Make from scratch. I made of box of it once and it pointless as it called for all of the same ingredients as homemade. The box just provides the pasta and the cheese powder. I can make it from scratch with real cheese in the same amount of time.

I'm a homemade version, too. Still, it should be pointed out that the scratch version has a little more more clean-up, especially if you grate your cheese (as opposed to buying the pre-grated stuff which I never do.) I think clean-up time should be taken into consideration when comparing boxed vs scratch, like with cake mixes, etc.

Make make make!! I know a lot of people have nostalgia about the boxed stuff, and I appreciate that--I have it about other convenience foods, but not this. Homemade all the way.

Homemade, without a doubt, and grating the cheese at home not buying it in a bag. The more I do myself the more control I have over chemicals and cooking processes, never mind how much *better* homemade is.

Huh, a box of it in Chicago is 2.49. Also, you forgot to add in the cost of 1/4 milk, which isn't much, but still.

Let's try to get some facts straight.

1) It does not take 15 minutes (of actual cooking effort) to make mac and cheese out of a box. You fill the pot, walk away, come back, add the pasta, stir, walk away, come back, drain, then spend two minutes assembling the sauce, done.

2) To make mac and cheese from scratch, you need to make a Bechamel sauce so it requires near constant attention and stirring. Never mind the time, tools and hassle of grating cheese.

Time and work should never be considered equivalent units of measure.

I do cook most things from scratch but if the kids need a quick meal I doctor up a box of mac and cheese. I throw in a ton of veggies, a can of beans, some extra grated cheese and call it good.

Scratch. We don't really like the taste of boxed, so if we do mac and cheese, we make it at home.

Once I learned how to make it from scratch, it's the only way I'll eat it. It's so much more healthy and rewarding to eat the food that you create yourself. Plus, you know what's in it.

I agree w/mcapozzi that the work is no way equivalent. The boxed stuff cooks itself, while the homemade requires actual stove time. That said, it's 15-20 minutes well spent, as the results are Far and Away better with homemade.

This is an apples and robots comparisons.

I love homemade m&c. I make a killer version that is quick and easy and fantastic. But, when I want boxed mac&cheese, homemade is not what I want. Boxed is a nostalgic, comforting taste and texture all it's own.

I love, love homemade mac n cheese! But when you have two hungry kiddos and a mountain of dishes to work through before dinner (etc, etc, etc), then boxed it is! No guilt about it.

I like them both, I find it very easy to make from scratch (I use the "like Panera microwave version) but I also enjoy boxed. I think there is a time and a place for each!

Time and place for each. Homemade is great, but it isn't the same taste or experience as boxed. You'd never catch me grating cheddar and making bechamel at 2 am after coming home from a bar.

Bechamel means putting some butter in a pan and doing something else until the butter sizzles, at which point you add the flour and whisk to blend, then do something else for a couple of minutes while the flour cooks, then you gradually add the milk, salt, and if you're adding it, cheese. It takes maybe 5 minutes more of actual work than making boxed mac 'n' cheese. (10 minutes total) In fact, I often find that my bechamel is done before the pasta is done cooking, even when I start the pasta water boiling before I start the sauce.

The only thing about making it from scratch that creates more work is that it dirties an extra pot.

You list the ingredients, but no instructions. I have been unable to find a recipe in any cookbook, even Italian. Have never made it, and never come across boxed either. Is it an American dish?

@leslie2000 - Good point! I'll add the cost of milk and butter to the boxed mix.

@pearmelon - My favorite recipe for homemade mac and cheese is linked at the top of the post. Here's the link again: Homemade Mac and Cheese

We never had the boxed stuff when I was a kid, so it has no nostalgic tug for me. I've had Annie's and it's fine, but it's not at all the same as homemade. The texture and flavor are completely different. If homemade costs a little more, that's okay with me.... though I make it with whatever mixture of cheeses we have in the fridge, so there's no splurging necessary.

And no planning ahead, either. I'm a little startled by the idea, actually. In most dietary ranges that include mac & cheese, its ingredients are staples: pasta, cheese, milk, flour. For this reason, it's a stand-by meal in my house, not a plan-ahead meal. And it cozies up well to almost any vegetable dish, which makes it an even better impromptu dinner.

I have never liked the typical boxed stuff, even as a child. After hearing some people give rave reviews about this particular brand, I gave it a try once. No thank you. It just can't compare to homemade. I have plenty of other meals I can make quickly when I'm sleepy/hungry/tipsy so I'll save mac'n'cheese for when I can take the time to make it right. I will note, however, that I tend to spend more than $3 on the cheese, so mine is less comparable by price.

