This is a repost. 2 of my MOST popular posts on this blog are my Master Mix: Hamburger Helper Pantry Kits , and Master Mix: Hamburger Helper Pantry Kits 2.
where I shared quite a few versions of these wonderful kits! They've always had steady popularity since i published them back in 2012, but with the current pandemic around the world, they've grown so much I felt it best to combine them into one resource and freshen up the posts a bit.
Fresh Proteins vs. Shelf Stable Proteins: You can assemble the kits, and then add just a few fresh ingredients to finish them off. One option if you want to make to make them more of an emergency preparedness category, OR if you want to look into vegeterian options, is to look into adding in packets of freeze dried meats such as beef cubes, crumbles, or chicken dices. OR soy crumbles also known as TVP. the tvp comes in many flavors such as plain, beef, taco, sausage seasoned adn more. I have these, and once hydrated, and cooked into my dinners such as tacos, spaghettis, sloppy joes, etc. and to be honest, when my children were small, they never even knew it wasn't ground beef. I love having tvp in my food storage! and now that my husband was furloughed during the pandemic and my hours have been cut in half (cross your fingers as of this publishing that I continue to work) it comes in so handy to fill in our meals! meat proteins are expensive to store and I love having this in our pantry! Just keep this separate from your kit, OR measure what you want, and store in a separate baggie or container within your kit, as it may need rehydrating first before being added to your skillet.
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| Soy TVP Crumbles |
Play with ingredients: If you study the recipes you'll see that the premise is the same: A pasta or rice, a meat/ protein, a sauce packet, some times a can of vegetables. Once you get the hang of it, you can go "off script" so to speak and start making your own to suit your taste!
I love that you can control the ingredients (whole wheat pasta, no msg, reduced salt, sugar, etc) as well as the cost. Yet you get the benefits of a quick and speedy dinner on those busy nights!
What if you skipped the traditional rice in the "rice" recipes and now added in steamed cauliflower rice at the end? Or added zucchini or spaghetti squash at the end of the recipe instead of pasta in the "pasta" recipes? So feel free to play around with your kits!
Let's get started: The basic premise for all of them is to create the pantry kits by assembling the dry ingredients together. In a ziplock gallon size bag, add in the pasta or rice, the canned items and mix up the sauce packets in a sandwich bag, and put the sauce packets in the bag as well. Staple the recipe to the outside of the bag and store until ready to use.
Here are the printable recipes
Cheeseburger Helper Pantry Kit
Pantry Kit: (staple a copy of this recipe to outside of gallon bag)
In gallon sized bag place:
1 ½ cups dry elbow macaroni. Set aside.
Sauce Packet: (mix the below list in a sandwich sized bag. Seal & store in the gallon bag w/other ingredients)
: 3 Tbsp. dry milk
1 Tbsp corn starch
2 teaspoons of taco seasoning
1 teaspoon each: onion powder, garlic powder and sugar
Fresh Ingredients:
1 lb. ground beef or turkey
3 cups hot water
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
To Cook Cheeseburger Helper
Brown ground meat in a large skillet. Drain. Add hot water, and pasta and sauce packet from pantry kit. Bring mixture to a boil. Cover and simmer on low about 12 minutes, stirring occasionally, until pasta is tender. In the last few minutes of cook time, stir in the cheese; cover the pan again. When the pasta is tender and the cheese is melted, turn off the heat and uncover. Let mixture stand uncovered, about 5 minutes . (this will help thicken the skillet dinner.)
Taco Beef Helper Pantry Kit
Pantry Kit: (staple a copy of this recipe to outside of gallon bag)
In gallon sized bag place:
One sealed (unopened) can of diced tomatoes
1 cup of uncooked instant brown rice.
Set aside.
Sauce Packet: (mix the below list in a sandwich sized bag. Seal & store in the gallon bag w/other ingredients)
3 Tbsp. dry milk
1 Tbsp corn starch
2 teaspoons of taco seasoning
1 teaspoon each: onion powder, garlic powder and sugar
Fresh Ingredients:
1 lb. ground beef or turkey
2 ½ cups got water
1 cup brown rice
1 ½ cups shredded cheese
Tortilla chips (optional)
To Cook Taco Beef Helper
Brown Ground meat. Drain. Add hot water and contents fro m the pantry kit. (canned tomatoes drained, rice and sauce packet). Stir together and bring to a boil. Cover and simmer on low for about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally, until rice is cooked. In the last few minutes of cook time, stir in cheese. Cover the pan for the final few minutes of cook time. When rice is done and cheeses is melted. Let mixture stand uncovered for about 5 minutes before serving, this will help thicken the sauce.
Salisbury Beef Helper Pantry Kit
Pantry Kit: (staple a copy of this recipe to outside of gallon bag)
In gallon sized bag place:
1 ½ cups egg noodles.
Set aside
Sauce Packet: (mix the below list in a sandwich sized bag. Seal & store in the gallon bag w/other ingredients)
2/3 cup dry milk
1 Tbsp. corn starch
1 tsp. each: onion powder, garlic powder, and sugar, ½ tsp. Pepper
Fresh Ingredients:
1 lb. ground beef or turkey
3 cups hot water
½ tsp. Worcestershire sauce
To Cook Salisbury Beef Helper
Brown Ground beef in a large skillet. Drain. Add hot water, worcestershire sauce, and contents of pantry kit (noodles and sauce packet). Cover and simmer on low about 12 minutes, stirring occasionally, until pasta is tender. Turn off the heat and uncover. Let mixture stand for about 5 minutes. Mixture will thicken as it stands.
