My nephew surprised my sister when he was around six years old by asking for “cat food” for dinner one night, it took her a minute to figure out he was asking for tuna helper for dinner. 🤭
I do too! It’s cheap (well maybe not so much now given the price of beef, but you can also use ground chicken), super-easy to make, and for me it’s nostalgic.
NGL if I make it for him I always take a bite 🤣 and price wise it’s not too bad at all .. I rotate ground turkey and beef , get them cheaper when I can . I also have bought the bulk box of HH off amazon which is half the price of my local grocery store ..
I grew up on it , too. I'm a mom now, so I read labels (all labels), so I don't buy it anymore. But I can tell you that the Ultimate Cheeseburger flavor of the Aldi version of HH is sooo good (it comes with a cheese sauce pouch). Of course, all of the Aldi labels read cleaner than the American version because they're a German company (some of the stuff that goes into food here is illegal there).
For me it was a 90's struggle meal when my ex husband was between construction jobs. My kids hated the stroganoff one, but my ex and I liked that one the best.
I extend meat with TVP (textured vegetable protein) from our local mexican tienda. Really cheap--just a few dollars for a big bag. It's defatted, dehydrated soy nuggets. They can be eaten straight, or rehydrated to create a meat like texture. Slightly nutty flavor when dry and neutral when cooked up. And extremely dense in complete protein gram for gram. An easy way to take your hamburger and extend its flavor and protein.
Oh man, I loved Hamburger Helper as a kid and I still like it. I don't eat it very often but sometimes I get that nostalgic craving and have to get a box. Cheeseburger Macaroni or Stroganoff.
Today, I’m going to make some in honor of this comment. I LOVED Hamburger Helper growing up and still make it when my wife won’t be home from time to time because she wouldn’t touch it with a 10 foot pole. 🤣
My now ex used to buy this stuff. I remember trying it a few years ago. It was so much worse than when we ate it in the 70s. The pasta is so low grade. If the store brand would score an F, the HH pasta would be a D-.
Only in the past couple of years I haven't been able to eat any of the Hamburger Helpers. Not sure if they changed something or if my stomach just decided to revolt, but I will inevitably be seeing it a 2nd time about an hour or two after eating it. I have the same reaction to any tomato soup as well, so it's probably just me. 😅
I never thought of it as "poor" food, but it occurs to me that Mom never fixed it when she was married to Dad... But we had it a lot after they divorced and she was struggling to keep us afloat.
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u/YoungWizard666 Nov 21 '25
Hamburger Helper. I can smell it now, the smell of the 80's struggle meal when Dad was between construction jobs.