How long can you store unopened Hamburger Helper?

[Justmeinflorida]

Hi,

Publix is having a great sale right now on Hamburger Helper w/q's they will be .46 Now I don't use a ton of it but I do get those moments when I really don't feel like cooking and Hamburger Helper is very convenient, I'm seriously considering picking up 18 boxes on separate trips so I don't shelf clear of course.

So how long can you store it?

[shelleyf]

I don't know for sure but I think it lasts a year or longer after it expires. We hate it so I don't buy it.

[CSchunk]

I would think it would last a very long time, but I am always concerned about bugs for long term storage... I remember living in FL as a kid, those little terrors got into everything.

The price isn't good enough for me to say you should stock up heavily though, definitely not a once in a lifetime kind of deal.

[$Saving!]

If you have a food saver, you could shrink wrap the contents and put the instructions taped to the outside if you planned on keeping it past it's expiration date, which I believe is several months at least.

Or you could make it up and then freeze for future meals.

[jkeating]

I put mine in my chest freezer which I've never done before.

I do freeze my cereal because I don't want to get those flour moths.

Not sure how the pasta in it will fare but I'm hopeful.

[Doglover8180]

I throw all those box food items out after the exp. date on the box.... I don't risk it when it comes to food - I follow dates to the T.

[Gertie2u]

Those dates assume a certain set of circumstances. With a box of Hamburger Helper, the expiration date assumes you purchase it from the store and then place it on a shelf at home.

Like you, we don't use hamburger helper very often, and only for convenience. I have tried two different things in the past to store Hamburger Helper. Once I opened up the frozen veggies I would be cooking with them - I always add in some frozen vegetables like broccoli in the cheesy mac version - and poured the contents of the box inside. Then I dropped the pouch in and re-sealed with my vacuum sealer. When I cooked them up 3 or 4 months later, they were just fine. As you would naturally expect, the contents kept longer frozen. Unfortunately, we like our veggies a bit on the al dente side, so cooking all together for the full time left them a tad overcooked for our tastes.

The next time I again opened up the vegetables. Being forewarned, I pressed a vacuum seal right up by the vegetable contents. I emptied the box contents into the top, added the packet, and again sealed so that I had something that looked like two bags attached together. When I cooked them, I could then place the Hamburger Helper in first and add the vegetables a bit later so that they were not cooked so much. Worked just awesome, and they don't seem to have suffered any ill effects from having been frozen that way for several months.

I never expected the dry pasta would not freeze just fine because my grandmother used to make homemade noodles each fall. She would dry them carefully on trays under light tea towels, then freeze them in order to have homemade noodles all winter and they were just fine.

[3timesoccermom]

If you have the space I'd freeze it, like jkeating mentioned. We always freeze cereal, cookies, chips, brownie and cake mixes, tons of stuff like that. I don't think there will be a bit of a problem but of course not everyone has the freezer space.

If you're concerned about moths getting in you can always get those great big sealable bags and store them in those.

[Merczilla]

I just used a box of Chicken Helper I found on the shelf a couple days ago. It expired in July 2009. lmao I don't buy it either, as most versions have too much sodium and MSG in them. The seasonings may not have been at peak, but it didn't bother anybody. I don't tell my family if it's expired because my kids won't eat it if it's even one day expired. If my oldest son knew he was eating peanut butter (Adams stir kind) that expired 5 years ago, he'd probably have a cow. It's just fine. lol

[434Teresa]

Dates on food dont really mean that much..It is more of a best by date then meaning the food is not any good any more past the date.

The FDA allows dent can stores to sell can,box and bottle foods way past the date, i mean years past the dates on the them. They say not to relay on date as much as your nose and taste buds. Even foods with 'in' dates could be bad.

The only things I find that dont last much past the date on them is frig items.