Birds Eye Pasta & Broccoli with a White Cheese Sauce, front of pack

Photo: Birds Eye product image, via Kroger. Image policy.

Birds Eye

Pasta & Broccoli with a White Cheese Sauce

CModerate GoutMarket grade · Moderate · #9 of 38 frozen dinners and entrees we grade

Better-rated on this shelf

We earn a commission when you buy through paid links on this page, at no extra cost to you. It never changes a rating or a ranking. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. How we stay independent.

Check price at Amazon Check price at Walmart

Better-rated swaps

Same shelf, a better grade. Ranked by gout rating only.

Purine and sugar, by the numbers

Serving221 g
Purine per servingabout 18 mg, at most 30 mg (8% of the 400 mg daily guide)
Purine per 100 gat most 14 mg
Purine before GoutSafe's weightingat most 101 mg per serving
Main purine sourcebroccoli
Fructose per serving2.5 g
Added sugar per servingnot on the label
Total sugar per serving5 g

The weighted figure is lower than the one before weighting because GoutSafe counts purine from plants at a fraction of the same amount from meat or fish. The grade uses the weighted figure.

Where the purine comes from

IngredientMatched GoutSafe foodPurine in that food, per 100 gShare of the productPurine at that share, per servingCounted in the worst case
broccoli broccoli (A) 70 mg up to 50% 77 mg 23 mg
wheat gluten bread flour (A) 26 mg up to 33% 19 mg 6 mg
semolina wheat whole-grain wheat flour (A) 12 mg up to 50% 13 mg 1 mg

Purine values come from each matched food's page on GoutSafe. Shares come from label order: US labels list ingredients by weight, so the second ingredient is at most half the product, and anything after "2% or less" is at most 2%. The worst case fills the most purine-dense ingredients to their full share first, until the shares reach the whole product, then applies GoutSafe's weighting by source, which counts plant purines at 0.3, dairy at 0 and organ meat at 1.3 because they raise uric acid by different amounts. The grade uses that worst case. How we rate.

Why it's rated C

  • Open Food Facts classes it as ultra-processed (NOVA 4), and GoutSafe's rule keeps ultra-processed foods at Moderate (C) or below. Source on GoutSafe.
  • About 18 mg of purine per serving, and at most 30 mg (8% of the 400 mg daily guide), mostly from broccoli. Source on GoutSafe.
  • The panel lists 5 g of total sugars per serving and no added-sugar line.
  • Yeast extract is one of the most purine-dense ingredients there is, at 847 mg per 100 g dried. Source on GoutSafe.

Estimated from the ingredient label. Labels list ingredients by weight but rarely give amounts, so we grade on the most purine the label allows, which can read stricter than the real recipe and never safer. Sugar comes from the Nutrition Facts panel. How we rate.

What's on the label

Ingredients: ENRICHED MACARONI PRODUCT (WATER, SEMOLINA WHEAT, WHEAT GLUTEN, NIACIN, FERROUS SULFATE, THIAMIN MONONITRATE, RIBOFLAVIN, FOLIC ACID), BROCCOLI, SAUCE (WATER, PARMESAN CHEESE (PASTEURIZED PART SKIM MILK, CHEESE CULTURES, SALT, ENZYMES), NONFAT MILK, BUTTER CONCENTRATE [BUTTER (CREAM, SALT), FLAVOR], MODIFIED FOOD STARCH, SALT, GARLIC, SEASONING (MALTODEXTRIN, WHEY, SALT, MODIFIED FOOD STARCH, HYDROLYZED CORN PROTEIN, DRIED ONIONS, YEAST EXTRACT, DRIED RED PEPPERS, NATURAL FLAVORS, SOYBEAN OIL, GARLIC POWDER, SPICES, DRIED PARSLEY, CORN SYRUP SOLIDS, TURMERIC POWDER, MONO AND DIGLYCERIDES, SAFFLOWER OIL, SODIUM PHOSPHATE, SODIUM CASEINATE, CHICKEN FAT, GUM ACACIA, SUGAR, DRIED CHICKEN BROTH, SUNFLOWER OIL, ROSEMARY), ONION POWDER, XANTHAN GUM, SPICES).

Serving: 221 g. Label from USDA FoodData Central (record 2631871), dated 2023-09-14. UPC 014500016621. This label is over a year old and the recipe may have changed. Check the package.

Where to buy

Check price at Amazon Check price at Walmart

Prices change often, so we don't show them. The rating is the same whichever store you pick.