During a shopping trip several years ago, I spotted my opportunity to finally sample Chreese Pasta Dinners. I’d heard many moms rave about Chreese sauce packets, and their boxed meals (Chreese dry sauce included) were on sale for an unbeatable price.
First, I must give Road’s End kudos for using allergy-friendly, organic ingredients. Convenience foods aren’t usually healthy, particularly not mac and cheese! But they’ve managed to pack quite a bit of fiber and protein into each serving. Chreese Pasta Dinners are also super easy to prepare, much like Kraft dinner, but without the added dairy products or questionable ingredients.
But the taste didn’t win us over. They weren’t as creamy as expected, and the flavor needed some doctoring for our taste buds. I’ve included my own detailed review in our ratings section below. You are welcome to leave your unbiased review there too!
Road’s End Organic Chreese Pasta Dinners include Gluten-Free Options
These quick and easy dairy-free mac and cheese alternatives come in two wheat-based, and two gluten-free varieties. Both the pasta and the Chreese sauce mix are different in the gluten-free varieties, since they use wheat flour in their classic Cheddar Chreese sauce.
Cheddar Style Shells & Chreese
Ingredients: organic semolina shells: organic semolina flour, water. chreese® mix: organic unbleached wheat flour, enriched nutritional yeast (nutritional yeast, niacin (b3), pyridoxine hydrochloride (b6), riboflavin (b2), thiamine hydrochloride (b1), folic acid, vitamin b12), organic tapioca starch, salt, organic garlic powder, organic onion powder, organic ground yellow mustard seed. contains wheat.
Nutrition (per 1/2 box): 320 calories, 1.5g fat, 65g carbs, 3g fiber, 2g sugars, 13g protein.*
Cheddar Style Mac & Chreese
Ingredients: organic whole wheat elbow macaroni: organic whole durum flour, water. chreese® mix: organic unbleached wheat flour, enriched nutritional yeast (nutritional yeast, niacin (b3), pyridoxine hydrochloride (b6), riboflavin (b2), thiamine hydrochloride (b1), folic acid, vitamin b12), organic tapioca starch, salt, organic garlic powder, organic onion powder, organic ground yellow mustard seed. contains wheat.
Nutrition (per 1/2 box): 320 calories, 1.5g fat, 67g carbs, 8g fiber, 2g sugars, 14g protein.*
Gluten-Free Cheddar Style Penne & Chreese
Ingredients: organic gf brown rice penne: organic brown rice, water. gf chreese® mix: organic brown rice flour, organic tapioca starch, enriched nutritional yeast (nutritional yeast, niacin (b3), pyridoxine hydrochloride (b6), riboflavin (b2), thiamine hydrochloride (b1), folic acid, vitamin b12), organic green lentil flour, salt, organic garlic powder, organic onion powder, organic ground yellow mustard seed.
Nutrition (per 1/2 box): 290 calories, 4g fat, 61g carbs, 6g fiber, 1g sugars, 8g protein.*
Gluten-Free Alfredo Mac & Chreese
Ingredients: organic gf brown rice macaroni: organic brown rice, water. gf alfredo sauce mix: organic brown rice flour, organic tapioca starch, enriched nutritional yeast (nutritional yeast, niacin (b3), pyridoxine hydrochloride (b6), riboflavin (b2), thiamine hydrochloride (b1), folic acid, vitamin b12), organic green lentil flour, salt, organic garlic powder, organic oregano, organic onion powder, organic basil.
Nutrition (per 1/2 box): 280 calories, 4g fat, 61g carbs, 6g fiber, 2g sugars, 8g protein.*
The 123’z & Chreese for kids are no longer available, but the other Cheddar-style flavors look similar, so I’m leaving this photo up.
More Facts on Road’s End Organic Chreese Pasta Dinners
Price: $2.99 per box (wheat-based); $3.89 per box (gluten-free)
Availability: Road’s End Organic Chreese Pasta Dinners are sold at Sprouts, Whole Foods, Albertson’s stores, and various other grocers in the U.S. You can also order them online from Amazon.
Certifications: Road’s End Organic Chreese Pasta Dinners are Certified Organic, Certified Vegan, and Certified Kosher DE (for dairy equipment, not ingredients; see our Understanding Kosher Guide).
Dietary Notes: By ingredients, Chreese pasta dinners are dairy-free / non-dairy, egg-free, peanut-free, soy-free, tree nut-free, vegan, and vegetarian. Select varieties are also gluten-free.*
For More Product Information: Visit the Edward & Sons website at www.edwardandsons.com.
*Always read the ingredient and nutrition statement prior to consumption. Ingredients, processes, and labeling are subject to change at any time for any company or product. Contact the company to discuss their manufacturing processes if potential allergen cross-contamination is an issue for you. No food product can be guaranteed “safe” for every individual’s needs. You should never rely on ingredient and allergen statements alone if dealing with a severe food allergy.
Organic ingredients and hearty whole grain noodles
Truthfully, I really wanted to like it, but the Cheddar Chreese product didn’t quite hit the mark for us. I have to give them points for their organic ingredients, hearty whole grain noodles, relatively good nutritional values, allergy-friendly nature and ease of preparation. However, the end result lacked oomph and creaminess, and had an overwhelming mustard flavor. I doctored it with some dairy-free creamy additions and flavor boosters. I ended up with a reasonable meal that was much improved, but still not ideal and no longer quick and easy.
I decided to give it a second try at a later date, just in case I got a bad batch. Unfortunately, the flavor was still a bit bland, even with the optional buttery spread added. I added salt and lemon juice to make it pop a bit more. But it still didn’t shout cheesy to my taste buds. That said, it was filling, and I loved the big, hearty whole wheat macaroni noodles.
5 Comments
They are ok but not nearly as good as Earth Balance Vegan Mac & Cheese.
Hi I would like to know if this company sends out samples of their cheese powder we are starting a co-op with several people and would like to try it, Thanks Sharon
You’d need to reach out to them directly Sharon. We’re not affiliated with them.
I like them, but they simply do not compare to Kraft’s Macaroni and Cheese, or really ANY dairy-based macaroni and cheese. Once I accepted that, I found they were pretty good 🙂 And since I am now anaphylactic to dairy, THIS is the option that I can have when I am craving some “mac and cheese”…
The one thing I do NOT like is that it is NOT at all easy to make.
In our household, dairy-based macaroni and cheese (we used Kraft and one store name-brand product) were prepared using the MICROWAVE. This meant they were done in under ten minutes from start to finish.
The Road’s End products have to be made stove-top and take over half an hour. This is NOT fast. This is NOT “easy” in my book. This is time consuming and frustrating and annoying. Therefore, it is not a “treat” and not something we make very often. If they came out with a way to make it in the microwave we’d be doing it once a week or more. As it stands, with stove-top prep we’re lucky to do it once a month and in reality don’t even do it that often.
Don’t get me wrong, I like the product, I really do. The problem is I do not like the lengthy time I have to spend making it; time that could be spent doing other things.
Thanks for sharing your personal review Sara!!