Getting a good hamburger real quick, without the drive-thru

Want a great hamburger quick?  How about one that comes right from your freezer?  Sound good?  Then you should check out the Walmart great value brand hamburgers.  

They have the bacon cheeseburger, the cheeseburger, the hamburger, and the mini cheeseburgers.  All the hamburgers come 2 sandwiches to a box, and the mini-cheeseburgers come 4 sandwiches to a box.  At our local Walmart, the bacon cheeseburgers cost $3.76 for a box of 2 burgers.  We (hubby and me) consider that to be a pretty good value.  The bacon cheeseburger consists of the sesame seed bun, a slice of bacon, cheese slice, and burger patty.  Of course the cheeseburger has burger, bun, and cheese; and the hamburger has burger and bun.  The mini-cheeseburgers aren't on a sesame seed bun, but are on just a regular bun.


Since my husband and I discovered them, we keep them as a regular staple in our freezer.  We like them a lot.  They cost about the same as a burger that you would get from most any drive-thru, or even cheaper.  And we think they are just as good as any drive-thru burger you can get.  Add some of your favorite frozen french fries, and you have yourself a burger and fries right from the freezer.  If you are feeding a whole family, it might not be that economical versus homemade burgers; but if you are cooking for 1 or 2 or 3, it is a good deal.  As far as feeding a family at an eat-out place goes, these would more than likely beat the cost of feeding a whole family at a restaurant.  For $2-3 dollars, you can buy a bag of fries that will feed your whole family.  And you would only need 2 boxes of burgers to feed a family of 4.  Approximate cost for feeding a family of 4 burgers and fries this way:  $12-14 dollars.  Add your favorite movie on the tv, and you can have movie and burger and fries for a family of 4 for a cheap price.  


And these aren't wimpy, little burgers either!  These are nice, big, hearty burgers.  With really good meat and buns, and a nice-sized slice of bacon too.  The box directions tell you to microwave the whole thing in the inside plastic package.  (You open one end of it and microwave for a minute or so, read box directions.)  But I want to share with you how we fix them.  I think it makes for a much better burger.  If you fix them per box directions, then the juice from the thawing & cooking meat will slightly soggify your bun.  But I have developed a method of fixing them that avoids that.  It involves taking the burger apart and microwaving the parts separately.  So here is what I do:


Take the burger out of the package, and take it apart.  Separate the bun from the burger, cheese, and bacon (if it is a bacon cheeseburger).  Take just the bun, wrap it in a paper towel, and microwave it for 30-40 seconds on high.  Then take your bun and put it in your toaster, providing you have a wide slot toaster that accommodates buns.  If you do not,  you could put it under your oven broiler for a moment or two. The purpose of this is to finish thawing the bun and toast it a bit.  For if you microwave any bread too long, it will make the bread tough and chewy.  


Then, place your burger on a paper plate, with the cheese and bacon (if your sandwich has it) on top of the meat patty. Microwave this for 1 minute at high power.  Now add your favorite condiments and assemble your hamburger, and eat.


We like doing it this way because it seems to result in a better tasting burger.  As far as condiments, I would recommend your traditional ketchup, mustard, and pickles.  My favorite pickles for hamburgers and other sandwiches is Vlasic ovals:

These are nice, generous size pickles; and they have a good dill pickle taste too.  


So now you can keep the stuff to satisfy your burger and fries cravings right in your own freezer, with no drive-thru to deal with.  Why not plan a burger and fries and movie night for you family instead of going out.  Or perhaps burger and fries, and then a board game.  This is also great for folks who cook for just 1 or 2 or 3 as well.  You can have easy to fix burger and fries in your freezer any time you want.  And this is much quicker than buying the ground beef and cooking it. I'm not against cooking, by all means no!  But I do love all the good convenience foods available out there now, and like to share them with others too.


So here are some links for you:


Great Value hamburger


Great Value cheeseburger


Great Value mini-cheeseburgers


Great Value bacon cheeseburgers


Vlasic ovals hamburger slices

-- good food and good eating -- jd --



** July 13th, 2011 **
Have an additional note for you on this.  I have decided that the cheese slice that comes on the hamburger sort of tastes like cardboard cheese.  So I have started throwing it away.  Here is what I now do:

Fix the bun as directed above.  Throw away the cheese slice that comes on the burger.  Microwave the burger with the bacon laid on top of it for 30 seconds.  Then add your own cheese slice.  I used Kraft Velveeta slices.  Microwave it for an additional 30 seconds.  Place on toasted bun and top as desired.

-- jd --