Hmm last time I made home made mac and cheese it didn't involve this "complex" Bechamel sauce. I cook the noddles, drain and reserve a little of the cooking water. I add shredded cheese, tossed with a bit of corn starch, slowly to the hot noodles. Then I'll start to alternate between little bits of butter and some milk or cream. Stir, stir, stir and I'm done. Period. It's a one pot meal, my cheese is pre shredded only because I buy a block and shred once it gets home, so no extra shredder to clean. I don't measure much other then the time used to cook the noodles. Easy peasy, and beats the pants off the BEST boxed stuff any day.

I'm with Emilyhatestheworld. Totally robots and apples (love this, btw). The big difference for our household? My husband has mastered boxed mac & cheese and can make it without injury to anyone or anything. And I bake all of my homemade mac & cheese dishes, so they are definitely *not* quick meals. Perhaps carbonara would be a comparable meal for me.

I much prefer homemade, but rarely make it because of the time and effort it takes to grate the cheese. It never occurred to me that I could buy already grated cheese...

Does anyone know if the scratch version has less sodium? check out the nutrition label on annie's- it has a ton and so I don't feed it to my toddler.

Instead I make my own using pasta, cheese, tomato sauce, and a bit of flour to thicken. A tiny dash of salt, some garlic powder, and pepper provides some taste.

I am with the wrong comparison crew. There is something to love about boxed. When I am sick or having a really bad day, I go for that. It's familiar and comforting.

But I also love the texture and taste of true homemade (baked) mac and cheese. Just please stop doctoring it up with all those weird cheeses and stuff. I don't need 5 kinds of cheese.. a nice medium cheddar is all it takes.

Homemade, usually. I take a box (plus extra veggies) with me when I babysit my niece because her parents always have $50 of designer cheeses in the fridge, along with some horrid rainbow "kid's" yogurt and hot dogs, but precious little food that is both kid and auntie friendly.

I have a question abiut the cost per serving calculation. Are you going by the so-called number of servings listed on the box or are you comparing by equivalent weight? By the numbers, it looks as though the box has 2.5 servings and homemade makes 6 servings, which sounds about right, but I just want to confirm. Thanks.

Homemade vs boxed is apples and oranges. They are completely different and cannot be compared. From scratch is AMAZING, but sometimes I just want that blue box.

Tell me about sodium in both versions! Is there a big difference? If so, then that needs to be factored into costs (as the negeative toll it will/could have on your health).

Again, apples to robots. Homemade takes much longer, especially if you bake it or top it with a mixture. If you use good quality cheese like gryure or add ham then it is much more expensive than boxed.

They don't taste the same and for most people they involve more expense, time, work, and dirty dishes.

But I still haven't purchased a box in about 15 years and my kids have never had it. I just don't think it is real food, especially Kraft. What is the point of feeding kids refined starch and chemicals.

really, grating cheese takes too much time? i made martha stewart's mac-n-cheese earlier this week and grated heaps of cheese in just a few minutes with my oxo microplane box grater.

I don't think a box of pasta is equal to 1lb of pasta.. don't use the boxes to check but that will change your costs.

Also, cheesy bechemel freezes well. Just pop extra sauce in the freezer and microwave with a bit of milk.

Hmmm. I'm in the camp that both are good in their own right. box- plain or doctored- for quick and mindless. homemade for the sake of being homemade. I do both depending on the day/my mood. imo - I'd have to say one significant knock against the box version is the anemic little noodles lol.

Homemade, but the comparison only works if you're using a super simple recipe, like Melissa Clark's version: http://www.melissaclark.net/blog/2011/02/quick-and-homey-mac-and-cheese.html
Just noodles, cheese, small amount of heavy cream and pinch of salt. Just as fast as the ol' box and infinitely tastier!

I like this post, I hope you'll do more with other foods/meals too! Interesting to see the breakdown, and everyone's reactions.

I agree with mcapozzi. Making it from a box requires less actual "in the kitchen" time which means I can check my e-mail. But yeah I also think it's comparing apples to robots! I make both but it depends on what I'm in the mood for. Mac & Cheese from the box is a yummy nostalgic treat for myself (due to the sodium) and homemade seems like it's slightly healthier (though maybe that's in my head!).