Chili Mac Helper Pantry Kit:
Pantry Kit: (staple a copy of this recipe to outside of gallon bag)
In gallon sized bag place:
1 ½ cups elbow macaroni
1 can diced tomatoes
Optional: 1 6 oz. can tomatoe paste (if you like your chili mac abit more tomato saucy)
Sauce Packet: (mix the below list in a sandwich sized bag. Seal & store in the gallon bag w/other ingredients)
⅔ cup powdered milk
1 Tablspoon Corn starch
1 Tablspoon Chili Powder (adjust to your preference of hotness)
1 teaspoon each: Onion Powder, garlic, salt and sugar
Fresh Ingredients:
1 lb. ground beef or turkey
1 lb. ground beef or turkey
3 cups hot hater
½ -1 cup shredded cheddar or jack cheese.
To Cook Chili Mac:
Brown ground meat and drain grease. Add hot water, macaroni, drained tomatoes, tomato paste and sauce packet. Bring to a boil. Cover and simmer on low heat about 12 minutes, stirring occasionally, until pasta is tender. In the last few minutes of cook time add the cheese, turn off heat and let mixture stand uncovered about 5 minutes. Sauce will thicken as it stands.
Lasagna Helper Pantry Kit:
Pantry Kit: (Store the following in a gallon sized ziplock bag and attach this recipe to the outside of bag)
1 ½ cups egg noodles
1 can stewed or diced tomatoes
1 6 oz. can tomato paste
Sauce Packet: (mix the following in a sandwich baggie, seal and store in the gallon bag w/other ingredients)
⅔ cup powdered milk
1 Tablspoon each: Corn Starch, Italian Seasoning
1 teaspoon each: onion powder, garlic, salt sugar
Fresh Ingredients:
1 1lb. ground beef or turkey
1 1lb. ground beef or turkey
3 cups hot water
½-1 cup shredded cheese: jack or mozzarella
To Cook Lasagna Helper:
Brown ground meat and drain grease. Add hot water, noodles, tomatoes,tomato paste and sauce packet. Stir and bring to a boil. Cover and simmer on low heat about 12 minutes, stirring occasionally until pasta is tender. In the last few minutes of cook time, add the cheese, turn off the heat and let mixture stand uncovered about 5 minutes. Sauce will thicken as it stands.
Potato Stroganoff Pantry Kit:
Pantry Kit: (Store the following items in a gallon sized zip lock bag and attach this recipe to the outside)
1 can diced or sliced potatoes, Optional : one small can sliced mushrooms,
Pantry Kit: (Store the following items in a gallon sized zip lock bag and attach this recipe to the outside)
1 can diced or sliced potatoes, Optional : one small can sliced mushrooms,
Sauce Packet: (mix the following in a sandwich sized bag. Seal and place in gallon bag along w/ other ingredients)
⅔ cup powdered milk
1 Tablspoon: Corn starch
2 teaspoons: Garlic powder
1 teaspoon: onion powder, parsley, salt, sugar
½ teaspoon pepper
Fresh Ingredients:
1 lb. ground beef or turkey
1 lb. ground beef or turkey
3 cups hot water
½ cup sour cream (optional)
To Make Potato Stroganoff:
Brown meat and drain grease. Add in potatoes, hot water, mushrooms and sauce packet. Stir and bring to a boil. Cover and simmer on low heat about 12 minutes stirring occasionally until potatoes or tender. Turn off the heat. Stir in the sour cream (optional). Let stroganoff sit uncovered 5 minutes. sauce will thicken as it sits.
Brown meat and drain grease. Add in potatoes, hot water, mushrooms and sauce packet. Stir and bring to a boil. Cover and simmer on low heat about 12 minutes stirring occasionally until potatoes or tender. Turn off the heat. Stir in the sour cream (optional). Let stroganoff sit uncovered 5 minutes. sauce will thicken as it sits.
Cheese Jambalaya Pantry Kit:
Pantry Kit: (Store the following items in a gallon sized zip lock bag and attach this recipe to the outside)
1 cup instant rice
1 can diced or stewed tomatoes ( I used rotel tomatos for abit for “kick”)
1 6 oz. can tomato paste
Sauce Packet: (mix and store in a sandwich sized bag. Seal & place in the gallon bag with other ingredients)
⅔ cup powdered milk
1 Tablespoon: cornstarch
2 teaspoons chili powder
1 teaspoon: basil, onion powder, garlic powder, salt and sugar
Fresh Ingredients:
1 lb. meat: Choose from sliced kielbasa/sausage, or ground beef or sausage or even cubed chicken
1 lb. meat: Choose from sliced kielbasa/sausage, or ground beef or sausage or even cubed chicken
3 cups hot water
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
To make Jambalaya:
Brown meat, (or if using kielbasa slice kielbasa and place in the skillet) drain grease, add in the rice, tomatoes,tomato paste water, and sauce packet. Bring to a boil. cover and simmer on low approximately 20 minutes, stirring occasionally until rice is tender. Uncover and turn off the heat. Stir in the cheese. Let Jambalaya sit for about 5 minutes. The sauce will thicken as it sits.
