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Trader Joe's Mac & Cheese Bites
I Paid: $3.49 for a 10-ounce box (prices may vary by region)
Trader Joe's Mac & Cheese Bites are much like the newly returned Cheesy Bites pizza by Pizza Hut. Both companies are presenting overfed Americans with exactly what they don't need: a new way to eat carbs and molten cheese.
Morality aside, it's clearly a pretty good marketing gimmick. When we're not self-loathingly choking down diet shakes and Slim-Fast fare, we're "indulging" the "urge" for, well, food that's nutritionally lacking—a fact best symbolized by a big gooey pile of cheese somehow attached to bread, pasta, and/or meat.
Thus: Mac & Cheese Bites, which are greasy balls of cheesy pasta covered in mediocre breading that warm up in the oven (not microwave) in 20 to 25 minutes.
If you're in the mood for decent-quality mac ’n' cheese that you can pop in your mouth without a fork, serve at a party as a trashy appetizer, or put in a coffee mug and eat as a hangover breakfast on your morning commute, Mac & Cheese Bites are a perfectly acceptable option. But do you need to do any of those things, really?
doesnt sound good to me
This is really gross, usually we buy wine and cheese at TJ's.
Bet you a good meal, there's Partially Hydrogenated Fat added.
The local TJ's had these on demo, so I had to try one. Much less bad than previous posters said. Mainly they were pretty oily. I've tried some of their prepared snack-type foods that were a lot worse. Not a big fan of their prepared foods generally.
@skywaters, since Trader Joe's deep fried them?
...wait, since when are pasta and bread "fatty"?
Is there any food item that we "need"? Absurd article.
The tone of this article is so obnoxious as to be laughable. Was it written by a 14 year old? Oooh, real edgy! Let's call out a frozen party snack for being "unhealthy" and bash America while we are at it. There's no "morality" here, just a smug, uninformed, and comically bad writer.
I agree that it sounds totally nasty. How about making your own mac n cheese at home with whole wheat pasta, low fat cheese and go light on the butter... no added oils... toss in some broccoli or cauliflower. That's what I prefer. Cheese, bread, pasta and meat are all FATTY so when they're the only thing you're eating... Watch out heart attack.
Wait. Cheese, bread, pasta, and/or meat are "nutritionally lacking"?
What do you think nutrition is, sprirulina extract with added fiber?
The American cult of Uninformed Idiot Food Moralizing has you in a death grip.
This is a finger food for parties. Savory morsels intended to fend off hunger and slow the absorption of alcohol. No one in their right mind is proposing to make a steady diet -...+READ
Wait. Cheese, bread, pasta, and/or meat are "nutritionally lacking"?
What do you think nutrition is, sprirulina extract with added fiber?
The American cult of Uninformed Idiot Food Moralizing has you in a death grip.
This is a finger food for parties. Savory morsels intended to fend off hunger and slow the absorption of alcohol. No one in their right mind is proposing to make a steady diet - or even an entire meal - out of these.
The keys to a healthy diet are variety, balance and moderation. Real foods containing fats, carbohydrates and proteins (including cheese, pasta, bread, and meat) - in moderation, in balance - are the basis of real nutrition.
The wholesale condemnation of whole categories of perfectly wholesome food as evil and somehow "lacking in nutrition" is one of the most tiresome and pernicious lies of our times.
Please note that I'm not defending this particular item - they may very well be a mediocre instantiation of this concept - I don't know, I haven't tried them - but taste is a completely different issue.
I'm just objecting to the misinformed moralism that declares that "cheese, pasta, bread and/or meat" are "nutritionally lacking."-COLLAPSE
Well, short of figuring out how to make my own flour tortillas, TJs is the only option near me selling them WITHOUT HYDROGENATED OIL, thank you!
seriously, what did Trader Joe's ever do to you? I think they're a better option than most supermarkets these days if you're into nutrition. They have loads of better food in there, you know, it's not like they're stocked to the ceiling in every row with those mac n cheese bites. And at least these bites won't have as much FAKE crap as those made by other brands like Kraft or whatever. I just...+READ
seriously, what did Trader Joe's ever do to you? I think they're a better option than most supermarkets these days if you're into nutrition. They have loads of better food in there, you know, it's not like they're stocked to the ceiling in every row with those mac n cheese bites. And at least these bites won't have as much FAKE crap as those made by other brands like Kraft or whatever. I just find this article downright obnoxious and snobby.-COLLAPSE
You people are really pissed off at Trader Joe's, huh? What's with all the slander articles?
If someone doesn't care about nutrition, that's their own choice and there's no reason to dump on them about it. And you must count yourself among one of those 'overfed Americans' since you noticed (and purchased) this snack food for whatever reason.
I second what chowlovers said. The relentless media message of "you're bad if you eat X food" in our society is helping nobody.
Seems like the general rule of thumb out there is "If the author of a piece thinks a foodstuff will make you fat, then it is bad and you should feel ashamed for eating it." As anyone in recovery from compulsive eating knows, it's that very shame and guilt that leads...+READ
I second what chowlovers said. The relentless media message of "you're bad if you eat X food" in our society is helping nobody.
