Macaroni Taste Test

I read this article today about taste testing boxed macaroni and cheese--and that the generic brand generally wins. I partially believed it, but thought it'd be cool to do it at home and see for ourselves. So I very spontaneously purchased 5 different brands of macaroni and cheese, and made all 5 between my kitchen and Robyn's kitchen (since I only have 3 pans and 4 stove top burners). We rated each brand on color, texture, and taste.

The results: Western Family brand mac'n'cheese was either #1 or close to the top for everyone. I'm not terribly surprised. The thing that I need to decide is whether it won because it's ACTUALLY better, or if it won because we're used to eating it and we like it now. I think I want to retest on people who don't always buy generic brands.

Anyways, the rest of the results were pretty much that:

• Archer Farms (Target's "fancy" brand) was pretty gross to 2/3 of us, Robyn liked it;
  
• Kraft was ... meh, I liked it, Trevor didn't (SHOCKED! He has always claimed it is his favorite), he thought it actaully tasted BAD;


• Velveeta was easily identifiable but still fake tasting--although texturally satisfying while hot;


• Annie's Organic was bland and tough. I don't recommend it, generally. Unless you can't taste very well anyways;


• Western Family, like I said, was buttery and cheesy, and perfectly firm. Generally the most well liked.

P.S. Thank heavens we still have a bagillion disposable fancy plates left over from our wedding reception :)