Easy and Quick Food Add-Ins

I do a considerable amount of cooking by opening a can, bag, or box, and following directions. From scratch cooking is simply not a welcome part of my everyday lifestyle, instead being something saved for special occasions or days when I have more time. To prevent my meals from being completely run of the mill, however, I have found that there are a number of additions that can be made to some of the foods that I find easiest to cook. Some of these recommendations come from the manufacturer of the food, while others are of my own devising.

Hamburger Helper
No matter what the variety of Hamburger Helper, nearly every package has a short list of things that you can add while cooking the meal or after you have finished cooking it. Generally speaking, if you like that variety of Hamburger Helper, you are likely to like at least one of the suggestions that the box gives you. Some of the popular Hamburger Helper add-ins include sour cream, those crispy little onions from a can, or cheese. Of these three, I'm always a big fan of the last option, but different varieties of Hamburger Helper call for different add-ins. Experiment with the ones that sound appealing to you, and you are likely to find ways to put a new spin on a favorite meal. If nothing else, adding other ingredients to Hamburger Helper can make any leftovers a little more exciting.

"Mexican" foods
This category actually encompasses a number of my favorites, like frozen chimichangas and canned refried beans, but the solution for improving nearly all of the pre-made "Mexican" foods is the same - add cheese. Frozen bean and beef chimichangas are a regular part of my lunch, and I add a slice of colby jack cheese for the final 10 seconds of microwaving my chimichanga. Canned refried beans make a great side dish, and after getting the refried beans at our local Mexican carry-out restaurant smothered in spicy cheese, I usually add shredded cheddar or colby jack cheese to my refried beans at home. While I'm fully aware that none of these so-called "Mexican" pre-made foods qualify as true Mexican cuisine, adding cheese to them definitely improves the taste, and somehow makes me feel slightly more authentic.

Frozen pizza
True, you can find a frozen pizza with just about any topping that you might want, but what about those households where family members disagree on what toppings make a great pizza? Adding an additional topping or two to a portion of a pizza is a good solution. This tends to work better with vegetables than meat, but you can easily add olives, peppers, onions, or mushrooms to a frozen pizza without affecting the cooking time or finished quality too badly. It's also considerably easier than trying to pick the toppings off, either when the pizza is still frozen, or when it's straight out of a piping hot oven. I wouldn't recommend adding anything too crazy, like anchovies or pineapple, to a shared pizza, as the flavors might permeate the non-topped portion as well, but most simple ingredients will work fine this way. And you can always add extra cheese, if your pizza isn't cheesy enough!

Popcorn shrimp
Recently, my boyfriend's favorite meal has been frozen popcorn shrimp and saffron rice. He dips his in ketchup; I prefer mustard for mine. Regardless, we always finish the rice between the two of us, but there is inevitably leftover popcorn shrimp. It reheats pretty well in the microwave, but even better is to mix up a little lemon juice, some butter, and a dash or two of garlic powder, shake the leftovers in that mixture, and then toss them in the oven to reheat for five minutes or so (whatever it takes to get them warm again). It can seem like you're getting a much nicer meal than that which required only a few minutes of prep time.

I haven't tried putting cheese on my popcorn shrimp yet. I'll let you know how that goes.