Trying to cook regular Kraft Mac & Cheese using FBC method - what am I doing wrong?

[somers515]

I'm having trouble coming up with a method that works for me for Kraft Mac & Cheese. My last attempt was this:

Boil 2 cups of water using my JetBoil.
Pour the 2 cups of boiling water into a quart ziplock (freezer bag safe) with just the pasta in it.
Put the ziplock with the hot water and pasta in it in the now empty JetBoil to sit.
Wait exactly 15 minutes.
I then added 2 spoonfuls of milk power and 1 spoonful of olive oil and the cheese packet and stirred.

I don't know how to describe it but the taste was actually good but the pasta itself was very chewy. I can't tell if I undercooked it or overcooked it. I guess if I overcooked it I can just let it sit for less time but if I overcooked it then I guess I have to try this recipe with the microwave mac and cheese instead. I strongly prefer not to cook in my pot if I can avoid it.

If anyone has made regular Kraft Mac & Cheese work for them using the FBC method I would love to hear your method. I've read old posts about this and tried different ways but I'm still having trouble. Thanks for any help!

[Rocket Jones]

I would guess that the pasta was undercooked. Overcooked pasta is mushy. The problem with Kraft and other mac and cheeses is that the pasta is uncooked, so you're not just rehydrating, you're actually cooking it. That takes more time and heat.

[Starchild]

Yes sounds like undercooked. Either more time or a higher temp is needed, perhaps both. I don't know how your set up would do that, perhaps you can add the pasta in the water as you heated it, then transered and added the cheese + other stuff.

[swonut]

I did a double boil in the jet boil. Put the pasta in with the water and bring to a boil. Turn off and wait about five minutes with the lid on and out of the wind. Fire up the Jet Boil and get it boiling again. Then dump it in the FB with all the stuff and just finish it off. BTW, why are you even using the freezer bag? Just make it in the jet boil.

Boil the pasta with the on/off method to cook it. Then pour off any remaining juice(pasta water) into your drinking cup. Then add the dry ingredients and oils and enough pasta water to make the consistency you want. It makes for a little more cleanup, but not much.

Either way, experiment with modulating the jet boil in short bursts to keep the temps between 150 and boiling. IMO, you can cook much more in the can without scorching of you stir aggressively and kill the flame when it starts boiling. Letting most stuff sit a few minutes lets the sauce thicken up.

[MuddyWaters]

you werent hot enough to cook it
The microwave does better, but not as good
to really cook pasta, it needs to be boiled for x minutes

Try using the mac/cheese sauce with ramen noodles or couscous or minute rice

The couscous cooks better, and ramen and minute rice are precooked and dried.

[Rocket Jones]

Consider pre-cooking the macaroni at home, then drying it with a dehydrator or in an oven set to low. You can save some money by getting a bag of cheese powder to add to the rehydrated mac. I got mine from Amazon.

[Deacon]

That's how I prepare my BBQ spaghetti. I cook the pasta at home, mix with sauce, pork, spices, and dehydrate the whole thing. Makes rehydrating quite easy on the trail.


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[Pumba]

Why not just use the microwaveable Mac n Cheese? If space is an issue, just empty the contents into a freezer bag before the trip, then just add boiling water, just as if it was still in the microwave container?

[BirdBrain]

Knorr. Problem solved.

[burger]

You need a better stove. I use an alcohol stove and a wide pot. One ounce of alcohol brings the water to a boil in 5 minutes or so and gives me an extra couple of minutes to cook the pasta--you're not getting that extra couple of minutes of cooking with the FBC method. Then I put my pot in a cozy for 10 minutes, and the pasta is perfect. I have this down to a science now--I know exactly how much water to use (more like 1 7/8 cups of water than 2) so that the pasta cooks perfectly and there is just enough water left over to dissolve the cheese powder without the sauce being too watery. It never fails.

A supercat stove will run you 99 cents for the cat food can and will last a lifetime.

[somers515]

Thank you all for the feedback and ideas. I have other recipes I like with instant mashed potatoes and instant rice and ramen noodles and I was trying to add just regular mac & cheese into the mix and struggling. i now understand I was undercooking it.

I think I'm going to try first Swonut's double boil trick and see if that works for me. To answer your question Swonut, when I tried to make it in the jetfoil it made a MESS. Sticky pasta and cheese sauce - it wasn't fun to clean it out at home, I can't imagine it would be fun to clean out on the trail. But I like your double boil idea! I'll also try to work in burger's idea to use slightly less water so I have just enough water left to dissolve the cheese powder.

