Whatever the pasta is now, it cooks quite differently. You'll get softer noodles much quicker, and will congeal into a blob unlike the old recipe.
Additionally the water gets extra starchy with the new recipe.
I haven't seen it mentioned anywhere else but the quantity per box has decreased as well. Special shapes came in smaller weights, but now even the regular box does too.
exmadscientist|1 month ago
That is the specific problem I get now. The powdered sauce-stuff just never turns into a sauce but instead likes to stay in these horrid blobs full of unreconstituted powder, while half the noodles aren't coated. When it happens three times in a row, with three separate batches/box date codes and different milk/butter, I can cook your competitor's product with no issues, and I used to be able to cook yours so I know I'm not just being dense, that means it's your fault and you're out. Forever. Having real alternatives means I have no mercy for enshittification.
I should probably also note that this is specifically the "Thick and Creamy" variant because the " 'Original' Flavor" got banned from the household a long time ago for somehow being inferior to store-brand generic. Kraft just really does not want our business.