I have been using Betty Crocker’s Helper meals for 25 years, and they continue to be a staple in our home. We love all of the varieties of Hamburger, Chicken and Tuna Helper.
When I am pressed for time, don’t feel well, or simply don’t have the energy to cook a full meal, I find Betty Crocker’s Tuna Helper a nice substitute for my home cooking. My family loves Tuna Noodle casserole, and while Betty can’t compete with my recipe, she does make a satisfying meal.
It’s So Easy!
If you have never used any of the prepackaged Helper meals, you should give them a try. There are two methods of preparing the Tuna Helpers, our favorite is the Creamy Parmesan. You can use the skillet method or the oven method. While the skillet method is easier and faster, I think the overall taste is better using the oven, so that’s how I usually prepare it.
If you are using the skillet, you mix the dry pasta noodles, hot water, milk, margarine, and tuna fish. After it boils you reduce the heat, cover and simmer six minutes! Remove from heat and sprinkle with the bread crumb topping, and you are DONE!
The oven method is similar, you stir all the above mentioned ingredients together in an ungreased 2-quart casserole dish, cover and bake for 20 minutes, remove from oven and sprinkle on topping. It’s that easy.
My Thoughts
My husband does not really care for seafood of any kind, but he loves my tuna noodle casserole. He’s not quite as fond of the Tuna Helper, (he’d prefer homemade), but he doesn’t complain when I make it. My daughter and I find it very tasty. I usually add some thawed frozen peas and maybe a little bit of thyme to the dish, which makes it taste a little more like homemade.
Since my husband has high cholesterol, I always buy the yolk free noodles, even though they are more expensive than regular egg noodles. If you are watching your cholesterol, you’ll be glad to know that the noodles Betty Crocker uses are also yolk free! There are less than 5mg of cholesterol in a serving of this dinner! The calorie and fat content aren’t bad either, the calories equals 260 per serving, while the fat is 3.5g (of which 1.5g is saturated fat and 1g is trans fat.) There are 30g of carbs though, so if you are on a low carb diet, this probably isn’t for you. Other nutrition facts are: 3g sugar, 7g protein, 135 mg postassium, and 800mg sodium (that’s also a little high).
The recipe calls for some ingredients to be supplied by the cook: 1/2 cup of milk, 2 tablespoons of margarine or butter, and 1 can of tunafish. Since the nutrition facts do not state what type of milk the nutrition facts are based on, I called Betty Crocker and inquired. They said it’s based on 2% milk. If you want to keep the fat and calorie count down, you could substitute fat free milk, or I’ve even used half fat free milk and half fat free evaporated milk to give it a little richer taste than if I’d used all fat free milk. The result isn’t bad.
One serving size (1 cup) provides 4% vitamin A, 8% calcium, 8% iron, 20% thiamin, 10% riboflavin, 24% niacin, and 15% folic acid. Niacin, by the way, is known for reducing cholesterol, while folic acid has a whole host of health benefits.
Closing Thoughts
I love the convenience of Tuna Helper! The dish comes out of the oven ready to eat, all I need do is let it sit for 5 minutes and let it thicken. The results are pretty tasty, the sauce is thick and creamy, the noodles come out tender, and the cheese sauce adds a nice twist on our old time favorite Tuna Noodle casserole.
Our grocer has these prepackaged meals on sale quite often, two weeks ago they were only 99 cents! I really stock up when they are that cheap, I never know when I will need a kitchen helper! Betty Crocker used to offer cents off coupons on their Helper meals, but I rarely see them these days. The regular retail price for Tuna Helper at my grocer is $1.99.
Tuna Helper is available in these varieties:
Creamy Broccoli
Fettuccini Alfredo
Creamy Pasta
Creamy Parmesan
Cheesy Pasta
Tuna Tetrazzini
Tuna Melt
