Macaroni and Cheese…

[Gary Boyd]

Has anyone tried taking box mac'n'cheese and some powdered milk and margarine powder… I know it's not the healthiest thing, but the calories density is stellar. Of course repackaging is a must. I'm going to have to get a can of margarine powder and give it a go.

[Ken Helwig]

I have always done the Mac and Cheese that has the processed cheese that you squeeze out of the pack. Either way…Yep alot of calories!!!

[Gary Boyd]

Well Ken, I guess I've always thought of that as the debutantes mac'n'cheese, but it should would save me some time and effort :P Thanks, I guess I never would have thought of that.

EDIT: I just checked the calories on the velveeta deal though, and it appears to be only 90 calories per oz. I was calculating the powdered with milk and butter at something closer to 126.

[Robert Bryant]

Mac and cheese is my favorite dinner when backpacking. Easy Mac is well the easiest since it has the powdered milk and fat substitute. If I use boxed mac and cheese I carry some olive oil for the fat. I have never used margarine powder, sounds worse than the nuclear cheese powder that comes in the mac and cheese. You don't even need powdered milk, just the fat to make the cheese powder work. You can throw some dehydrated vegetables or jerky or all kinds of things in to make it better.

[Robert Blean]

Note that weight is only part of the concern — bulk is another concern. Macaroni is not very space-efficient.

— MV

[Sarah Kirkconnell]

1/4 cup of dry milk for extra rich (2 Tbsp for less) and a packet of olive oil = good eats.

[Sarah Kirkconnell]

And if you use whole fat dry milk you don't need oil. It has plenty!

[Mark McLauchlin]

Never thought to add powdered milk to it…Thanks Sarbar.

[Sarah Kirkconnell]

Have you thought about a can of butter powder instead? It tastes better and is quite nice used in most meals.

[Sarah Kirkconnell]

If you would like to make your own mac and not use a box, this recipe works well – you can use whatever dried cheese you like:
http://www.trailcooking.com/recipes/diy-fbc-mac-n-cheese

While I note about not using freeze dried cheese in the base, you can always add in some at the end to melt in :-)

[Gary Boyd]

Thanks for the great information guys and gals… I can't imagine anywhere being able to provide me with such insight on the inner workings of trail mac'n'cheese. The fact that I think this is awesome, makes me a dork :P

[Robert Bryant]

"Note that weight is only part of the concern — bulk is another concern. Macaroni is not very space-efficient."

So you can only pack four beers instead of six? If you are worried about bulk then you probably need a bigger pack anyway.

[scott burgeson]

does the boxed Mac & Cheese lend itself to FBC?

I think the elbow noodles would take a loooong time to cook in the bag.

Does anyone have any experience with this? Maybe use the cheese packet but use raman noodles instead?

–scott

[Aaron Wallace]

Easy Mac is easy to prepare in a zip-lock bag with hot water. The noodles in Easy Mac are not the same as in the normal boxed product. If I recall, it's about 1/2 cup of water per pouch of Easy Mac. Let the noodles hydrate for a few minutes before adding the cheese mix, then mix and let stand a few more minutes.

[Sarah Kirkconnell]

Scott,

One trick is to cook the noodles up most of the way, then dry. It does work FBC style after that.

http://www.trailcooking.com/content/making-mac-n-cheese-fbc-friendly

(With photos as well)

[Sharon Bingham]

Hmmmm. Anyone ever try it with Gee (clarified butter), rather than olive oil?

I think I might have to try that – boxed (but repackaged) mac-n-cheese with powdered whole milk and gee… I bet it comes out super rich and creamy…

[Sarah Kirkconnell]

Ghee rocks!

(I have a couple how-to's on the website as well on making it, though honestly I often just buy a jar!)

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