In my never-ending quest to find inexpensive, delicious, easy-to-prepare lunches, today I tried one from Hamburger Helper.  This is their Microwave Singles line, a series of single-serving meals that come in their own cup.  All you add is water, then microwave.  Let stand for a few minutes so the sauce can thicken and enjoy.  At least that's the theory.  In my case, the thickening and the enjoying part didn't really happen.

Today's lunch was their Ultimate Cheesy Burger Twist flavor.  Looking at the picture on the package, we see pasta twists, a thick cheese sauce, and small bits of ground beef.  But looking at my meal, there's a pretty big disparity between the real thing, and the picture.   Mostly because my sauce did not thicken.  Not nearly as much as it should have.  I even cooked it a bit longer than the directions called for, and waited a few more minutes, but I still have a pool of watery sauce.  I will say that the pasta and the meat match the picture - in fact there are more meat pieces than I was expecting.

But the most important aspect of a meal like this is the taste.  And this one is just "so-so".  It's bland and doesn't taste anything at all like a cheeseburger.  In fact, it's fairly devoid of any flavor whatsoever.  The meat pieces are plentiful but have no taste.  I wouldn't even know they were "meat" if I didn't read it on the label. 

According to the ingredients list, the meat pieces are "freeze dried cooked seasoned ground beef".   I don't know what they seasoned the beef with, but I can't taste a thing. 

The pasta, itself, was pretty good.  These are long, twisted shapes, that cooked to the right consistency.  But, overall, this meal is a disappointment when it comes to taste.

As far as nutrition goes, this meal isn't too bad.  It makes about a cup of food, with 170 calories, 4.5g of fat, 530mg of sodium, and 1g of fiber.  That's one of the lower calorie counts I've come across in this type of product.

And, it's cheap!  Less than $1.  But, it really doesn't matter to me.  Since I didn't care for the taste, I won't be buying this product again.

Recommended: No