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During the summer, my family often drives out to my in-laws’ community where we spend the day swimming in their neighborhood pool. We stake out an umbrella-covered table, slather on sunscreen, and hang out for hours at a time. At some point, we take a break from swimming to eat a meal. We pack coolers with deviled eggs, lunchmeat and sandwich fixings, Rich and Charlie’s salad, strawberry Jell-O pretzel salad, and cold drinks.
Sometimes we prepare some hot dishes and bring them to the poolside. We might enjoy some baked ham and cheese sliders, or my mother-in law often likes to cook a tray of frozen Stouffer’s macaroni and cheese for the pasta-loving kids in the family.
We’ve eaten a lot of Stouffer’s mac and cheese at the poolside over the years. That brand of frozen macaroni and cheese is also a favorite at Christmas or Easter family dinners. While homemade macaroni and cheese (made with all-Aldi ingredients) is fantastic, we’re also fine with occasionally taking the easy and convenient route and popping a pan of frozen pasta into the oven.
Recently, Aldi sold a large frozen tray of macaroni and cheese that looks and tastes a lot like Stouffer’s.
Bremer Family Size Macaroni & Cheese cost $5.99 for a 40-ounce (2.5-pound) package at the time of publication. That comes out to about 15 cents per ounce. The package describes this as “macaroni pasta in a creamy cheddar cheese sauce.”
At the time of writing, a 20-ounce package of Stouffer’s Macaroni and Cheese cost about 26 cents per ounce at Walmart. A 35-ounce package of Stouffer’s Baked Macaroni and Cheese (which has the addition of bread crumbs on top — something the Aldi mac does not have) cost about 23 cents per ounce.
That makes the Aldi macaroni and cheese a pretty good deal compared to name brand.
This is an Aldi Find, so it’s only in stores for a limited time. Each store gets one shipment, and once that sells out, it’s gone. Aldi does not offer online ordering if a product is not in stock at your local store.
If you’re watching out for allergens, this contains milk and wheat.
One box serves about five people. A one-cup serving has 300 calories, 13 grams of total fat (17% DV), 7 grams of saturated fat (35% DV), 870 mg of sodium (38% DV), 32 grams of total carbohydrates (12% DV), 1 gram of total sugars, no added sugars, and 14 grams of protein.
Nutrition information, ingredients, and cooking directions. (Click to enlarge.)
The back of the box has directions for cooking the mac and cheese in a conventional oven (recommended) or in a microwave.
To bake in the oven, preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Remove the heat-safe mac and cheese tray from the carton. Peel back one corner of the film to vent. Place the tray on a cooking sheet in the center of the oven and bake for 45-50 minutes. Carefully peel back the film, separate any portions of the macaroni and cheese that are still frozen and stir well. Replace the film and cook for an additional 17 minutes or until fully cooked. Carefully remove the cooking sheet from the oven with oven mitts and let stand for 2 minutes. Stir well before serving.
To cook in the microwave, remove the heat-safe macaroni and cheese tray from the carton. Place the tray on a microwave-safe plate, and peel one corner of the film to vent. Microwave on high at 100% power for 14 minutes. Carefully peel off the film cover and rotate the tray half a turn. Microwave on high (100% power) for 4-5 minutes or until fully cooked. Let stand for 2 minutes. Carefully remove the tray from the microwave with oven mitts. Stir well before serving.
After baking.
I baked this in my oven, and it was plenty hot after one hour of baking. I baked it for 45 minutes, stirred, and baked for another 15 minutes.
This is made with elbow noodles, but the noodles are larger than typical elbow noodles, and some of the noodles are fairly long.
This was more than enough macaroni and cheese when I served it to three people alongside some chicken nuggets and salad for an easy weeknight dinner, and we had some mac and cheese left over. It tastes a lot like Stouffer’s mac and cheese. It’s not as good as homemade, but it’s on par with name-brand frozen macaroni and cheese.
The Verdict:
Bremer Family Size Macaroni & Cheese is sold frozen in a tray large enough to feed several people. It tastes a lot like Stouffer’s macaroni and cheese, and we wouldn’t have a problem serving this to family or friends.