If that fails for me, you all have supplied lots of other ideas for me to try - again thanks all!

[Busky2]

I FBC standard Kraft Mac n Cheese. I use 12 oz of water boiled in my Jet Boil and stir it up, squeeze out air, seal it and stuff it in the cozy. While I am waiting for all the water to soak in I set up camp make a coffee (instant) and relax. When ready I just add the mix in and stir, season with a little garlic pepper and eat it all up.:jump


FYI Ramon noodles will soak up 6 oz of water in a cozy

[somers515]

Reporting back here with my continued attempts and I have two methods that worked for me.

1) Using regular Kraft Mac & Cheese blue box. Bring 1 and 3/4 cups of water to a boil with mac and cheese pasta in the water. Turn off stove and let sit for 5 minutes (although I kept stirring it). Then turn on stove again and bring back to a boil and then off and let sit for another 5 minutes. Again stirring as much as possible to minimize pasta sticking. Then i transferred it to a ziplock bag, added 2 spoonfuls of powdered milk and 1 spoonful of olive oil and the cheese packet. Tasted really good and the only drawback was even with a lot of stirring I still had sticky pasta in the stove to clean up after.

2) Using microwave Kraft Mac & Cheese. I used just 1 for my testing but I would use 2 if taking as a dinner on the trail. Boil 3/4 cup of water and add to mac and cheese pasta in a ziplock bag and let sit for 10 minutes. Stir in cheese and let pasta sit for another 5 minutes. If you try to eat it too soon it's still crunchy but give it time and it tasted good. Perhaps not as good as method #1 but there is no clean-up and you don't need to carry powdered milk or olive oil. Potential downside, it has more sodium and is slightly more expensive method.

I tried Busky's method of just letting my regular blue box of Kraft Mac & Cheese sit for a really long time but it still tasted chewy to me.

Comparing the two kinds of Kraft Mac & Cheese - see below.

What's the conclusion we can draw from all of this? . . . Clearly I have too much time on my hands. : ) Hope this helps someone.

Kraft regular blue box: weight of pasta in a ziplock bag 5.9oz, weight of cheese packet 1.7 oz
Calories 780-1200, Amt of water needed 1 ¾ cups to cook, protein 9g, sodium 24-30%, carbs 16%
*ranges because it compares if made "as packaged" or "as prepared", percentages are of daily allowance

Kraft microwave/easy cups: weight of pasta in a ziplock bag 3.1oz, weight of cheese packet 1.1 oz
Calories 430, amt of water needed to make ¾ cup, protein 13g, sodium 39%, carbs 27%
*this would have to be doubled for me for a dinner, meaning it's a lot of sodium, just something to be aware of

[Demeter]

What about doing something other than macaroni with your cheese sauce? Cheesy ramen or couscous? You can get the cheesy flavor without the mess and inconvenience of boiling pasta...

[MuddyWaters]

near East has one kind of couscous that is "pearled" and it is big. It comes in a garlic/olive oil dinner flavor and swells up to about 1/4" size, unlike the tiny couscous which eats a bit grainy.. This is the stuff to get to replace regular pasta.
couscous is precooked, so it rehydrates in a snap.

[somers515]

This is an old 2015 thread and I'm reporting back with how I ended up doing FBC mac n cheese during my recent LT hike. I bought a regular blue box of mac and cheese. I cooked the macaroni at home slightly under cooking it (about 6:30 instead of 7:30mins). Then I dehydrated the macaroni using my dehydrator. I then put the macaroni in a quart freezer bag and threw in 1-2 Tablespoons of dry milk (I used instant carnation non fat milk). I bring this quart freezer bag with the mac and milk and separately I bring olive oil and the cheese packet. On the trail I boil 1 1/2 cups of water and pour it into the freezer bag. I put it in a cozy and wait 8 minutes. I then add 2 T of olive oil and the cheese packet and mix it up. Great mac-n-cheese and no sticky pasta to clean up. Not saying this is the only method but this is what worked for me. Just a friendly tip: whenever you are freezer bag cooking I suggest bringing an extra empty freezer bag. I did so using it to carry some food that didn't need to be in a freezer bag but I just wanted to have the extra freezer bag along. And wouldn't you know it one time my freezer bag sprang a leak and I was able to throw it in the spare bag and save it. Hope this helps someone. Thanks!

