Make your own "Hamburger Helper™"

Those prepackaged meals in a box are handy when you have a starving family looking at you and whining. However, the cost of those convenience meals keep going up and up,, This doesn't mention the contents of the package with all of it's preservatives, no where near the quality food you want to feed your family.

Here is a mix you can put together to have on hand in just such a case..."no preservatives added!"

The directions are simple. You will assemble all the dry ingredients and mix well. Place them in a zipper bag until needed. These can also be stored in mason jars normally used for canning or preserving foods. I like to put them in those and put the plastic reusable lids on them.

Beefy Mac Skillet Dinner

1/4 cup dried chopped onions
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1/4 tsp chili powder
1 cup uncooked elbow macaroni

1 large can of diced tomatoes (28 ounces)

Place the first 5 ingredients into your storage container (jar or zippered bag) and store until needed. This is your "packaged dinner."

To use...simply brown 1 pound of ground beef in a skillet until done. Drain off fat and set aside. Pour the tomatoes into the skillet, add your "packaged dinner" and mix well. Add the ground beef back in and bring the mixture to a simmer. Cook until macaroni are as tender as you like.

Have a big family? Double the recipe and feed the whole crowd! The photo is a "double-batch" because of our large family.

Keep watching...I have many more recipes to build a well-stocked pantry.

Have a great day!

Mavis D.