Funny story, when we were first married, I made tuna helper one night for dinner. Adam came home and started gagging - my feelings were so hurt I cried 🤣 That’s how I learned he didn’t like tuna. LOL
Haha!!!! That’s happened a few times in our house. Daniel will eat almost anything, but there’s a handful of things he doesn’t care for including meatloaf and sloppy joes. No idea why, but I haven’t made them since!
The only thing I’ve made my husband didn’t like but still choked down a few was stuffed shells. I was sad! He’s picky and only eats pizza and spaghetti…I on the other hand am Italian and love Italian food 😞
So my gma didn't cook- my grandfather did the cooking and my mom has horror stories from the concoctions he would make which included tuna fish spaghetti BLEH LOL
that happened with me when I was just married. It had always been one of the things I could make at the end of the month. {I have always only got paid once a month.} and Robert wouldn't eat it. # newly weds, haha
I really only like the cheesy Italian shell hamburger helper. I didn’t eat this growing up but ate a WHOLE lot of it in college. Half of the time, I didn’t have enough money to buy the meat so we just called it “helper” 🤣
I love this. I buy boxes of hamburger helper when it’s on sale for under a dollar at my local Kroger. I skip the meat and make it like easy mac for my toddler when I need an fast and easy lunch. I suppose we will be calling it helper from now on lol
@@SeeMindyMom my kids asked for Mac and cheese last night... I might have made the xheeseburger pasta without meat and called it Mac and xheese ! They thought it was sooooo good! Apparently I need to add some pickle juice to the kraft going forward! Lol the seasoning tasted like pickles...and it had a Velveeta shells and cheese like packet to add...
I grew up on hamburger helper in the 90s and early 2000s. My mom was a nurse and worked long hours. I learned how to make these boxed dinners in elementary school so my brothers and I would have a hot dinner after getting off the school bus.
My mom, who was a home ec major in college, sniffed at the idea of Hamburger Helper, and said she didn't need the box to make those dishes. We had homemade versions of all of them. However, as a young bride, I (Education major) was happy to use them!
When we expecting our 4th baby, we had to really tighten our already tight belt to save money. I couponed like a fiend and Hamburger Helper was always a staple in the Sunday paper and in our pantry. We like the Lasagna, cheesy mac and the chili may. I liked the tuna helper but no one else did. 🙄 I learned to make it from scratch in my big skillet on the stove top and discovered the Instant Pot version about 5 years ago. I have very fond memories of that box feeding our family. ❤
I am the last of five children and my mom just seemed to get tired of cooking from scratch and started using the "Helper" boxes. There used to be a Tuna Helper that was a Tuna Pot Pie. It had a bottom crust, a filling and a topping. It was by far my favorite and I was so sad when they stopped making it!! I love your content and when my friends tell me they are struggling to think of meals I always tell them to check out your channel. Thank you!!
I, too, really loved Hamburger Helper growing up. Earlier than Hamburger Helper was a failed but valiant try at a similar product, Wine 'n Dine. It came with a little bottle of cooking wine. Pundits think it failed because people thought the wine was supposed to be served with the meal--not in it. lol. Thanks for the recipe.
I loved the tuna helper. I know it is odd but that one with the little dehydrated peas and carrots was definitely my favorite. My mom used a lot of these “helpers”.
I love this one too, wasn't it called creamy pasta or something? I found it at a store a while back, but haven't seen it since, guess I need to try recreating it!
My oldest son absolutely loved the plain HH Cheesy Shells (not Italian) when he was a little guy. I am not even sure if they make that one anymore. Brings back sweet memories and sure makes me miss my little guys who are all grown up now 😢
We used to make hamburger helper all the time until we found out our daughter has celiac disease, so now I do more of homemade versions of HH using gluten free pastas. All the recipes today looked great!
My mom called this beefy cheesy Mac and we had this once a week in the 90s. Now when I make this for my family they thinks it’s the best thing ever!! Never had the boxed stuff and don’t regret it!
I was raised on hamburger helper too, not every night but a few times a month lol. We liked the cheeseburger macaroni. I just made some last night but home made not box, and my daughter will not touch it and she's 8! You would think she would love it but she's picky. Ground beef, shells, Velveeta cheese, onion powder, a little pickle relish, a little mayo, and a little mustard. Tastes just like a cheeseburger!!!
I grew up on these too. I like making homemade versions. But I do still get the store bought ones when it is on sale or even the store brand so my husband can make an easy meal.
I grew up eating home made 1 pot meats. My husband grew up with "helpers"... Hamburger, tuna, and chicken ... We still rely on this type of quick meal, but we both prefer homemade, not boxed, where we can tweak as desired and know exactly what's going into it! Thanks for sharing.