[MuddyWaters]

This is an old 2015 thread and I'm reporting back with how I ended up doing FBC mac n cheese during my recent LT hike. I bought a regular blue box of mac and cheese. I cooked the macaroni at home slightly under cooking it (about 6:30 instead of 7:30mins). Then I dehydrated the macaroni using my dehydrator. I then put the macaroni in a quart freezer bag and threw in 1-2 Tablespoons of dry milk (I used instant carnation non fat milk). I bring this quart freezer bag with the mac and milk and separately I bring olive oil and the cheese packet. On the trail I boil 1 1/2 cups of water and pour it into the freezer bag. I put it in a cozy and wait 8 minutes. I then add 2 T of olive oil and the cheese packet and mix it up. Great mac-n-cheese and no sticky pasta to clean up. Not saying this is the only method but this is what worked for me. Just a friendly tip: whenever you are freezer bag cooking I suggest bringing an extra empty freezer bag. I did so using it to carry some food that didn't need to be in a freezer bag but I just wanted to have the extra freezer bag along. And wouldn't you know it one time my freezer bag sprang a leak and I was able to throw it in the spare bag and save it. Hope this helps someone. Thanks!
Yep if you don't use pre-cooked pasta best to put the pasta in the pot while you bring the water up to Boiling and maybe let it boil for a minute or so also before putting it in the freezer bag. Otherwise it's often pasty and undercooked

[KDogg]

Haven't done this but couldn't you add water to the baggie and noodles in the morning and then pour it into your pot and cook it at dinner time. Might decrease the amount of boiling.

[OkeefenokeeJoe]

The reason Kraft Mac 'n Cheese is chewy is because it's made from recycled car tires. I don't know a single person that actually eats that stuff. Hideous!

OkeefenokeeJoe

[DownEaster]

Haven't done this but couldn't you add water to the baggie and noodles in the morning and then pour it into your pot and cook it at dinner time. Might decrease the amount of boiling.
This would probably work. However, what you're suggesting is carrying 1 pound of water all day to save ½ ounce of fuel. :-?

[LittleTim]

you werent hot enough to cook it
The microwave does better, but not as good
to really cook pasta, it needs to be boiled for x minutes

Try using the mac/cheese sauce with ramen noodles or couscous or minute rice

The couscous cooks better, and ramen and minute rice are precooked and dried.

Winner!

I'll pack the seasoned cous cous and add the appropriate amount of boiling water. Then pop in two slices of American cheese and whatever protein I have planned (summer sausage or sardines). Seal and filter my water for the next days breakfast, and by then it is dinner time.

[blw2]

ok, let me get this straight...
the milk powder I get, in place of milk...

but you are substituting olive oil for the butter? You say 2T oil.... is that for the kind of mac that requires 2T butter per box....so it's 1:1 oil for butter?

[somers515]

ok, let me get this straight...
the milk powder I get, in place of milk...

but you are substituting olive oil for the butter? You say 2T oil.... is that for the kind of mac that requires 2T butter per box....so it's 1:1 oil for butter?

The blue box calls for 4T of butter for regular prep but at home I usually wouldn't put that much. I might have read 2T of olive oil as a substitute for butter somewhere on whiteblaze or trailcooking or I might have arrived at that by trial and error. If someone uses more or less I'd be interested. I carry olive oil for other things already so that's why I use it. I also read somewhere that olive oil has a terrific calorie to weight ratio. If it helps you - give it a try. If you do something else - I'm always interested in hearing new ways to cook on the trail.

[One Half]

It's good to know that I am not the only person on the planet who does this type of "testing" at home. I was a little concerned about my sanity this past spring when I was running test after test on stoves, with/without wind screens, taking water temps, timing it, weighing the fuel used, etc. LOL

[LittleRock]

This is an old 2015 thread and I'm reporting back with how I ended up doing FBC mac n cheese during my recent LT hike. I bought a regular blue box of mac and cheese. I cooked the macaroni at home slightly under cooking it (about 6:30 instead of 7:30mins). Then I dehydrated the macaroni using my dehydrator. I then put the macaroni in a quart freezer bag and threw in 1-2 Tablespoons of dry milk (I used instant carnation non fat milk). I bring this quart freezer bag with the mac and milk and separately I bring olive oil and the cheese packet. On the trail I boil 1 1/2 cups of water and pour it into the freezer bag. I put it in a cozy and wait 8 minutes. I then add 2 T of olive oil and the cheese packet and mix it up. Great mac-n-cheese and no sticky pasta to clean up. Not saying this is the only method but this is what worked for me. Just a friendly tip: whenever you are freezer bag cooking I suggest bringing an extra empty freezer bag. I did so using it to carry some food that didn't need to be in a freezer bag but I just wanted to have the extra freezer bag along. And wouldn't you know it one time my freezer bag sprang a leak and I was able to throw it in the spare bag and save it. Hope this helps someone. Thanks!
That seems like an awful lot of work for Kraft Mac & Cheese.

