Macaroni & Cheese

I'm working on a food storage plan called "Not Your Mother's Food Storage." The idea is to make a list of meals you can make quickly and easily (and that your family will eat) and have those foods readily available in your food storage, whether that is in your pantry, cold storage, freezer, or fridge. This is one of the recipes I wanted to try to see if we liked it before going out and buying a lot of processed cheese to keep in storage. Good news is it is one of the best Mac & Cheese recipes I've ever tried. It's TONS better than that stuff in the blue box.

Macaroni & Cheese

6 T. butter

1/3 cup flour

1 tsp. salt

¼ tsp. onion powder

2 cups milk (or use reconstituted powdered milk or 1 cup evaporated milk and 1 cup water)

8 oz. processed American cheese

2 cups dry elbow macaroni, boiled until just tender and drained

Grated cheddar cheese, optional

1 cup saltine or Ritz crackers, crushed, optional

2 T. butter, melted, optional

Melt 6 T. butter in a large saucepan over low heat. Whisk in flour, salt, and onion powder until smooth and bubbly. Slowly add milk while whisking. Simmer until mixture thickens. Cut the processed cheese into cubes and add to the white sauce. Stir until melted and smooth.

Pour sauce over macaroni and mix through. You can serve it this way, or make it into a casserole by placing the macaroni and cheese in a greased 8x11” casserole pan. Top with grated cheddar cheese. Combine crushed crackers with 2 T. melted butter and put on top of the cheese. Bake at 350 degrees for about 25 minutes.