When purchasing groceries for our home I always make sure David, Gerald and Charlie have lunch. As for me I will eat leftovers if there is any or a Peanut Butter Sandwich because I don’t like spending money on lunches for me. Then the other day at Winco I decided to splurge because there are some foods that just feel like home, and in our house, Hamburger Helper has always been one of them.
We’ve made the full-size boxes at home for years. Sometimes you want to make a meal for the whole family, and sometimes you just need something quick and easy for yourself. That’s why I was excited when I found these Hamburger Helper Meals in a Bowl cups which reminds me of the Mac & Cheese Charlie likes
These little cups are just 2 ounces, and they are designed to give you that familiar Hamburger Helper flavor in a single-serving cup that takes only about four minutes to prepare. For me, that makes them a pretty handy lunch. The container is enough that I don’t eat to much knowing we will have dinner later that evening.
The first one I tried was the Hamburger Helper Meals in a Bowl Chili Macaroni. The cup contains real beef and has 8 grams of protein. I fixed the bowl and was afraid it would have a lot of liquid in it but it doesn’t once its cooked. I liked knowing the noodles got done and the taste of beef was good. But a couple bites were hot from what I believe was chili pepper which I wasn’t to fond of but it wouldn’t keep me from having this again.
The serving size is one package, and one cup contains 220 calories. For me, one cup was enough for lunch. Now, if I were feeding Charlie or David, I already know they would probably want two or even three cups. But that’s one of the things I like about these: I can make one when I’m eating lunch by myself without having to prepare an entire box of Hamburger Helper.
They are also really easy to make. You simply peel the cover back, add water to the fill line, and stir it before cooking. Then you put it in the microwave and cook it for four minutes. After it’s finished, stir it again and it’s ready to eat. That’s it. No skillet. No measuring out a bunch of ingredients. No dirtying a pan. Just add water, microwave, stir and eat.
Since I’m trying to pay more attention to what I’m eating, I also looked at the nutrition information. The cup has 4% total fat, 8% saturated fat, and 0 grams of trans fat. It has 2% cholesterol and 23% sodium. That sodium is the one thing I pay particular attention to in our house because salt bothers David’s knees, and sodium is salt.
So while these cups are convenient and can fit into my lunch routine, they’re still something I want to be mindful of rather than something I would necessarily eat every single day. For me, though, the 220 calories and 8 grams of protein make this a reasonable quick lunch when I’m trying to stay within my diet.
I also picked up the Hamburger Helper Cheeseburger Macaroni Meals in a Bowl. I haven’t tried that one yet because that’s going to be my lunch tomorrow. It is also a 2-ounce cup, contains real beef, and has 9 grams of protein. You prepare it the same way as the first cup: add water to the line, stir it, microwave it for four minutes, and stir it again when it’s finished.
So tomorrow I’ll be finding out how the Cheeseburger Macaroni compares. And if it’s as good as the first one, I may have found myself another easy lunch to keep in the pantry. Especially with school starting soon and before we know it Winter will be here and having something hot will be a Godsend.
One thing I like about these cups is that they aren’t trying to reinvent Hamburger Helper. They are based on the full-size Hamburger Helper meals you can buy in the grocery store. You know the kind I’m talking about—the boxes that have been a pantry staple in families for years. We’ve made both boxed Hamburger Helper and homemade versions in our home.
Sometimes homemade is exactly what you want. Other times, you don’t need a whole meal for four people. You just want something quick for lunch. That’s where these cups come in. I’ve been working on keeping my lunches at $5 or under, and these fit right into that idea. They’re something I can keep in the pantry and grab when I don’t want to spend a lot of money going out for lunch or when I simply don’t feel like making something complicated.
They’re also easy enough that I could seeing Gerald and me making them for lunch, or Charlie and David grabbing one when they’re hungry. And they’re not limited to lunch at home. I can see these being useful for a back-to-school lunch, a work lunch and that is why you will find them inside out Back-to-School Gift Guide.
You could take these a road trip or even camping. Charlie and David could take these with them to work and keep it in his locker for a quick meal. That’s the kind of convenience I appreciate. Now here’s something you probably wouldn’t expect to hear in a Hamburger Helper review but as a mom we must think outside the box and these cups allow me to do that and so much more.
These cups actually give me another opportunity to get up and move. When I make one, I don’t just sit down and wait for it. I walk to the pantry and get the cup. Then I walk over to the sink and add the water. I stir it and walk over to the microwave. I put it in, set it for four minutes, and then I walk around my house for those four minutes.
When the microwave beeps, I walk back over, take my cup out, stir it again and then walk upstairs. By the time I’m finished, I’ve gotten several extra minutes of walking simply because I made myself get up and move instead of standing around waiting for my food. It may not sound like much, but when you’re trying to get more steps into your day, every little bit counts.
Four minutes here. A few minutes there. Walking to the pantry. Walking to the kitchen. Walking back to the microwave. Those little things add up. So these little Hamburger Helper cups aren’t just convenient for me. They give me another reason to get up and move around my house while my lunch is cooking.
Would I Buy Them Again? For me, yes. I like having something quick in the pantry that I can make for myself without cooking an entire meal. I like that the serving is only 220 calories, and I like that I’m getting 8 grams of protein from the Hamburger Helper cup. I also like that I can keep these on hand for those days when I don’t have anything planned for lunch.
I found these at Winco, although I would expect to find them at other grocery stores such as Kroger or Walmart as well. You can also find the regular full-size Hamburger Helper meals at grocery stores and online. And because these cups are based on those familiar Hamburger Helper flavors, they’re a nice option when you want something that tastes familiar without making an entire box.
Tomorrow, I’ll be trying the Hamburger Helper Cheeseburger Macaroni Meals in a Bowl, so I’ll be back to let you know what I think about that one. Now I want to hear from you. Do you buy the boxed Hamburger Helper meals? Do you make your own homemade version? Or have you tried these new Meals in a Bowl cups?
If you’ve tried them, leave me a comment and tell me what you thought and why. And if you make Hamburger Helper at home, tell me your favorite flavor. Because around here, Hamburger Helper has been a standard for years—and sometimes there’s just something comforting about sitting down with a meal that reminds you of home.
Grateful, Thankful, and Blessed
Thank you,
Glenda, Charlie and David Cates