This post is a sponsored post in partnership with Moms Meet to try Goodles Mac and Cheese and post my honest opinions. Compensation for this post was provided and this page may contain affiliate links. And as always the ideas in this blog are my own.
I have really vivid memories of making and eating Mac and Cheese at my Auntie Sal’s house when I was a little kid. I know I had to climb on a kitchen chair to dump in the noodles and stir in the cheese sauce. It’s one thing I remember often when I make foods with noodles and one of the reasons I wanted to make similar memories with my kids when they were small. Nowadays, boxed macaroni and cheese is also one of the things my thirteen year olds are extremely comfortable cooking on their own and if I’m working from home it’s something quick and easy I like to make for me too. So of course I was intrigued by the idea of trying Goodles Mac and Cheese, a new boxed macaroni product that claims to be ‘gooder’ than the other boxes I have in my house and I wanted to find out if they actually were. It was also really compelling to me that Wonder Woman‘s Gal Gadot is one of the Founding Partners of this Goodles company. I loved both of her movies so so much.
I think Goodles might be a Mover and Shaker in the boxed Mac and Cheese category (and hopefully more one day too)
We were gifted a couple boxes of each flavor that Goodles currently makes and they have fun names like Cheddy Mac, Mover and Shaker, Shella Good and Twist My Parm. I think my favorite is the Mover and Shaker-it’s a sophisticated Cacio E Pepe inspired Mac and Cheese that I wanted to keep all to myself, but my family wanted to try it too. We haven’t been able to travel far lately, and seeing this flavor in a box reminded me of our trip to Italy and I so wish we could go back.
Goodles is based in Santa Cruz which is also a cool place to visit and it also endeared me to the product because I couldn’t help but think of sunshine, good memories and yummy food when I read where it came from. The monarch butterfly on the “our story” part of the website reminded me of a hike my husband and I took in Santa Cruz when we visited; we looked for monarchs at the Nature Bridges State Beach but we were too early in the winter so we only saw a few. I’ve been seeking sun lately and I think it would be dreamy if Goodles created a cafe at their headquarters one day. (This is just me hoping-but I totally believe that sometimes putting hopes out there manifests reality….). And we’re actually looking at Santa Cruz as a potential spring break trip if maybe we feel comfortable enough to travel again by then.
And as for the good stuff in this Goodles Mac and Cheese?
Goodles was awarded a Clean Label Project Purity Award and I need to keep an eye out for this label more when I shop. Making the food industry realize we customers value that our food is not contaminated by chemicals of concern like pesticide residues and plasticizers is important and I didn’t know there was a national non-profit looking out for more transparency in the food industry like this.
And it seems like Goodles is good with actual food nutrients too. Each serving has a bit more protein than other boxed macaronis I have bought and that was good news to me, but I really cared about the fiber the most because sometimes it’s hard to make my kids (and myself to be totally honest) eat things with fiber in them. There are 6 grams of fiber per serving but I didn’t taste it and the kids didn’t taste it. We sampled all of the current flavors and none of us thought this Mac and cheese tasted “healthier” or “cow-ier” (this is the name my kids gave to another product that I’m not allowed to buy because it tastes like “cow smells”) than their usual favorite. We thought they all were delicious. We just had to add milk to make it but you could also add butter too.
The only drawback we could think is that Goodles is spendier and harder to get right now (it’s not in our local stores, but I’m sure that will change) so I’m glad that I have a coupon for you (and me) to save on Goodles Mac and Cheese on their website. (You can save 25% on GOODLES Mac & Cheese with the code MOMSAREGOODER and the code expires 7/31/2022). I really hope the code can be used more than once because we just ordered a 12 pack and each box ended up being a little over $3 and I don’t think 12 boxes will last us until July. It’s easy to put this in a thermos with a side of sliced apples for the kids’ lunches and I like mine with Coke Zero on a wild day or my usual Bubly. (I accidentally ordered multiple cases of Bubly recently by accident because we had a power outage and I thought I deleted things from my online delivery cart but EVERYTHING I deleted also showed up at my door including 5 cases of Bubly.)
Goodles has all sorts of Merch and it’s pretty cool
They sent me a fun rainbow spork. And If you also watch Lego Masters and know about the “Golden Brick” you would know the sound I heard in my head when I saw the golden Mac noodle necklace on the website. There are also silver Goodles roller skates that you can purchase too.
I am really glad I tried Goodles Mac and Cheese and maybe you will like it too. I’ve already ordered more since Moms Meet sent me the taster kit to try and that’s a really good sign.
Terumi Pong is a Seattle-based family travel writer and mom of twin teenage boys. She loves coffee and pastries, shopping local and looking for greener ways to live. She is also known as Scout’s mom (Scout is a 5ish pound little black yorkie-poo)