What You Should Know Before Eating Cracker Barrel's Mac And Cheese

Cracker Barrel can sometimes serve as a beacon of comfort food for locals and travelers alike. The homestyle menu and atmosphere draw in hungry eyes and watering mouths with offerings like fried chicken, mashed potatoes, and sultry breakfasts.

Also found on the Cracker Barrel menu, like so many other restaurant chains, is mac and cheese. Served as a side, the mac and cheese is certainly tempting with its large elbow noodles and perfectly melted look. But beyond the seemingly tasty sight and smell of Cracker Barrel's mac and cheese, there's a major nutrition red flag.

Based on the official nutrition guide from Cracker Barrel itself, the amount of sodium lurking in the mac and cheese is estimated at 700mg. If you're not sure how to compare that, consider this: According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, an individual's average daily intake of sodium should be less than 2,300 mg — or about a teaspoon of salt. That means Cracker Barrel's small side of mac and cheese accounts for about a third of a person's recommended sodium intake.

What else should you. avoid eating at Cracker Barrel?

Unsurprisingly, the mac and cheese isn't the only item on Cracker Barrel's menu of which you should be cautious. With such an expansive menu, there are a lot of entrées, side dishes, and more that pose diet and nutrition concerns.

In addition to items containing a large amount of sodium like the mac and cheese, other menu items — like the Southern Fried Chicken dinner — pack a ton of calories. Seemingly harmless dishes like the Clam Chowder, Homestyle Chicken BLT, and Pecan Pancakes boast upwards of three- and four-digit calorie counts (via Cracker Barrel's website).

Plenty of breakfast items, drinks, and desserts also have alarmingly high calorie counts at Cracker Barrel, for those being careful of what they put into their bodies. So for residents whose town boasts a Cracker Barrel or for weary travelers seeing the highway billboard for a hot meal, just beware of the consequences that may come with a "home-cooked" country dinner.