Woman Buys a Box of Kraft Mac-N-Cheese and Then Notices One Big Problem: "There Are Only..."

Sometimes, all it takes to know the taste of heaven is a strand of macaroni. Dipped and doused in velvety liquid cheese, the Kraft Mac-N-Cheese hits the tongue with an electric ecstasy that has remained evergreen and unmatchable for decades. With bits of spices and condiments clinging to the macaroni, the taste is known to transport the eater into childhood summer that smells like a packet of cheese puffs fused with 90s television. The blue box of this “ooey-gooey comfort snack” is a pantry staple in homes, one of which is probably sitting in your own kitchen cabinet.

Each day, over a million people in America purchase these boxed versions of cheesy fantasies to eat in a college dorm, on a family movie night, or while enjoying a romantic home date. Given the product’s popularity, it seems unusual when someone says that Kraft’s macaroni and cheese isn’t as good as it was before. In a TikTok video, food influencer Lee (@o_g_deez) expressed her surprising disappointment over how the much-beloved meal has changed significantly over the years.

“What has happened to Kraft Macaroni & Cheese?” Lee asked while showing a box on the camera. Despite being one of her “most requested items” of all time, she realized that the product had experienced some changes in recent years. She went on to show a Kraft box from the 1950s. “As you can see, there are only six ingredients, and the predominant ingredients were sharp cheddar cheese and skim milk. That’s it,” she explained. The only thing, she said, that’s “maintained its consistency is the direction you're gonna add your own milk, and you're gonna add your own butter or margarine.”

The video then cut to a photo of a Kraft box, "fast forward to the eighties." “We still see cheese as a fairly dominant ingredient, although it's in a smaller quantity, um, but it's still more than 2%. We also see the addition of buttermilk powder. That's the key. The buttermilk powder is likely being added to compensate for the lesser amount of cheese,” explained the food vlogger. The next Kraft box to pop up on the screen was from the mid-nineties. “There's actually more cheese in the mid-90s, and we still have buttermilk powder, which means that the mid-90s recipe was epic,” noted The Food Hacker.”

The “Pokemon Special Edition Y2K” from the 2000s described the snack as the “cheesiest.” Lee continued to travel further in time. The next packet she shared was from 2010. “This is one of my ancient artifacts from 2010, and you can see. But there is no more buttermilk powder, and there's hardly any cheese. It's what we have. Present day has zero buttermilk powder. There's less than 2% cheese. And they've also added tapioca starch because that's an extra thickener that's gonna compensate for the lack of cheese. So this is the part that's gonna ruffle some feathers,” she reflected.

Thousands of viewers resonated with Lee’s observation, and they reached out to share their comments. “As a '90s bb, no wonder I thought mac n cheese was good. Now it's like glue, and now I know it's because of tapioca starch,” said @trashprince. @llhe24 said, “Someone should just start trying to make the original and sell as a competitor.” @deathpickle chimed in and wrote, “The noodles degrade into a goopy disgusting goo, it doesn't taste like cheese and is salty and flavorless, they tell me that nobody noticed the recipe change. I did and stopped buying it.” 

In 2023, USVS Canada reported that Kraft had indeed changed some of its ingredients. For instance, they removed the artificial food dyes from the macaroni and added paprika, annatto, and turmeric to maintain the signature yellow color. Then, there are differences in Kraft Dinners sold in America versus those sold in Canada. Tapioca starch, the outlet explained, was used only in the American version of Kraft macaroni, not the Canadian version. But since “Canadians consume 55% more Kraft than Americans,” the change is a bit unnerving for the fans. Despite that, the product continues to be sold in millions each day.  

You can follow Lee (@o_g_deez) on TikTok for food reviews and food-related content.