It’s not bad in a pinch. But, after my Mom’s sliced beef version with real sour cream, it’s not the same. Now, you can leave out the pasta on the Stroganoff Helper, and with toast you have SOS. Add a little extra black pepper btw.
When I moved to the Atl back in '84, the guy I came here to work for had his son in the shop for the summer working, he was like me in his 20's, one day we were talking and he was telling a story describing some people he had met..."You know, the kind of people who eat Hamburger Helper".....I stopped him and said, "Hey, I eat hamburger helper"...."Yeah, but not because you have to".... The conversation didn't get any better...it spoke volumes to me..and still does.
Dad's an old, OLD school hillbilly, and thankfully, never allowed mom to use that kind of stuff. Manwich either. Though I learned at an early age, that fried taters go with EVERYTHING!
Shake and bake and hamburger helper. 2 things I grew up on, that I have yet to buy as an adult. It's not because I eat steak and lobster every night, but the wife and I are both good cooks so we just make up our own shit. Mom had a rotation of about 6-8 dishes and that was about it. Next time I go shopping I'm going to pick up a box of helper for old time sake. One poor boy staple we had growing up was split pea soup with grilled cheese sandwiches. I still make that shit all the time. You can feed an entire family with that for like $2.99
My mom used to make mac & cheese and used Aylmer's tomato soup as sauce. Very cheap to make but man did we love that stuff as kids.
HH didn't exist when I was a kid. I do make hamburger stroganoff but not using HH. It reheats great. Three days of eating. Good to take to work for lunch.
My mom doesn't eat for any other reason than to survive. She has no appreciation for food so, as a kid we weren't exposed to much of what I would call good food. For example, steak was a piece of meat about 11"x8", about a 1/4" thick, placed on a cookie sheet and broiled in the oven till it was outrageously overcooked. Yummy. When I was older and had my first grilled, medium-rare, quality, thick cut of steak, I couldn't believe what the hell I had been missing! But I could count on one hand how many times she didn't prepare supper. Literally.