The White-Gloved History of Hamburger Helper

Weird History Food is serving you up some delicious nostalgia with the history of Hamburger Helper. If you remember this creepy little mascot finger-tipping across your TV set, you'll remember Hamburger Helper was a way cash-strapped American families looked for ways to stretch their meals further than ever before. Let's take a look back at this classic boxed food product.

#hamburgerhelper #foodhistory #weirdhistoryfood

[binarydinosaurs]

Back in 1981 or so, punk icons Dead Kennedys did a song called 'Dear Abby' which featured the line 'just mix with my tuna helper and ta-daa!' Being in the UK I had no idea what a tuna helper was, so cheers for finally solving my mystery! I haven't covered what the song was about as this is a family channel, but if you know, you know.

[ZellasCardz]

I grew up poor in the 1980s, and this was a common staple in our family. I don’t think I’ve eaten hamburger helper for decades, but it still has some nostalgia associated with it for me. Thanks for the video!

[Dexy]

My single Mom swore by Hamburger Helper! It was one of the first things she taught my brother and I to make. Find memories of both the time and food. My brother and I are in our late 40s and still see it as a comfort food. ❤

[marisad]

A Weird History Food video on those “prosecutable” recipes of the 60s would be, like, the BEST thing ever!

[williamromine]

I'm 81, and was completly surprised that the Helper didn't come out until the 70s. I thought it was much older than that. But, now that I think about it, I never had it as a kid. Its been a long time since I've eaten it, and I'm not sure why. It was pretty good, and easy to make. May have to try it again.

[Merylstreep]

Weird History actually managed to associate Bruce Campbell and Hamburger Helper, they truly are doing the Lord's work

[BleachBlonde-java]

Coming home in the late 90s to the smell of hamburger helper simmering mmmm brings back memories

[deirdregibbons]

Growing up, we mostly ate meals cooked from scratch - a lot of stews. My mom taught us all how to make these. Hamburger and Tuna Helper was a treat. The stroganoff and lasagna flavors were favorites. When I moved out on my own I cooked the Helper beef lasagna, the tuna tetrazini and an odd but delicious tuna pot pie. Though I still cooked a lot from scratch. Today I mostly cook from scratch, but I do appreciate how convenient and tasty the Helper meals could be.

[KennyPowers]

This was a staple dinner in my house as a kid I always loved it. I need to revisit it.

[ApocalypticRadish]

Always loved Hamburger Helper night as a kid. Once every blue moon, I get a horrible craving for that cheeseburger macaroni.

[redline]

As a 2002 kid, I used to have this sometimes when my mother couldn't cook. Definitely heavenly, at least in my opinion. My father was definitely a huge fan of it.

[kathyo]

This stuff got us through the great recession. To this day my husband will ask "what helper are we having tonight?"😂 I'm not a chef or even a cook. HH saved our butts more than once.

[jer]

You can't beat Hamburger Helper when it's on sale for $1.
Even if you just make it for just yourself, the leftovers are good for another meal.

[lizryan]

Definitely ate my fair share of Hamburger Helper growing up! My family's favorite was always the cheesy hashbrown flavor, but it seems that flavor is either hard to come by or just plain discontinued now. One of my other favorite easy meal kit brands growing up was Chef Boyardee! I remember them having a pizza kit that had an extremely fluffy biscuit-like crust and didn't really taste like normal pizza and some sort of ravioli bake/skillet, and my sister and I loved them. Pretty sure those have gone the way of the dinosaur now too.

[lilj]

Hamburger helper was one of the only things our mom ever cooked. Almost all of our meals were pizza rolls and chicken nuggets, but hamburger helper night (once every two weeks or so) was always a good night.

[mzcytin]

No mention of how they changed all of their recipes in the mid 2000s? That's the real reason sales went down. Corporations don't seem to understand that some of these products are favored childhood meals and changing the recipes turned off what would've been lifelong customers simply buying their product everytime they missed their mom's tuna parmesean. We had to learn to recreate those recipes on our own without their box. Stouffers did the same thing in the 2010s and sales plummeted.

[mplbooks]

I grew up on Hamburger Helper, but the couple times I've tried to make it for my own family, I was the only one willing to eat it. Every now and then, though, I do get a nostalgic craving.

[shadowhenge]

I remember so many of these. Tuna helper worked with chicken just as well and you could take the underlying idea to make so many casseroles. We werent poor poor, but my grandma survived the depression and she was in charge of the kitchen, so it was a cheap kitchen. A helper style skillet or casserole, and pillsbury biscuits was 4 nights a week. She made scratch stuff the other 3, usually an awesome pizza, a grill night, and taco night. But the casseroles were the best.

[troyb]

The other dinner staple from childhood that goes hand in hand, pun intended, is the LaChoy lineup. With the two cans and the hard as rock noodles, you knew dinner tonight was going to be special.

[Oonagh]

I would have sworn and be damned that tuna helper was the product of the 80’s health food craze. Also what I find funny is that all of these convenience foods are associated with being poor or stretching a dollar. When I was a kid I wanted to eat this because my family thought it cost too much. I was mad because we are pork chops for breakfast, and homemade spaghetti sauce 😂😂😂

Edit: Haggis is the OG helper.