FBC Mac & Cheese

[Sarah Kirkconnell]

My son loves boxed Mac & Cheese, and truth be told, so did I when I was younger. The one thing that kept me from eating it the past couple years was how unhealthy most brands are (ie. food dyes to make it look like "cheese".) So I had quit buying it, even for my son.

But lately, there have been good brands showing up on the grocery shelves. And not only are they are decent for ingredients, they taste good as well.

My son loves:
Organic Kraft Macaroni & Cheese
Annies
Back To Nature
Simply Organic

This week, in preparation for some trips I prepped up a number of Mac meals for Ford.

Now you might wonder: why can't I just make it in camp? Well, I don't carry a pot big enough to boil pasta in! Nor do I have any desire to carry the fuel needed, or to clean the pan.

I took 4 boxes of Organic Kraft White Cheddar Shells (6 ounce box). I boiled the pasta for a shy 9 minutes (about 1 1/2 minutes less than called for on the box). When done, I drained the pasta, then spread on parchment lined trays on my dehydrator.

I dried the pasta at 135* till dry (the time will depend on type of pasta and humidity.)

When dry, I weighed out the pasta, and split it among 4 quart freezer bags. Weight was roughly 4 1/2 ounces in each bag. I then packed with each bag:
1 cheese sauce packet
2 Tbl dry milk
1 packet olive oil

In camp pour boiling water over the pasta (to just cover). Seal well, and put in a cozy for 10 minutes. Drain off most of the water, leaving in about 1/4 cup. Add in the milk powder, cheese sauce powder and oil. Stir well and enjoy.
Knowing my son, the 6 ounce box will feed 1. As in him.

Works well with dried mushrooms, thinly diced sundried tomatoes or even a tuna pouch.

Think of it as an easy way to have a long standing favorite.
~Sarah

From my blog:
http://www.freezerbagcooking.com/myblog.htm

On other news, we started carrying White Box stoves yesterday also!

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