Does macaroni and cheese count as one serving of dairy foods?
It depends on how much you eat. If you prepare a standard-size box mix of macaroni and cheese according to the label’s directions, a one-cup serving of it will have the same amount of calcium as one-third of a dairy serving. If you ate all of the macaroni and cheese from the box, you would get the same amount of calcium as in a cup of milk. But you would also consume 870 to 1,140 calories and 18 to 45 grams of fat. A one-cup serving of homemade macaroni and cheese, on the other hand, can have the equivalent of one to two servings of milk. However, its calorie and fat content will also be high, unless you make it with a reduced-fat cheese and replace the butter with a reduced-fat spread.
