Save Money Cooking with Hamburger Helper

Betty Crocker's Hamburger Helper is a staple in my house. It's a quick and easy meal, and it comes in a variety of different meals. Kids love Hamburger Helper, even picky eaters like my kids. But buying Hamburger Helper can get expensive, especially if you're eating it a few times a week. Because of my limited budget, I have come up with four ways to save money while cooking with Hamburger Helper.

Hamburger Helper Money Saving Tip #1: Save Money on Hamburger

When you're on a tight food budget, meat is often the first food expense that gets cut. When I'm shopping for hamburger, instead of buying the one-pound packages, I will choose the bigger three-pound packages. When I get it home, I cut it into four parts at approximately 3/4 pounds each. If you are making Hamburger Helper twice a week for a month, you'll be using six pounds of hamburger in a month instead of eight. Over a year, you would save money on 24 pounds of hamburger, which adds up to quite a savings.

Hamburger Helper Money Saving Tip #2: Add More Pasta

My biggest beef (pun intended) with Hamburger Helper is the sauce. If you fix the Hamburger Helper according to the directions, you end up with a very runny sauce. Sure, it says on the box 'Sauce will thicken upon standing', but I've found I need to let it stand for up to a half hour before it's thick enough for our liking. So I started adding extra pasta to the Hamburger Helper. Pasta is cheap, and if you add in the odds and ends of left over pasta in your pantry, the cost of the extra pasta is paltry when compared to how much longer your Hamburger Helper leftovers last.

Hamburger Helper Money Saving Tip #3: Add a Veggie

Another way to stretch your Hamburger Helper is to add a can of vegetables. It turns Hamburger Helper into a one-pan meal, and one box of Hamburger Helper with the added veggies will feed more mouths. Depending on which flavor of Hamburger Helper I'm fixing, I'll add a can of whole kernel corn, cream-style corn, or green beans. Peas and carrots, or even fresh/frozen cauliflower and broccoli could be used as well. I have found that using cream-style corn tends to mellow out the spices of the Mexican-flavored Hamburger Helper, making it more palatable for the kids.

Hamburger Helper Money Saving Tip #4: Buy on Sale

Like I mentioned earlier, Hamburger Helper can get expensive. But if you wait until your local grocery store has a sale, sometimes you can pick up 10 boxes of Hamburger Helper for $10. At a dollar per box, you're saving at least that much per box, if not more. Stock up on cans of veggies and packages of various pasta when they are on sale as well.

By using these tips every time you fix that favorite box of Hamburger Helper for your family, you will not only save money on the meal, you will be creating a great meal tailored to your specific tastes.