Budget Friendly Meals: Macaroni and Cheese Topped Hot Dogs

Name: Budget Friendly Meals: Macaroni and Cheese Topped Hot Dogs
Prep time: 5 min
Cook time: 10 min
Total time: 15 min
Yield: 4
Ingredients: 4 hot dogs; 4 hot dog buns; 2 (2.05 ounce) containers Kraft Macaroni & Cheese Dinner Cups (or about 2 cups prepared macaroni & cheese); 1/2 cup Kraft ranch dressing; 3 tablespoons Kraft barbecue sauce

By Chris Cockren 50 Comments

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This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone, as is this creative and budget-friendly summer grilling recipe for Macaroni and Cheese Topped Hot Dogs!

Ah, summer meals. It’s a time to kick back, relax, and get a little bit crazy. For Asheley, that means hot dogs and roasted marshmallows for days. She would literally be content to feast on simple dinners consistenting solely of hot dogs schmeared generously with mustard every single day if she could.

It has to be with mustard. A lot of mustard. Not dijon. Not spicy brown. Just regular yellow mustard. No exceptions.

Now I love me a good hot dog as well, but I prefer to get a little more wacky and creative in my approach. I’ve been loving these Bacon Wrapped Jalapeno Popper Hot Dogs lately (and I’ve even gotten my mom on board with those hot dogs, a self-professed hot dog hater), but now it’s time to step it up a notch.

Whenever my 3-year-old niece comes over for dinner, she always feasts on one of those Kraft macaroni and cheese single-serving dinner cups. She never eats the whole thing, so her father (and my older brother) waits patiently until she’s done so he can devour the rest. Not gonna lie, I’m always a bit jealous. Because really, who doesn’t love mac n’ cheese?!

And that got me thinking… why should kids have all the fun? It’s good enough for the whole family… small kids and big kids (like myself) alike. Your family is totally going to love these Macaroni and Cheese Topped Hot Dogs, because hello… they are macaroni and cheese topped hot dogs. Duh.

One of the great things about being a teacher… summer vacation. I don’t want to keep rubbing it in and all, but these 2 months off are pure bliss. I literally don’t even know what day it is today. Monday? Thursday? Who cares… I’m off 🙂

Here’s the dangerous part of being on summer vacation for 2 months. You get a little loosey-goosey with spending. A little treat there. A splurge here. Going out with friends a whole heck of a lot. And then you look at your bank account and wonder… did someone steal my identity and get access to my bank account?! No, no they didn’t Chris. You just love spending a little bit too much money in the summer.

And maybe you have similiar financial constraints come the 1st and 15th of the month, when your budget gets mighty tight. Luckily budget friendly meals like these macaroni and cheese topped hot dogs totally come in handy when summer finances get a little tight 🙂

Oh heck yes…