After watching an episode of The Bear and seeing Sydney elevate an ordinary box of hamburger helper into a gourmet worthy dish, I knew I had to create a lesson and cooking challenge lab around it. Thus, Elevate the Box: Remixing Hamburger Helper was born!

Set

• Ask students if they are familiar with the brand/product Hamburger Helper. There will probably be many who are. Poll the class for their favorite flavor profile? Also, ask what it is about Hamburger Helper that makes them or their family like it or use it. Answers will vary.
• Did you know that Hamburger Helper has been around for a long time and has gone in and out of popularity? Did you know that Hamburger Helper is currently making a comeback?  Any guesses as to why? Let’s find out…
• Assign the article from the New York Times titled, “Hamburger Helper Sales Rise as Americans Try to Stretch Their Food Dollars” and have students answer the corresponding questions. This assignment can be collected for a grade or gone over in class; whichever works be for you.

Materials

• iPad or Laptop
• Projector & Screen
• Hamburger Helper (affiliate links below)
  • Beef Pasta
  • Three Cheese
  • Cheesy Enchilada
  • Deluxe Beef Stroganoff

Activities

• Show students a clip from The Bear showing Sydney elevating an ordinary box of Hamburger Helper, turning it into a a better version of the original.
• Ask students to think about how they might elevate a box of Hamburger Helper to make it tastier and/or more nutritious as that will be their cooking challenge!
• Place students into their cooking groups and let the unboxing begin! Provide each group with a planning sheet to complete as they brainstorm their ideas.
  • Give each group a box of Hamburger Helper. You can decide the flavor version based on what can be found in your area. Just be sure that all of the groups receive the same flavor. This is a great way to clean out the odds and ends that accumulate from prior labs. If you are okay with students adding additional ingredients from the store, you may want to give them a budget to stay within.
  • Offer students access to your extra ingredients, condiments, herbs and spices so they can see what options are available as they plan their enhanced version of the mix.
  • Remind students to consider all of the prompts as they remix their recipe.
• After students have remixed their recipe, it’s time for them to head to the kitchens to begin preparations.
• This is a great challenge to invite staff members in to be judges for the elevated Hamburger Helper creations. Students present and explain their new remixed recipe to the judges and they complete rating forms to decide on which lab groups’ version was the best. Or you can give them categories to rank their preferences under such as most creative, most nutritious or best flavor. How you choose to do this is up to you. Of course, a possible prize could be a box of Hamburger Helper (same flavor) for students to take home and recreate or reelevate for their own family.
• To conclude the lesson and lab, ask students to complete an exit prompt to turn in as they leave the class. The prompt: What did you learn about food, creativity, and consumer choices from this lesson and lab? Note: The exit slip could be answered on an index or done digitally through a Google Classroom prompt.
• Optional Extensions
  • You could have students create a new “box” for their remixed recipe, including a nutrition label. 
  • You could have students cost out their remixed recipe and compare it to the original version.
  • You could have students create an unprocessed version of Hamburger Helper by making it completely from scratch. They would have to have either advanced skills to do this or a basic formula to follow.

Attachments

• Hamburger Helper Article & Prompts (PDF)
• Elevated Hamburger Helper Planning Sheet (PDF)
• Article (PDF)