[BobTheBuilder]

The reason Kraft Mac 'n Cheese is chewy is because it's made from recycled car tires. I don't know a single person that actually eats that stuff. Hideous!

OkeefenokeeJoe Ah, the internet! User has problem, user asks chat board for suggestions, many offer suggestions, one simply offers criticism of you even having the problem.

FWIW, I love the cheesy goodness of blue box mac and cheese. Outstanding after a long day on the trail. I've been using the microwave type for FB method, but I might try your "precook and dehydrate" method. Sounds interesting.

[somers515]

Ah, the internet! User has problem, user asks chat board for suggestions, many offer suggestions, one simply offers criticism of you even having the problem.

FWIW, I love the cheesy goodness of blue box mac and cheese. Outstanding after a long day on the trail. I've been using the microwave type for FB method, but I might try your "precook and dehydrate" method. Sounds interesting.
Thanks BobtheBuilder and PennyPitncher! I think OkeefenokeeJoe might have been trying to be funny - at least that's the way I took it. As for LittleRock - it actually doesn't seem like a lot of work to me as I like to prep my dinners at home to make dinners more easy and enjoyable on the trail after a long day of hiking but if you want to share your method for mac-n-cheese or what other dinners you prefer instead we are all ears.

[OkeefenokeeJoe]

Ah, the internet! User has problem, user asks chat board for suggestions, many offer suggestions, one simply offers criticism of you even having the problem.

FWIW, I love the cheesy goodness of blue box mac and cheese. Outstanding after a long day on the trail. I've been using the microwave type for FB method, but I might try your "precook and dehydrate" method. Sounds interesting.
Lordy Lordy ...... some people are wound just a little too tight. What is it about humor, BobTheBuilder, that you don't understand?

Of course, that doesn't change the fact that Kraft Mac 'n Cheese is a hideous misrepresentation for food. City slickers seem to like it, though. They are welcome to my life's allotment.

OkeefenokeeJoe

[TexasBob]

Lordy Lordy ...... some people are wound just a little too tight. What is it about humor, BobTheBuilder, that you don't understand? ........................ They are welcome to my life's allotment.
I take it your mac and cheese and trade you my life's allotment of tofu, quinoa, kale , soy milk and coconut oil.

[LittleRock]

Thanks BobtheBuilder and PennyPitncher! I think OkeefenokeeJoe might have been trying to be funny - at least that's the way I took it. As for LittleRock - it actually doesn't seem like a lot of work to me as I like to prep my dinners at home to make dinners more easy and enjoyable on the trail after a long day of hiking but if you want to share your method for mac-n-cheese or what other dinners you prefer instead we are all ears.

Sure thing, since you asked. :-) Best part is absolutely no pre-hike prep needed.

Stop at the grocery store on the way out to the trail, buy 1 Knorr pasta/rice side per night on the trail along with a block of sharp cheddar cheese. Boil water, cook pasta in pot, throw some cheese in on top when done and stir to let it melt. Eat pasta from pot, clean pot/spoon with 2-4 oz. of water afterward.

[somers515]

Sure thing, since you asked. :-) Best part is absolutely no pre-hike prep needed.

Stop at the grocery store on the way out to the trail, buy 1 Knorr pasta/rice side per night on the trail along with a block of sharp cheddar cheese. Boil water, cook pasta in pot, throw some cheese in on top when done and stir to let it melt. Eat pasta from pot, clean pot/spoon with 2-4 oz. of water afterward.

You don't find the clean-up of the pot while on trail annoying? Also since I only boil water with my stove I feel safe not hanging it. I know Knorr sides are super popular though so perhaps I should give it another try. Thanks for chiming in!

[LittleRock]

Nah, I just pour 2-4 oz in the pot, scrape the edges with a spoon, dump at least 100 ft away from the campsite or shelter, then wipe dry with 1/4 sheet of paper towel. Takes at most 10 minutes.

Not trying to knock Kraft mac & cheese or anything, just can't see putting in that much effort to eat it on the trail. But then again, I'm an "eat to live" kind of guy. HYOH.