I am not a mac & cheese fan, much less an instant mac & cheese fan, but it's not at all surprising to me that convenience foods exist. And for what it's worth, it's much more popular in Canada than the US.
The box stuff is easier because it's less steps, but doesn't take any less time to prepare.
Just using the same Kraft Dinner technique, except using real cheese cubed instead of the orange powder, is the best tasting and easiest method.
In the states most recipes will have you finish in a casserole dish with bread crumbs, but we find it actually tastes better if you skip that step, for whatever reason.
If anybody has suggestions on other cheeses to add/substitute in this mix I’m all ears!
I'd argue you don't need salt if you salt the pasta water enough.
This is the episode where they make his mac and cheese recipe:
Really depends on the heat output of your burner (for the get it boiling part); most elbow macaroni is, IIRC, 7-10 minutes cook time, draining takes seconds, and most of the sauce can be done while the noodles are cooking. 20 minutes total is perfectly reasonable.
OTOH, where the box saves you is in how busy you are, since it doesn't take multitasking, and cleanup, since it's one-pot, while sauce and noodles in parallel takes two.
While the noodles are draining you take some of the noodle water, some milk, and some cheese and mix it together in the still warm pot over the lowest heat setting on your stove top?
But seriously what were you doing those 15 minutes? You could have your cheese sauce ready to go and put the noodles almost directly into it.
I think to answer the op's question, the reason boxed mac & cheese is so popular is two part. American's don't have the time or energy to prepare a meal, and they don't know how to.
Making a single dish is easy, making multiple dishes for a meal is tricky when you're not familiar with the kitchen. Americans don't cook anymore.
As someone who occasionally ate mac 'n cheese and top ramen in college, I think it partly comes down to what tools and ingredients are available to you. I did not have access to a stove/pots/pans/colander. I had access to a shared microwave that was in the lounge in my dorm. So making my own mac 'n cheese was not possible (never mind the fact that we didn't have ready access to ingredients, and that cheese would go bad or be stolen from the fridge).
As an adult, I enjoy making mac 'n cheese for my kids, using a yogurt-based recipe and incorporating riced cauliflower to make it somewhat less unhealthy. But college-student-me didn't have access to the ingredients/tools to make that possible.
I had a colander and a grater, which people probably borrowed. We bought a couple of utensils throughout the year, like a large roasting tin for Christmas Dinner. I bought scales for baking. The university gave international students a pan and other basic stuff.
There was a fancy supermarket nearby (though they had the cheapest spirits), a normal one about 15 minutes walk away, and a cheaper one 10 minutes beyond that. I usually went to the normal one.
Cooking together was great. Sharing that kitchen were people from England, Wales, Hong Kong, Jamaica, China, Italy. Friends who came by added Japan, Germany, France, Thailand.
The Welsh guy and his boyfriend were most organised, and about once a month got everyone who wanted to to help cook (or at least clean) for ~10-15. Normally, ~4 of us cooked in alternating pairs for the other 2.
Macaroni cheese would have been a bit disappointing for the lack of vegetables.
If I only had a few minutes and was eating myself, I'd prefer to use those 2 minute ramen things.
All of this seems fairly normal to me. The large group meals were only possible in 1st year with the large kitchen, but everything else continued in later years, renting houses or apartments.
Speak for yourself (or maybe there's data on this that you can cite). I personally very much enjoy cooking and prepare nearly all of my meals from scratch. I've seen friends I never would have imagined cooking pick it up as a hobby they enjoy during the pandemic. There are actually a few countries where eating out is more common: Spain and Canada, according to this data [1].
[1] https://www.prestigeonline.com/my/wine-dine/dining/which-cou...
One thing this thread has taught me is that what I would consider mac & cheese, which involves baking the cooked macaroni with cheese and roux, is not what other people are doing.
I now see why 20 minutes for prep can work, though I’m not sure I would be much more interested in eating that.
That type is fancy and reserved for holidays like Thanksgiving and Christmas.
I guess people have different tastes.
That being said, a lot of restaurants will cover the macaroni and cheese in breadcrumbs and place it under the broiler for couple minutes, that is great and nothing at all like baked macaroni and cheese, it creates a nice crust and still preserves the creamy, tasty qualities of the product.
Anyway, without a kettle I guess it's still doable around the 20m mark, as long as you have a gas or induction hob, and while the pasta is cooking you grate the cheese and make the sauce.
And on the sauce, I make a roux, add full-fat milk, add the cheese and season - easy. If you want to get fancy, chopped onions and chunks of pre-cooked (or tinned) ham mixes things up.
I actually have a bit of a hack when I'm in a major rush - I'll put half the water I need in the electric kettle, and half on the stovetop.
We do have electric kettles, although I take it they don’t heat as fast as yours due to the difference in power supply.
That said... I’ve never seen one (in the UK) big enough to heat enough water to properly boil pasta. They’re like one quart or 1L at the most...?