose of it. LNT says to drink it… more times than naught we dispose of it a little way away from camp.) I typically leave water up about 1/4 of way of the noodles. Add your cheese packet and stir!
See our post on cooking basics and how we avoid food leftovers in our pot:
The Rankings
5. Kraft Mac & Cheese (1/10)
Truly disappointed in this one because I do love a good Kraft in real life. However, the numerous times that I have tried to cook Kraft as only led to a sticky glob.
The biggest issue is that when boiling the noodles the water turns a thick starchy paste. Once this happens you are left with slimy noodles and it is nearly impossible to drain the excess water, or sludge in this case. Common reason this happens is due to the water not being hot enough or there not being enough water, but no matter how boiling the water or how much I can never get the Kraft to cook correctly.
4. Knorr Pasta Sides (7/10)
Knorr makes pasta sides in many different flavors, some cheesy and some not. The alfredo variety is decently good and is a way to spice up the cheese on noodles game. The downside for Knorr is that the favoring is integrated into the same package as the noodles, aka there is no separate bag of powdered cheese. Not life ending, but it does mean a dirty pot at the end of the night.
3. Pasta Roni (8/10)
Pasta Roni’s four cheese corkscrew tastes like an adult mac & cheese. It is flavorful without the conventional taste of cheddar on noodles. The corkscrew noodles are large and relatively thin so they do not take as long to cook as penne. However, the entire box does not fit in a 750 ml pot. I normally have some noodles left over that I am unable to cook.
2. Goodles (8.5/10)
This a new brand of mac & cheese. It gets 2nd place on our scorecard because (1) it is protein reinforced noodles and (2) the flavors are unique. There is about ~35 grams of protein in a box of Goodles which is the highest compared any of the others. Quick side note, make sure to compare “dry mix” instead of “as prepared” on the nutrition label. The “as prepared” includes the protein from milk in the protein serving. Goodles’ offerings range from regular mac to elote, parmesan, hatch chile, and more.
The downside is the brand is catching on and have become the most expensive of the brands ranked here.
1. Annie’s (9/10)
Coming in at #1 is the class favorite - Annie’s Mac & Cheese. Annie’s tops the charts because it is reliable, flavorful meal. Our favorite flavors are the White Cheddar and Four Cheese - both go wonderfully with a BBQ protein packet or even pepperoni.
It is difficult to cook Annie’s incorrectly. While it is the longest to cook because the noodles are thicker, it is pretty forgiving and you rarely, if ever, end up with starchy water. At the end of a long time of hiking, Annie’s will never disappoint.
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