>>21517187
That was my first time having Rice•A•Roni and while it ain't great, it's not terrible, either. Certainly decent enough that I might actually pay for it next time (again, we got all those boxes free with l because coupons).
I bought Hamburger Helper for the first time a few years ago and hated it so thoroughly that I've been put off the stuff.
Neither I nor my wife grew up eating much packaged food like frozen pizza or boxed dinner kits so it's all quite novel to us but we've both mostly disliked the stuff we've tried.
The rice and Safeway's store brand pizza are notable exceptions. Other frozen pizza we've had has been bad but we do like deli pizza.
I got a bunch of Newman's Own pizzas for 50¢ each a few years ago because of my couponing, figuring that if we like the generic, the namebrand must be better, especially one like Newman's.
I was wrong.
I was horribly, horribly wrong.
Also, we have a weird Hamburger Helper like kit in the pantry right now that I bought last month for under a dollar. It's somehow shelf stable despite having meat in it. Unlike HH, you just add a cup of water and shove it in the oven in a foiled baking dish. Pasta. Meat. Sauce. Then add the cheese packet near the end and back in the oven it goes, uncovered. Maybe this one will be good.
>Sometimes I just need to make a big batch of something to last the week and add a few veg to balance it out.
I can dig it. With my couponing, I got a bunch of mac n cheese boxes for 17¢ each and those have been generally good. I always add a veg or two. If you're trying to up your five-a-day easily, get some instant noodle that would benefit from a tomato-y broth and swap some of the water out for about ⅔ of a cup of tomato juice. It counts as a five a day. Add some blanched greens and eat your noodle soup with a muchim/namul type side dish.
