Hamburger Helper Qt

amy_marie

So, my fave HB helper is Cheesy Enchilada But I am a bit confused about the calorie count. The package says that 1 cup prepared has 320 cals, 12g fat, etc. The ingredients include 1 lb lean ground beef, 1 cup milk, and 2 1/4 cups water, in addition to the package mix. Although, how lean is the ground beef? And what type of milk?

I normally use Ground Round 85% lean beef and 2% Milk when I make this. Also, I don't make the sour cream topping. So, how can I figure out my calories? And would it be worth the cals to use Almond Breeze Milk instead of 2% ? Please lemme know what yall think, thanks!

courtney_love2001

I use the "as packaged" entry and then add in individual ingredients. For example, the other day I had Helper Stroganoff. I used 1/5 of the whole package of pasta and the pouch of seasonings (the "as packaged" in the database). Then I added however much milk I used for the whole recipe divided by 5, and the same for the meat. I cut out some things too, so it's worth it to me to have to add all the things by hand. I hope this makes sense...It saved me a ton of cals to use really lean ground beef and half the amount of milk that was called for instead of just using what the Hamburger Helper people estimate.

amy_marie

How lean is the ground beef that you use? Using half the amount of milk is a great idea, what kind of milk do you use?
When I split up the ingredients, using 85% lean meat and 2% milk, and add that to the "as packaged" cals, it actually is more than the "as prepared" amount on the box. Maybe I did the math wrong lol

courtney_love2001

I use 80:20 meat (drained really well) and 2% milk. Most of the "as packaged" stuff on the database is already prepared, meaning the meat and milk is already added. You'll have to look at your box under the "as packaged" to get the right numbers. My Stroganoff was 100 cals per cup as packaged and 300 prepared. The people that entered it into the database probably just meant "prepared as packaged" and not the real "as packaged." So confusing!! :laugh: But yeah, using half the milk was no big deal. Still came out creamy and delicious!

amy_marie

Sounds good, thanks for the help