Hamburger Helper is a packaged food product from General Mills, sold as part of the Betty Crocker brand. It consists of boxed dried pasta, with the seasonings contained in a powdered sauce packet. The product line also features products with other starches, such as rice or potatoes. The contents of each box are combined with brownedground beef, water, and, with some varieties, milk to create a complete one-dish meal. There are also variations of the product designed for other meats, such as "Tuna Helper" and "Chicken Helper".
History
The packaged pasta brand "Hamburger Helper" was first introduced in 1971. It was introduced in response to a meat shortage and escalating meat prices. In 2005, Food Network rated it third on its list of "Top Five Fad Foods of 1970". In 2013, the company shortened the brand's name to just "Helper". The Hamburger Helper mascot is "the Helping Hand" or "Lefty"—a four-fingered, left-hand white glove with a face on the palm and a red spherical nose. It often appears in the product's television commercials and on packages.
Pork Helper was introduced in 2003. Varieties included pork fried rice and pork chops with stuffing. The product was discontinued shortly after its introduction.
Hamburger Helper Microwave Singles were introduced in 2006. This product requires water and brief cooking in the microwave to produce a single serving portion of some of the most popular flavors. Chicken Helper flavors were added in 2007 despite the brand being discontinued shortly thereafter. It returned in 2013 as Chicken and Chili Helper.
In 1979, Scott Spiegel wrote, produced and directed a short film entitled Attack of the Helping Hand, which featured a "Hamburger Helper" oven mitt as a killer glove. On April 1, 2016, General Mills commissioned an EP as an April Fools' Day prank, titled Watch the Stove. According to a press release, the EP was produced for General Mills by a team at St. Paul, Minnesota's McNally Smith College of Music. The EP's title is a parody of the Jay-Z and Kanye West collaborative album Watch the Throne. It contains five songs, all of which are about Hamburger Helper. It instantly achieved a viral status, played over four million times on SoundCloud in less than three days, with many listeners finding value in the brand's promotion of younger artists.