Seems like the general rule of thumb out there is "If the author of a piece thinks a foodstuff will make you fat, then it is bad and you should feel ashamed for eating it." As anyone in recovery from compulsive eating knows, it's that very shame and guilt that leads people to eat compulsively. Even worse: it leads to monstrosities like commercials for "guilt-free dessert yogurt". Whipped chocolatey guilt-free dessert yogurt, now with even less guilt.
I wish that the national dialogue about food and health could be about what is good for you and why, instead of this dead, simplistic, fat=bad stuff. Eating fat doesn't make you fat. Eating a lot of calories doesn't make you fat. Eating a lot of simple carbs that trigger an insulin reaction usually does, though. It's not the gooey cheese, it's the noodles and breading. I feel bad for cheese; people project their fear of fat onto it so much.
And being fat doesn't harm you directly. We tend to look at people who are both in poor health and fat and see causation instead of correlation, and the amount of money in the diet industry feeds that kind of causative thinking like crazy. Some of the behaviors that lead to ill health also lead to weight gain. Some of the behaviors that lead to weight gain also lead to ill health. And lot of them are unconnected.
In short... serving those weird little balls as a party appetizer is not some soul-crushing bad decision that a moralizing blogger needs to wag a finger about. Even eating them every night is not some soul-crushing cry for judgment, although heaven knows it wouldn't be good for you.-COLLAPSE
I agree that it's the consumers fault in this case. There are so many better options at TJs that if you consciously grab this product after reading it's contents then you asked for it.
We are perfectly capable of deciding what to eat - it's our personal choice and a matter of free will. Calories and fat are clearly labeled. "Morality"??? by whose authority is food "moral" or "immoral"? The only morality issue associated with food is gluttony. Whether or not i'm a glutton depends on how much i eat over a period of time, not whether i choose to incorporate an indulgent food into...+READ
We are perfectly capable of deciding what to eat - it's our personal choice and a matter of free will. Calories and fat are clearly labeled. "Morality"??? by whose authority is food "moral" or "immoral"? The only morality issue associated with food is gluttony. Whether or not i'm a glutton depends on how much i eat over a period of time, not whether i choose to incorporate an indulgent food into my overall diet. Sounds like you're trying to catch TJ's in a "gotcha" . Don't be so silly.-COLLAPSE
They do gear it to kids on the package which I found disturbing.
I bought them over the holidays as a splurge, hey its the holidays.
The amount of fat, calories were astounding.
Did I enjoy every bite I did.
Will I eat them again ? not till next year.
guess what else i don't "need' to do? read any more of this crap. food chains don't force anyone to eat empty calories.
An absurd piece: I do not see any signs at Trader Joe's stating, "YOU MUST BUY AND EAT THESE MAC AND CHEESE BITES." People get fat because they choose to.
You know you do not have to purchase these. I shop Trader Joes weekly and only buy nutritious foods I need to prepare myself.
Mac and cheese balls are this season's quesadillas--every chain has them.
These are okay, but it's better to make your own mac and cheese -Cristina Ferrare has a great recipe and you can find other really good ones on www.foodnetwork,com
Thanks for the heads up James! I read all your columns, even for stuff I wouldn't dream of buying, because I so enjoy your writing style. I've been on a baked brie kick lately so I think I'll stick to that for the winter at least.
The real question is how do these compare to Cheesecake Factory's Mac & Cheese balls?
Umm...I don't think he's "hating Americans for liking to eat," but making a point about the inanity of another company selling mediocre "food" to people, and suggesting that maybe isn't such a great thing. And how do you people not sense the humor in this post? Lighten up!
And seriously, nedj10, comparing street food to mac and cheese balls? From a grocery chain?? How much did Trader Joe pay...+READ
Umm...I don't think he's "hating Americans for liking to eat," but making a point about the inanity of another company selling mediocre "food" to people, and suggesting that maybe isn't such a great thing. And how do you people not sense the humor in this post? Lighten up!
And seriously, nedj10, comparing street food to mac and cheese balls? From a grocery chain?? How much did Trader Joe pay you?!
Rock on, Supertaster.-COLLAPSE
Yeah...what nedj10 said. Street food, notoriously delicious and loved around the world is almost always terrible for you. No DUH we aren't supposed to eat it all of the time. Foods like this are a treat...the tone of this author's article is just totally condescending and assuming. I mean really dude...consider your audience.
The taste rating was useful, the sermonizing not, especially--as noted--on a food site.
If you look at the foods from all over the world especially in the great street food cities of the world there is just as much bad for you food literally everywhere in the world excepting for some extreme situations. This author should stop hating Americans for liking to eat..especially on a food site..
Homemade wholewheat bread, slices of good cheddar melted on top, in the microwave, and some salt and pepper.
What's wrong with that? If I don't over-indulge, cheese isn't automatically BAD.
Thanks for the comment, greygarious -- I do adore their regular frozen mac 'n cheese, and it's too bad this version isn't so great!
James -- love the image of a groggy morning commute, mug of mac 'n cheese balls in hand . . .
I thought they were pretty good, but they did get kind of soggy on the bottoms in the oven.
Yeah, I tried these and really hated them. They mostly went in the garbage. My batch had, oddly enough, sort of a fishy taste - like they had been fried in oil that was also used for fish. Yuck.
TJ's regular frozen 4-cheese blend Mac&cheese has intensely cheesy flavor, ro I had high hopes for these nuggets. But they were bad enough that the dogs got half of them. The "creamy" sauce had barely any cheese flavor.