A shelf-stable acidified starch and cheese sauce meal is provided. In one aspect, the meal includes an acidified starch component having a pH of about 4.6 or below and a separate cheese-based sauce component having a pH between about 5.7 and about 6.2. The sauce component is to be combined with the acidified starch component when the meal is ready to be consumed. In another aspect, a buffering composition is blended into the separate cheese-based sauce component and includes blends of dibasic phosphate salts, monobasic phosphate salts, and an edible acid where the cheese-based sauce component has a total dry weight of phosphate salt between about 3 and about 5 percent.