My husband and I are exactly the same. His mom made the box my mom made this from scratch. I still make this for my family but it’s always from scratch. He would look at me crazy if I served him the boxed stuff.
My best friend and I ate dinner together a lot when kids little the kids loved the Mexican hamburger helper. We would make it add veggies and kids never knew they loved rolled up in tortilla . I now make my own. Ground turkey 1 to 2 cups rice chopped veggies add can of tomatoes sauce taco seasoning and add about cup of water and 8oz of cheese. I mix together and bake. Kids say it's awesome. Love these recipes.
You gave the tip of grouping your ingredients per recipe amount. I cook and bake this way: move all my ingredients (bags of flour/sugar/canned items/seasonings) out on my kitchen island. As I proceed through the recipe and add each measured ingredient in, I move that item back to the kitchen counter as a way of ensuring I know it's been added. If I get distracted during a recipe, I can come back and not get confused. Especially important for baking as accuracy is crucial.
I loved the cheese burger macaroni as a child and the stroganoff. I love making cheeseburger macaroni now (I just add cooked ground beef (and sometimes some leftover bacon) to the Mac and cheese I make from scratch)
I have 2 old (from when H.H. first came out) recipes for soup using the boxes as a starter. One is for a Beefy Mexican soup & the other is for a beef Mushroom Soup. I have made them many, many times.
Our favorite, back in the day, was the Beef Noodle. They’ve changed it, I feel. It’s not the same deliciousness that it once was. Of course it’s very simple to put together with your own ingredients and give it your own homemade taste and flavor. I just think sometimes you need the shortcut from the “Helper”. It seems like many companies do the “new and improved”, but it never is better. If it’s not broken, don’t fix it. Right? Enjoy your videos Mindy Mom 😊 We also liked the Cheesy Italian, but more recently when it was requested by one of my kiddos, we really didn’t love it. So this is a great recipe for me to use. Thank you!
I hadn't bought it in years because I made my own. I finally bought a few boxes and it was a salt bomb, lol. I can't eat it anymore because I only taste the salt.
cheeseburger mac. I never could eat hamburger helper when a child had a preservative in it I was real allergic too. So brought box cheeseburger for hurricane supplies and ate it one day after hurricane. I make mine mainly from scratch but will be buying easy fix. Thank you for sharing. It pretty much takes the same amount of time.
I enjoyed your recipes! I decided when I had kids that I would NEVER use any hamburger helper or those type of boxed kits. My son is seven and he has only eaten homemade foods, the exception is annie's mac N cheese.. I try and cook from scratch as much as I can... thanks for all the great recipes!!
Yay! Instant pot. I recently asked you a question and you didn't have one yet. It intimidates me so and I haven't even taken mine put of the box. Have had it for 2 years. I can't wait for your videos using it
These homemade hamburger helpers look so yummy!!! My familys fav is the stroganoff one!! Love that you made one in the instant pot im always tryin to find new recipes for my instant pot!!! Cant wait for you to have more instant pot recipes!!!!!
I *loved* hamburger helper cheeseburger mac growing up and I treat myself to a box every now and then. My husband turns his nose up at it - more for me!
I make this often in my instant pot! Start in saute mode, cook beef diced onion and diced garlic in seasonings, then add diced tomatoes 16oz elbow pasta, 2 cups milk, 1 cup water, half a bag of frozen spinach, then pressure cook for 6 minutes. When done mix in 2 cups shredded cheese, I like cheddar.
Yumm! I love Hamburger Helper!! It’s so nice to be able to make it without all the extra junk in it! And I love the idea of using the sausage to add more flavor. You rock, Mindy!
We used to do HH a lot in the early days of our marriage, my husband still can't cook much besides the helpers, but I definitely expanded what I could make without a box. My favorite is Salisbury, his favorite were the rice Mexican ones, but I cannot cook those (rice is the one thing that I cannot cook without burning) so he has learned to like the taco pasta, lol. I keep precooked neutral seasoned ground meat and onions in the freezer (I mix Ground Turkey and ground beef or ground sausage and either turkey or beef so we can quickly throw together a one dish pasta meal but usually it's lazy lasagna or something similar since I save the box mixes for when he has to cook.
It started off with having taco meat ready to go, and I gradually stopped adding the taco seasoning and just leaving it at the basics, now it's grab a pack of cooked meat, and no one has to figure out if they got the right one
Years ago when we were on vacation we decided as of a thank you to his family for putting up with us we fixed 2 boxes of 2 different Mexican Hamburger Helper meals. They are a big family so it took 2. We mixed them together and they were pretty good. Not sure of the names unless there is only 2 Mexican meals.
