Homemade macaroni and cheese recipe right at the top! Scroll down for the price breakdown and recipe tips!

Make Homemade Macaroni and Cheese for $8 for 8 huge dinners or 16 side dishes! Cheaper and better than nasty, GMO Kraft mac n cheese! Frugal recipes on All Day Mom

Homemade Macaroni and Cheese Recipe Creamy or Baked

Homemade mac n cheese recipe, serve creamy or baked with breadcrumb topping.

Course Main Course, Side Dish

Cuisine American

Keyword cheap dinner, comfort food, frugal dinner, gluten free, vegetarian

Prep Time 30 minutes

Cook Time 28 minutes

Total Time 58 minutes

Servings 8

A recipe from Carissa Houston - All Day Mom

Ingredients

1 pound dry pasta cooked
1 quart milk
1 egg
1 stick butter 1/2 cup
1 brick cream cheese 8 oz
2 tsp salt
1 tbsp yellow mustard
1 1/2 pounds sharp cheddar cheese shredded

Topping

4 oz breadcrumbs
1 tbsp butter
1/4 tsp salt

Instructions

Cook and drain pasta.
In a 6-qt pot whisk milk and egg together. Add butter, cream cheese, salt, and mustard and whisk just to a simmer; remove from heat.
Stir in all but 1 cup cheddar cheese until melted. Stir in pasta, and transfer to a 11x13 casserole dish sprayed with Pam.
Sprinkle remaining cheese over the top, then sprinkle on buttered breadcrumbs.
Bake at 400° for 30 minutes.

Recipe Notes

To make creamy macaroni and cheese (instead of baked),

Use 3 cups milk.
Use 1 1/4 pounds sharp cheddar cheese.
Omit breadcrumb topping.
Serve immediately after stirring in pasta.

To make gluten free macaroni and cheese, use gluten free pasta.

Scroll down for the grocery budget breakdown of this frugal family dinner!

Homemade Macaroni and Cheese vs. Kraft Mac and Cheese

Name: Homemade Macaroni and Cheese Recipe Creamy or Baked
Prep time: 30 min
Cook time: 28 min
Total time: 58 min
Ingredients: 1 pound dry pasta (cooked); 1 quart milk; 1 egg; 1 stick butter (1/2 cup); 1 brick cream cheese (8 oz); 2 tsp salt; 1 tbsp yellow mustard; 1 1/2 pounds sharp cheddar cheese (shredded); 4 oz breadcrumbs; 1 tbsp butter; 1/4 tsp salt

I’m not against boxed mac and cheese, but I am against Kraft. When Kraft ran its “You Know You Love It” campaign just to spite 2 million moms who signed an appeal to remove the food dye from Kraft macaroni and cheese, I swore I’d buy Annie’s mac and cheese instead, and that is what I’ve done for years. Kraft has supposedly stopped using food dyes in the original mac and cheese, but since a friend who worked for Kraft told us Kraft uses white paint to make its cottage cheese whiter, I doubt that whatever Kraft makes its macaroni and cheese with is found in nature.

Anyway, boxed mac and cheese and homemade mac and cheese aren’t even the same thing. Boxed mac and cheese is an after school snack. Homemade macaroni and cheese is pure Southern comfort food—especially if it’s baked with buttery breadcrumbs on top.

Grocery Budget Breakdown: How to make 8 servings of Mac & Cheese for $8 or less!

You can definitely make this cheaper buying ingredients on sale; these are typical non-sale prices of these ingredients in Phoenix.

$0.88 One pound pasta (Winco)
$1.29 One quart organic milk (Winco)
$0.23 One organic egg (Costco)
$0.63 One stick butter (Costco)
$0.86 One brick cream cheese (Walmart)
$3.75 24 oz sharp cheddar (Costco)
$0 bread crumbs made with stale bread
$7.64 total for a big 11×13 casserole filled with homemade mac & cheese!
Total calories not counting the breadcrumbs: 6282 calories, or 785 calories per serving divided into 8 servings.

How much would it cost to make the same amount of Kraft Mac & Cheese?

Each box of Kraft Macaroni & Cheese has 2.5 servings of pasta and cheese mix at 250 calories per serving. That’s 625 calories per box. Add 408 calories per 4 tbsp of butter per box. Add 51 calories per half cup of milk per box. Total calories per box: 1084. It would take 6 boxes of Kraft Macaroni & Cheese to make the same number of calories in my homemade mac & cheese:

$6 Six boxes Kraft Mac & Cheese (Winco)
$0.96 3 cups organic milk (Winco)
$1.89 Three sticks butter (Costco)
Total $8.85 for Kraft boxed mac & cheese vs. $7.64 for homemade macaroni and cheese!

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