I hadn't tried a Tuna Helper product in a very long time. But since I enjoy pasta dishes, and tuna fish, I decided to try one tonight. I chose the Creamy Parmesan flavor. The picture on the box looks great! Curly pasta twists, a creamy sauce, carrots, and of course tuna.

The first thing I noticed was that there were no microwave instructions. I'm surprised. I'm so used to cooking things the "easy way", I'm practically at a loss! But there are skillet instructions and oven-bake instructions. I chose the skillet method.

Inside the box are two envelopes. One is see-through and contains the curly pasta. The other envelope is not see-through. It's white, and unlabeled, but I assume it to be the sauce mix. This white envelope was not going to be torn open, no matter how I tried. Good thing I keep a pair of scissors in the kitchen!

Preparing this product is pretty easy (once you get the envelopes open). Pour the contents of both envelopes into a 10-inch skillet. Add 2 cups hot water, 1 2/3 cups of milk, 3 tablespoons of margarine, and 1 can of tuna. Bring to boil, then simmer for 13 minutes. Let stand, and the sauce will thicken.

My impression: Well the finished product did not really look like the picture on the box. The sauce never got nearly as thick and creamy as it appears in the picture. And the carrot pieces in my meal were not nearly so plentiful. Furthermore, many of my pasta pieces were small, broken pieces, whereas in the picture they are all whole.

But taste is more important than looks, right? So how did it taste? Just "ok". Definitely not great. I could not have identified the flavor as parmesan. In fact, I wouldn't call the sauce "cheesy" at all. Basically, I had slightly chewy pasta pieces, covered in an unidentifiable sauce, with some tuna. I ate it, but I would not buy this flavor again.

I wanted to strictly follow the directions for the purpose of this review, but otherwise, I would have added a few more ingredients. I would have added some green peas, some mushrooms, and maybe some chopped broccoli. And I definitely would have topped it off with some breadcrumbs. Toasted onions would also have made a great addition. Any of those ingredients probably would have made this a better-tasting meal. But straight out of the box, this meal is nothing to write home about.

The box makes 5 1-cup servings. Each serving contains 260 calories, 9g of fat, 720mg of sodium, and 1g of fiber. Of course, you can reduce fat and calories by using non-fat milk. You can also skip or reduce the amount of margarine.

This product is sold individually in my local grocery store, or in bulk, at Sam's Club. (I'm glad I only bought one box!!!)

Overall, this is not a great product. I do not recommend this flavor.



Update 2/08: Now here's a much better flavor! Tuna Helper Creamy Broccoli Flavor



Recommended: No