Hamburger Helper is a brand of boxed meal product produced by General Mills and sold under its Betty Crocker brand. It consists of a starch (most often pasta, but also rice or potatoes) and specially measured dried sauce packets separated in a single box. The remaining ingredients must be provided by the consumer. The consumer browns the hamburger meat in a skillet and then adds water, noodles, milk and the seasoning packet(s) to create the complete dish. General Mills also has a Hamburger Helper frozen food line, which features some of the brand's classic varieties in a complete meal kit form, and includes frozen ground beef and frozen sauce packaged separately from the noodles in the same bag. There is as well an "instant" version of Hamburger Helper which contains dehydrated meat, noodles and seasonings in a small pouch — instead of adding meat, milk and water, the consumer only needs to add a small amount of water to a bowl containing the helper pouch contents. In 2005 the American-based Food Network listed Hamburger Helper as number three in its list of the top five fad foods of the 1970s [1]. In 2007, General Mills removed the microwave cooking direction from Hamburger and Tuna Helper for unknown reasons. These directions are still listed at the Hamburger Helper FAQ at BettyCrocker.com
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Varieties
Hamburger Helper is available in numerous flavors, organized into various "Favorites" categories. These include:
- Homestyle Favorites
- Beef Pasta (formerly called "Beef Noodle")
- Beef Stroganoff
- Potato Stroganoff (includes dehydrated potato slices)
- Salisbury
- Italian Favorites
- Lasagna
- Four Cheese Lasagna
- Spaghetti
- Cheesy Italian Shells
- Italian Sausage
- Tomato Basil Penne
- New Orleans Favorites
- Cheesy Jambalaya
- Cheesy Favorites
- Cheeseburger Macaroni
- Double Cheeseburger Macaroni
- Three Cheese
- Chili Cheese
- Cheddar Cheese Melt
- Philly Cheesesteak
- Cheesy Hashbrowns
- Bacon Cheeseburger
- Cheesy Baked Potato
- Mexican Favorites (co-branded with Old El Paso brand)
- Cheesy Nacho
- Chili Macaroni
- Cheesy Enchilada
- Cheesy Beef Taco
- Crunchy Taco
- Double Cheesy Quesadilla (originally "Double Cheese Quesadilla")
- Uncategorized and/or defunct:
- Beef and Garlic Potatoes
- Rice Oriental (Officially discontinued, but occasionally still available in some stores)
- Beef Romanoff
- Macaroni Cheese
Other Helpers
Other flavors that are intended to be served with tuna or chicken are sold under the Tuna Helper and Chicken Helper brand names. In 2006, Hamburger Helper Microwave Singles were introduced which require only the addition of water and brief cooking in a microwave to produce a single serving portion of some of the most popular flavors. This concept was expanded to include the Chicken Helper line in 2007. Some vegetarians use artificial ground beef (usually soy-based) instead of genuine meat when preparing Hamburger Helper. Ground pork, lamb, chicken, or turkey meat can also be substituted by those intolerant of beef or simply for a different taste. However, some Hamburger Helper varieties contain meat products (such as beef extract, found in the Tomato Basil Penne flavor). Most private label producers have versions of the most popular varieties of hamburger helper.
Trivia
Its mascot is the Helping Hand, an anthropomorphic animated, four fingered left-hand glove, which appears in the product's television commercials and on the packages. A left handed glove is used, oddly enough, to make the Helping Hand right handed. The thumb of the glove serves as the Helping Hand's "hand". In the film National Lampoon's Vacation, Chevy Chase's impoverished cousins live on Hamburger Helper, prepared without the hamburger.