These are great recipes. I love my instant pot. I use it at least 3-4 times a week. If I forget to take out a pound of ground beef or ground chicken I just put it in my IP with a liquid of course for pressure cook time of 5 minutes. It is so much better than using the microwave to thaw it out. 365 days of slow and pressure cook RU-vid has some great IP recipes. She has a fantastic Crack chicken chili that we love and a cheesy cheese burger Mac that is so good. I also follow Six Sisters and they do loads of IP recipes. I cook potatoes and the eggs in my IP for potato salad and the eggs and potatoes turn out perfect every time. I also cook corn on the cob in my IP all the time. Break the cobs in half and stand on the trivet add a cup of milk and 2 tbps of butter and set to pressure for 5 minutes. The corn turns out amazing every time. FYI the slots in the handles of the IP are to stick ur lid in so u don't have to set the lid on your counter.
Wow, the memories... My mom was a fan of the beef stroganoff. Mine was the Italian lasagna. Has an adult and mother my children enjoyed the beef mac n cheese. My daughter has duped that one and it's yummy. Ive learned to dupe them myself and love doing it in the IP. (For the beef stroganoff, I've dupe this by using a box or 2 of the prepackaged stroganoff potatoes, adding sour cream, milk, cream cheese, spices, and hamburger. I do not use the flavor packet that comes with the prepackaged box, I have on occasion used sliced real potatoes still yummy.) I agree the dupes are better. I'm a child of the 70's and 80's eating meals at the table and talking was the thing to do. And the meal had to be long and hardy to stand up to the talks. Ty for sharing the memories are great to remember. Bless 🙌 your heart.
Sometimes you just need to go back to the old basics. Used HH growing up as mom worked and it was an easy meal. I often go back to the old Dill Dip and Knorr’s Vegetable Dip recipes.
Oh boy I grew up on HH meals, thank you so much for this video, and for all you do your videos help me so much ,they are very helpful, so thanks again and God bless you😁💛👍🙏
Hamburger helper has never been my jam but I love how we all have weird-ish food we love from childhood. So I literally CRAVE sliced velvetta on wonder white bread.. why!?? My grandma made it for lunch all the time and sometimes it’s just what I need to feel her again and be comforted. Great video!
Whenever I make hamburger helper, I always add extra cheese, a can of peas, a can of carrots, some sour cream to the Zesty Italian Shells. But ever since they changed the recipe to the italian shells version, its not the same anymore! Wish I could recreate that!!!
I grew up having hamburger helper a few times a month. I always liked the stroganoff one (my mom always added frozen peas to it). I hadn’t had hamburger helper in years until last night my daughter wanted the crunch taco kind. It was pretty yummy I added some corn and a can of rotel.
We hit a sale on HH and bought around 10 boxes @ 47 cents a box! Lol. Our favorite is the stroganoff. When we are running low on groceries until our next paycheck or just want something fast to fix, this is my go to.
We're having cheeseburger mac tomorrow! My boys love the chili mac recipe and it is something we have at least once a month in our home. I can't wait to try this cheeseburger recipe tomorrow!
Yes I LOVE Hamburger Helper !!!!!!! Beef Stroganoff is my favorite one. Unfortunately my husband has to watch his sodium so I cannot buy it any more. I am so super excited you shared these recipes !!! They look yummy !!!
I grew up with my Mom making hamburger helper and tuna helper. I think I liked the beef noodle one? It’s been a LONG time. I am a newer subscriber to Butcher Box and I’m loving it! I started off with the BIG custom box and still working through meat I received and meat I already had from the grocery.
Our favorite is the Philly Cheesesteak Pasta which I am attempting to make this month from scratch. I do make a version of the enchilada or taco rice which we like. I normally precook meat from another meal and set it aside to make it. I have never done it with chicken broth though. I do it with water or water with milk like you did the pasta one because they always seem to have milk in them. I often use it for enchilada filing or we serve with cheese melted on top. I never had it as a child but my husband liked it so I am working on making them from scratch. I just got an instant pot so love the recipe!! So excited to try!!
I miss the cheeseburger macaroni hamburger helper I haven’t been able to find it for years as well as tuna tetrazzini tuna helper ! That was the best !
My family's favorite HH was the lasagna one. It tasted so good with parmesan cheese sprinkled on top. Using HH allowed me to help my working mom with supper preparations when I was still a kid. In my teenage years, I made more scratch meals, but the HH lasagna meal was still part of our rotation. ~ Anastacia in Cleveland
OMG 😱 TY so much for these recipes 🙏🏽😍 I was able to make the Cheesy Italian Shells & Cheesy Enchilada Rice recipes and my Ohana (family) LOVED them! Mahalo & Aloha from Hawaii 🏝☀️🌈🌺🤙🏾
I have a box of the stroganoff Hamburger Helper in my pantry right now. Hadn't bought it in years but I saw it on the shelf last week and got a hankering for it. I'm going to make it for meal prep to have for lunches next week. Yum.
