Sierra's Food Project

Ingredients for Macaroni and Cheese:

 

¼ box of elbow noodles

½ bag Sharp White Cheddar Cheese (shredded)

½ Sharp Yellow Cheddar Cheese (shredded)

¼ stick Velveeta Cheese

1 cup Evaporated Milk

2 Eggs

1 tablespoon Butter

Pinch of salt

 

Directions:

 

1.     Preheat oven to 400 degrees

2.     Boil water with a pinch of salt

3.     Once the water is completely boiled, add noodles and let cook until the noodles are soft.

4.     Microwave the butter until it is completely melted.

5.     In a bowl microwave ½ of evaporated milk and Velveeta cheese together until completely melted.

6.     Stir together the cooked noodles, microwaved Velveeta cheese, microwaved butter, and eggs.

7.     Once the ingredients are well mixed add the yellow and white cheeses. Stir.

8.     Spread the ingredients into a pan.

9.     Put in the oven, and let cook for 15 – 20 minutes. (until edges are a light brown)

 

About the ingredients

 

Cracker barrel white/ yellow sharp cheddar cheese

-       No sugar

-       High calcium

-       High saturated fats

-       Kraft product (made in Kraft factories)

 

Land O’ Lakes Salted Butter

-       100 calories per serving (1 tbsp)

-       All fat

-       Comes from Arden Mills, Minnesota

 

Velveeta Cheese

80 calories per serving

-       High in calcium

-       High in sodium

-       High in saturated fats

-       Kraft Product (made in Kraft factories)

 

Evaporated Milk

-       High in calcium

-       High in sugar

-       87 calories per serving (100 grams)

-       High in carbohydrates

-       Nestle Product (factories in Allentown and in Harrisburg)

 

Eggs

-       High in protein

-       No saturated fat

-       No cholesterol

-       High in riboflavin

-       High in selenium

-       High in sodium

 

Elbow Pasta

-       High in carbohydrates

-       No saturated fats

-       No cholesterol

-       No sodium

-       High in thiamin

-       Barilla product (factory in Bannockburn, Illinois)

 

Overall, this meal isn’t the healthiest thing you could eat. A lot of the ingredients involved have high amounts of sodium, high cholesterol, high amounts of sugar, and high amounts of carbohydrates.  Maybe with different ingredients, this meal could potentially be turned into a meal that won’t kill you over time. I got the recipe for my macaroni and cheese dish from my mom. She doesn’t make this dish often, and now I see why.

In terms of cost, this meal can be considered to be an expensive meal. Before producing the meal, I had to go out and buy all the ingredients used. I ended up spending about 30$ for all the ingredients in total. Since I didn’t every bit of each ingredient, I would say there is enough left to make the small dish about 2 more times which would be equivalent to 1 large pan. That isn’t the best deal. I can think of about 5 other meals that I can buy that would be cheaper than just this dish.

Another downside to this dish is where the ingredients come from. This meal is 100% processed, which isn’t the best thing. The only things that are considered to be “local” or whole foods would be the eggs. Everything else comes from factories, some far and some not too far. However, when you think about things being produced in a factory you have to think of the means of production. With factories come workers, injuries, waste, and pollution. So now not only do I have to think about how this meal is affecting the health of my family, but also how this meal is effecting our environment.

Self Assessment 

The biggest problem that we have in our food system is cost and profit. These people who produce these foods aren't worried about the health of their consumers. They're more concerned with how much of a profit they will make which is why the food system is so screwed up. It's easy to say that we'll stop buying products from these "Big Food" companies, but that is unrealistic. What we need is to find some type of alternative. Food that is bad for you shouldn't be so cheap, and food that is good for you shouldn't be so expensive. Basically, healthy food is a luxury and that shouldn't be the case. I think we need to really think about and research how our food system got like this and then work on a way to reverse it.

A goal I have for myself is to try and eat less processed foods. Also, I would like to eat out less. This is hard for me, but I feel that if I can do that now then maybe I can teach the same things to my kids so that they can teach that to their kids and so forth. I can also try and get my friends to have similar goals which maybe one day can make for a healthier future. It seems as if 
each generation is getting more unhealthy and that's solely based off of how much we exercise and what we eat day to day. So if we can change those aspects of our lives, then we will be on our way to a healthier lifestyle.