Everybody in the pasta business is getting into ‘enhanced’ Mac & Cheese! The latest entrants are polemically opposite in heritage, but dead centre in the market. Chef Boyardee and Buldak are launching new ‘breakout’ products…
If the pictures on the boxes make you think of Hamburger Helper, you’re not alone. There’s something about the concept that keeps it coming back around on the food popularity merry-go-round.
Chef Boyardee cooks up something new
The new products from the Chef cover a lot of recipe ground: Beef Pasta, Cheeseburger Mac, Cheesy Italian Shells, Meat Lasagna and Chicken Alfredo.
The brand calls them ‘skillet meals’ precisely because they are made that way – in the pan, just like Hamburger Helper or Sloppy Joes. Not such a long throw from ‘traditional’ instant Mac & Cheese.
“Families today are looking for meals that check every box — quick to make, affordable, and some-thing everyone at the table will love,” Dan Anglemyer, COO at the Chef’s parent company, Hometown Food, said in a statement. “Chef Boyardee Skillet Meals deliver exactly that, combining the brand’s rich Italian heritage with the convenience modern households need.”
Buldak spices up Mac & Cheese
The name ‘Buldak’ immediately evokes thoughts of spicy Korean cuisine. Now the import monster is branching out into Western food forms, with a couple of traditional Korean flavours: Sweet Corn Buldak Mac & Cheese and Carbonara Buldak Mac & Cheese.
Yes, they’re spicy. They make up like ‘standard’ instant mack and cheese, but they get their kick from an included sauce packet you drizzle on just before serving. Reviewers say the East-meets-West combo really does work.
The Buldak is starting with a limited-time release, at Walmart, now through late fall.
The Year of Mac & Cheese?
Could this be the ‘Year of Mac & Cheese’, and all the associated instant pasta ‘helper’ products? I’m going out on a limb and saying, “Yes!”
My take
We’ve had a couple of years of Pickle Mania, and that trend (fad?) doesn’t appear to be waning. But I think there’s more than enough room in our lives for another, non-competing universal favourite to bloom!
~ Maggie J.