I don't make a separate bechamel sauce for my homemade mac and cheese, and I'd say it does not take anymore time than a boxed mix except for grating the cheese (but I often buy the pre-grated cheese to avoid that issue). Boil and drain noodles, dump in cheese, splash of milk, bit of flour, and stir until melted. (I don't measure, I just add more of something if it doesn't work right). The only extra time would be that I usually use bigger noodles (like rotini or shells) than the boxed mixes do, and so the noodles take a little longer to cook, but that's it.

I've only eaten boxed mac n'cheese once in my life and never intend to again. Mysterious dry cheese substance gives me the creeps. If you do want to go for pre-prepared, easy to make mac n'cheese, get Trader Joe's frozen box, its almost as good as homemade, but so fast! 4 minutes in the microwave does it.

Most boxes of pasta are in fact a pound.

If the argument is making a fast mac and cheese for kids, I've noticed that kids are just as happy with noodles and a handful of cheddar, which is faster than a box of kraft anyway.

I make a wicked 4 cheese pasta. But when I want what we called Kraft Dinner, that is what I want with all of its cheap macaroni, dayglo orange, and strange salty not-quite-cheese taste. For me, one has nothing to do with the other.

I don't even consider the two comparable. This is like choosing between eating a banana and eating a piece of banana candy. Both may be good and while they are nominally related, they're nothing alike! I love boxed store-bought mac-n-cheese, probably only because it holds a lot of nostalgia. To my mind, it's not even related to real homemade mac-n-cheese, which is as sublime and grown-up and decadent and amazing as anything I can imagine. But to compare the two? The tastes, textures, and experience are 100% different, IMHO.

This is what stops me from buying it at the store every.single.time. Whenever the Annie's is on sale for some ridiculously cheap price, I am so tempted but always tell myself that I can do a better job with what I already have on hand. Granted, there might be some more work involved the box variety but its work that I gladly take on.

My mom made the stuff in a box because she's lazy about cooking and works nights. I haven't eaten the stuff from a box in over a decade and have never ever missed it. I make mac and cheese based off Alton Brown's stovetop recipe. The most time consuming part is waiting for the water to boil. No bechamel, no baking, and it's delicious. Will it ever be as easy as cutting open a packet of neon orange and adding it to cooked noodles? No, but it's so much better.

The posters who mentioned nutritional differences make a great point. I wonder how the two recipes compare on that basis? Recently, I tried shopping for some instant mac & cheese to feed to a community service volunteer who works about 8 hours a month at my office. She never brings any food (she has extremely limited resources), so I thought I'd stock the kitchenette with something for her to eat. I was shocked to see that the instant stuff has almost no discernible nutritional value: no vitamins and negligible amounts of protein and calcium (but loads of sodium). Of course that variety was the "just add water" cuppa mac, hopefully quite different from the estimable Annie's.

Hey guys! Nice comparison. I just wanted to share my running series from my site called "The Homemade Trials". I've been comparing homemade vs. store bought for different foods. Macaroni and cheese was my first one, but I've since compared mashed potatoes and spaghetti sauce also.

Check it out!
http://www.macheesmo.com/category/homemade-trials/

Made from scratch is the way to go. Try Alton Brown's stovetop version. The recipe is on the Food Network site. It's pretty hard to beat.

Ooooh....I DO like Annies. Tough call.

You obviously don't have little kiddies around! As much as I'd love to eat/make homemade mac and cheese, a three year old wants what ge wants.... I've tried to give the kid mac and cheese from various fantastic san francisco restaurants and have learned my lesson, don't spend $6 when they just want annies at home. Oh well...

Homemade is usually much better than boxed, if someone else cooks it. So, it's boxed for me, I hate cooking with a passion.

scratch. because you get a lot more cheese sauce that way. At least you do when I make it.

I buy KD on sale at 67 cents a box. And cheese in Canada is way more expensive than 1 dollar a cup. Brick cheddar sells for about $2 per 100 grams here. Yo yeah when I want quick (from the moment the noodles are poured in the boiling water it takes 8 minutes), inexpensive and easy recipe, I go for the box. Heck, I don't even measure the milk or the margarine i add to the pot. I just add a little of both and it usually turns out ok.

Well homemade obviously tastes much better but there are things that I value even more. The nutritional value of homemade vs. boxed is huge and they are not comparable serving sizes. One box makes 2 servings realistically. However a full box of pasta with homemade sauce is enough for my family of 4 with leftovers for lunch the next day.

Make it, absolutely! I prefer cavatappi for my mac and cheese so, when I'm boiling it for another dish I make twice as much and whip up a quick batch of bechamel, in one kitchen session I have both tonight's dinner and enough mac and cheese to freeze in individual portions. It's a lifesaver after a long day at work to just pop homemade mac and cheese into the oven!

