Hi mamas! I'll start this by saying that i (40F) generally cook from scratch about 75% of the food my kids (6F, 2M) eat, to include making my own yogurt and ketchup and chicken nuggets, and i buy the best quality ingredients we can afford (rough these days 😬). My husband and i both work full time and i spend a good chunk of my weekend meal prepping easy stuff to heat up so we don't have to resort to fast food on challenging days. That said sometimes i just CANNOT. Long day, appointments and gymnastics practice, etc etc you all know the drill.
If you've never tried Goodles (I've purchased them at Walmart, Kroger, Target.. they're easy to find), they are extremely yummy, high in protein (made with chickpea protein) and made with as decent a list of ingredients you can reasonably expect from a boxed mac and cheese, but most importantly the kids frickin LOVE THEM. They give me nostalgia from my days growing up on the Kraft blue box but they taste better and are better for you. Now I'm not saying this should be a staple of their diet but if you have picky eaters, are busy and need an easy thing in your pantry to get some protein into your kids' bellies now and then, i highly highly recommend.
I'm not on their payroll lol i just love them, so do the kids, and my mom guilt doesn't hit as hard with these 😆 i just ate about half a box to myself they're so good lol. They have a few varieties, Cheddy Mac is like typical Kraft blue box, Shella Good is also tasty and they have a few more that the kids don't prefer (hatch chiles, smoked gouda..). Anyways just a quick pitch for the self-inflicted guilty moms out there who sometimes just don't have time to make a home cooked meal but still want to get something high in protein and reasonably healthy into your kids' tummies. 🥰