Kraft confirms its macaroni & cheese dinner product was introduced in 1937. What about the details?
“Kraft Macaroni & Cheese Dinner is introduced nationally in yellow boxes (soon changed to blue) by National Dairy Products, which has adopted the idea of one of its St. Louis salesmen to combine grated American cheese with Tenderoni Macaroni.” —The Food Chronology, James Trager [Henry Holt:New York] 1995 (p.37) “Kraft was the first to introduce an instant macaroni and cheese dinner. The year was 1937 and soon Kraft, during commercial breaks in the Kraft Music Hall radio program, was promising American cooks that a Kraft Dinner was “A meal for four in nine minutes for an everyday price of 19 cents. In 1937 alone, eight million Kraft Dinners were sold, but their popularity soared tenfold during World War II because they were not only good meat substitutes but also required just one ration coupon. “Don’t hurry, puff and wheeze,” Kraft Dinner commercials now urged. “There’s a main dish that’s a breeze.”” —The American Century Cookbook: The Most Popular Recipes of the 20th Century, Jean