Such a fun video. I used Hamburger Helper back in the 80's, when I really didn't know how to cook. I had no spices either. Or much money. So a box that came with everything was the perfect solution. And I truly did love them! But maturing and learning and worrying more about what I eat definitely got me way far away from the box in general. But I still love the premise! I do dupes of the Cheeseburger Macaroni and Stroganoff regularly. Can't say I try to replicate any of the others, but go out on my own with ground beef, pasta or rice, and my own spices (WELL over 100 now) and veggies. I've not used my Instant pot for this though. I LIKE my Instant Pot, don't love it like many do. Stovetop is so easy, I just stick with that. Thanks as always for your post!!!
I’m with you. I’m not sold on the IP at least for me, but it’s fun to play around with, especially as I make a lot of videos these days and a lot of people have instant pots!
I really like hamburger helper 😂 it is majorly nostalgic for me. I'm pretty sure it's the first meal I cooked by myself. I think the Lasagna one was my favorite.
It's fun to see another mom making their own version of hamburger helper. I cannot eat all the sodium that comes in the boxed dinners, no matter how tasty and easy they are. I'm anxious to try some of your versions of one pan meals
I add petite peas and corn to my Spanish rice and stuff bell peppers with my leftovers and top with a piece of raw bacon and that is another dish. served with more vegetables as sides. One of my childhood favorites we had year round.
Just found this video. I have been looking for copycat recipes for hamburger and tuna helper. I grew up on them too and continued to make them once on my own. Now I am looking for as many copycat recipes for restaurants and boxed meals that I enjoy because I want to eat healthier. My new motto is if I can't pronounce it and have no idea what it is - I shouldn't be eating it. Thank you so much for this video.
Loved this! I used to love the lasagna version in addition to my all-time favorite: stroganoff. I had to give up the lasagna version as they seem to have added something spicy (paprika?) that irritated my stomach. I do get the stroganoff every once in a while because, well, why not? but I do try to use a make-at-home version to control the salt, etc.
Yes I loved the lasagna when my kids were little. Was usually a Wed before church dinner, had forgotten it. Also, the stroganoff. Mainly I make homemade version of all. Same something in it makes me sick to my stomach. artificial dye or flavor or preservative. I make my own version of tuna casserole too but have brought the helper for those little league days. Mine are all grown now.
Everything is so expensive now a days I wouldn't buy all that stuff either eat it like it is or buy the the sausage for a change but I haven't had hh in a long long time and I like the italian shell one best but I do like watching ur videos u do give alot of ideals thanks
Cheeseburger macaroni is my favorite! I used to like the beef stroganoff and cooked that as a newlywed gourmet meal, but I tried it recently and the noodles were mushy and didn’t seem as good.
Yes, the stroganoff noodles seem different and a bit mushy. I also notice somewhat of a difference in some of the other HH's. Guess they tried to improve on the original recipes ...haha!! After watching this, I think I just might try recreating some of them and come up with something a whole lot better.
Video suggestion: a trip to the Merc. I don't know how close you are to Pawhuska. I have been several times and have stayed at her boarding house. So much fun.
Oh my goodness!1 My husband was addicted to Cheeseburger hamburger Helper and Creamy Tuna helper. That was 1979. I have a homemade version of the tuna helper. I am not a fan of hamburger so I will try using the italian sausage.
Box of mac an cheese, 1/2 block of cream cheese can whole tomatoes, pack of taco seasoning, 1/2 pound ground turkey by the time I add up all that processed food to throw it together it's one of my more expensive meals I make. Because, husband will eat the whole skillet in one sitting unless I take some out and hide it for tomorrow's dinner. You can replace the taco seasoning with any thing that you want.
I think the appeal of the boxed HH is that you just add ground beef/tuna/chicken and that's it. The cost can be adjusted by the amount of meat you add to it. I do think the HH is a bit overpriced. That's why I only buy it when it is on sale or with a coupon. I never pay more than $1 per box or less.
Funny story, one night, we were sitting around watching tv. A HH commercial came on. My then husband said he would never eat that garbage. In my head I said hmm let's test that. After my 2 older kids were in school, my youngest and I headed to the store. We were on the cone of silence..lol I made the HH, hid the boxes in the trash. Husband came home. He ate 2 big bowls. When he finished, I asked if he liked it and he loved it. Then I told him what he ate. He didn't believe me. I had to dig the boxes out of the trash. Since he had never had it before that night he was shocked.
I do this all the time. And, whenever I make chili (which I make very flavorful with lots of chili powder, lots of cumin, and various other things like ancho chili, etc) , I deliberately make a lot extra so I can freeze extra bags of it to make my own chili mac by adding extra canned tomatoes, velveeta, and pasta. Then, I eat it with copious amounts of Cholula. 😀 it's probably my favorite comfort food that I make and it lasts me for days.