I think if you want to compare store bought to homemade you would need to look at something like Stoueffers (sp?). That at least pretends to be mac and cheese like we'd make at home.

The only time we make box mac n cheese is the rare occasion my boyfriend makes dinner. He knows how to make it and doesn't complain when he does. Also he makes it for lunch at least once every week and a half. On the rare occasion I'm making mac and cheese I like to plan ahead and make it from scratch but like I said it is very very rare.

Also my bf can eat an entire box in one sitting....

I absolutely love boxed mac and cheese, but it has to be generic spirals. Even though I can make it from scratch easily, sometimes I prefer the boxed kind. Maybe my rue isn't quite right, but sometime the homemade stuff tastes greasier and globy.

Epic mac and cheese:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yCrbv81SBHg

Good for you!

Most people who eat boxed macaroni and cheese do it because it is cheaper, especially Kraft. It's the type of thing people who are poor (and college kids who are also poor) tend to buy/make. I always make homemade, but the cost of the cheese is not to be underestimated (particularly in Tokyo where all cheese is expensive and processed cheese is the most common type on sale).

@Nick from Macheesmo - thanks for mentioning your own comparison series. Really like what you did with the mac and cheese - I'll be sure to read the rest of the series.

I've eaten Kraft macaroni and cheese only once because it's generally not sold here in small corner shops and I don't have easy access to the big chain supermarkets. It was ok as a change but probably not something I'd want to eat on a regular basis so when I want m & c I make my own.

I don't eat it, but i have made homemade and boxed for many many children as a caretaker. The boxed takes far less time - you have to bake homemade in the oven for 30 minutes! Or else it tastes like uncooked flour. Some kids cannot wait that long... so I guess planning is important.
Also, if you use organic ingredients, the cost of the homemade at least triples. Organic pasta around here is $2.99 a pound, and don't get me started on organic rennetless cheese...
Of course homemade is more delicious and betterfor you, but for convenience and price, boxed, no contest.

Poopoopoo;

I actually have 3 kids, 5,3 and 8 months. They've had the kraft junk once because it was left in the pantry when we moved in. I've never ate it as a kid because I didn't like it and my husband didn't grow up with it at all. It really takes no time at all to whip up homemade mac and cheese. I can do it while unloading the dishwasher. Real food is a priority for us though so I'm sure that makes a difference in the opinions.

Homemade all the way but I did but some of Annie's for my one year old nephew for Easter since she has the bunny shaped pasta one. Not as bad as some of the other boxed ones and still better than giving him candy right? I bought a box for myself being curious and didn't think it was horrible for being a boxed version but I like my homemade grownup version much better!

Make. Definitely. And my pet hate is recipes that say e.g. milk $0.08. Because you can't buy 8c worth of milk. I understand why people do it, but I don't like it.

To save time, you can use a kettle to boil the water for cooking the macarini. Bechamel sauce can be homemade in a microwave oven while you boil the water and cook the macaroni. You can add any soft cheese that melts as sauce for your macaroni (try to melt it in a spoon or 2 of the boiling water before draining the macaroni). Or if you're really lazy, when your macaroni are drained just add butter and a sprinkle of sage!
It's not about COST, TIME, CONVENIENCE, TASTINESS AND HEALTHFULNESS. Homemade and boxed (or canned) are 2 different worlds. It's a cultural thing! If you're not used to the culture of pasta, you eat the surrogate one and you'll be happy with it.

I find melted cheese to be very off-putting, especially in the quantities that most home-made mac'n'cheese recipes require. I find the texture and "mouth-feel" of it to be just awful. Too much cheese on my pizza? No way I can eat it. Lasagne? Not a chance. Grilled cheese? Kill me now...

So home-made mac'n'cheese is completely out for me. I love me some boxed versions though! We have tried the Annie's, but our favourite is Canadian grocery store chain Loblaw's house brand President's Choice White Cheddar. Delish!

How funny. I must be one of the rare people who likes the boxed version (once in a blue moon), but almost can't stand homemade. I say almost, because I just recently found a restaurant version that is awesome, but not simple. No way is it made in 20min. It uses smoked gouda, a little smoked ham, and is baked so it has a crispy bread-crumb crust.

There's something about the creaminess in other versions that is very off-putting to me. I like my mac 'n cheese drier - only use 1/2 of the milk and butter the boxed version calls for.

It hardly counts as making it from scratch if you buy the macaroni and the cheese. That's like saying you made fries from scratch because you put ketchup on them.