How could it be? On this special day of macaroni and cheese, how could I spew out anything less than the cheesiest and gooiest of compliments for the dish I love more than anything else?

I have always been a HUGE macaroni and cheese fan.

After all, not everyone is called upon to judge a mac and cheese cookoff. Nor does everyone write about their “favorite macaroni and cheese spinoffs.” Most people who are neutral about noodles and cheese wouldn’t dream up a hand soap based off it. And lukewarm mac and cheese connoisseurs wouldn’t find it imperative to point out five different toppings that truly enhance the dish.

While Sidney usually orders true adult meals when we go to a restaurant, I will often order macaroni and cheese. This was the Cougar Gold mac and cheese that I ordered off the menu at Three Peaks inside the Spokane Tribe Casino.

To be fair, this post doesn’t take aim at macaroni and cheese itself. Rather, it calls into question a certain brand that all but ruined National Macaroni and Cheese Day for my family on its eve. That’s right, I have an unfortunate story that took place just last night!

This buffalo chicken mac and cheese from Mac Daddy’s was some of the best I ever had. I thought this blog post gave me an excuse to share it again. Okay, now it is time to share some less than appetizing photos of mac and cheese.

I decided I wanted to prepare my family a truly gourmet Sunday evening dinner, so I reached for two boxes of macaroni and cheese 😂. Don’t worry, I did take it up a notch by upgrading to “Deluxe Shells and Cheese,” a form of the dish that for 50 cents more will get you a package of Velveeta-type cheese instead of the powder stuff.

This particular shells and cheese experience was packaged by WinCo. I have lauded this western grocery store chain in the past, but unfortunately last night was the first time I had a really negative experience with one of its products.

I heated a pot of water to boiling. Next, I grabbed the first box of mac and cheese and poured the noodles into the pot. No problem. Then I opened up the second box and also dumped its contents into the pot…sort of. Most of the pasta did splash into the water but a bottom corner of the box was still packed with noodles. At first I didn’t think much of it, the pasta just must be packaged very close together and might be a little stuck. After shaking and tapping the bottom of the box, the pasta still remained lodged inside. I then reached inside and tried to free the pasta with my hand. It wouldn’t budge. 

I glanced into the box and saw something truly horrible. Carefully, I ripped the top half of the cardboard to reveal the content of the bottom half to confirm what I saw…

Pasta packed with mold and cardboard!

When I ripped apart the box, this is what I came face-to-face with. This box of WinCo macaroni and cheese had moldy pasta in it.

My first thought? I can’t believe I touched that with my hand. My wife’s first thought? You need to dispose of that pasta in the pot right now. She was right, even though (or at least I hope) most of the moldy pasta was still in the box, some of it surely slid into the pot, thus contaminating the entire box of mold-free pasta I poured in first.

It is important to note that the macaroni and cheese wasn’t expired….it was just moldy.

Don’t worry, we were still able to eat macaroni and cheese. We had a Great Value box that I quickly prepared after disposing of the WinCo product. Sid’s theory was that the WinCo box got wet in the warehouse and created perfect conditions for the mold to grow. You see, the corner of the box was in slightly rough shape when I purchased it, a red flag that I sadly overlooked, but solid evidence for Sid’s theory.

This morning I called WinCo and told them what happened. The lady asked me if I still had the product. Nope, I replied, I wasn’t too keen on allowing moldy food to take up space in our pantry. I did tell her I had photos, though. Those were immediately sent to an email address she provided me with. WinCo will reimburse me for the box of rotten macaroni and cheese…so there is that.

If you celebrate tonight, I hope your mac and cheese doesn’t look like this.

Based on the fact that we still ate macaroni and cheese last night, this incident hasn’t put a bad taste in my mouth (pun intended) when it comes to one of my favorite foods. However, I do hope WinCo removes any remaining boxes of “Deluxe Shells and Cheese” from its shelves. In this case, deluxe was simply disgusting. Don’t Blink.