A COUPLE OF weeks ago, I asked readers what they are doing to help stem the rising cost of food. Were some putting Hamburger Helper back on the menu? Here are several readers’ thoughts that offer tips to help you with your menus.

* Hamburger Helper never left Margaret McGee’s table, she said, but what’s she’s found most effective on a budget “is to stock plenty of frozen, quick-fix meals that can be on the table in less than 15 minutes.”

With three children involved in lots of activities, “sometimes it’s just easier to pull through a drive-through,” she said.

When she needs to prepare a home-cooked meal, one-dish meals such as Stouffer’s Skillet Sensations or Bertolli pasta meals do the trick.

“I can add a salad and have a meal for less than $10,” she said. To make dinner all the more economical, she waits for buy-one, get-one-free specials at her favorite supermarket, Publix.

“I stick them in the freezer and use them when time is at a premium,” she added.

* Barbara, who gave no last name in her e-mail, said she never uses Hamburger Helper. Instead, she makes her one-dish hamburger meals from scratch.

“They taste much better,” she said. “We buy our staple groceries at Wal-Mart because they are cheaper. We gave up Mayfield milk for store-brand milk. I find myself sometimes going for store-brand items that maybe I didn’t use before. But we do splurge at Fresh Market. It would be hard to give them up.

“The only time my husband and I have to eat out is Sunday afternoons, and that is where we cut back,” she continued. “We eat at home now. Another cutback is to rarely rent movies anymore. If prices continue to escalate, I’ll probably come up with other ways to economize.”

* Lynn Dwight offers a number of ways her family cuts back while helping the environment, too.

First, her family stopped buying bottled water. It’s too expensive, and the plastic bottles don’t break down, Mrs. Dwight said. “Instead of bottled water, we use tap water with a filter. If we need water to go, we use reusable bottles over and over. This has saved us at least $24 a month. The filter cost is covered in one month. The rest of the year, well, think of those savings.”

Mrs. Dwight’s favorite cutback is on salad dressing. “I found recipes to make my own, and anyone can do it. Main ingredients for nearly all dressings are right in our cupboards. Mayonnaise, vinegar and oil. Homemade Caesar salad dressing is so much better than from a bottle and so easy, I don’t know why I was even buying the products in the first place. This is not limited to salad dressings. I now make my own cocktail sauce, tartar sauce and even spaghetti sauce from homegrown tomatoes.

Boxed pasta salads are off of her grocery list, too. “I always have some bag of pasta. Why pay for the box, pasta (and) seasoning mix when most of us have it at home already? Hamburger Helper no more!” she said. “We all generally have the ingredients, like pasta and seasonings, so why buy when its already there?”

She’s no longer using store-bought croutons either. “I just make homemade croutons,” she said. “Less waste of bread, no buying of the croutons and no leftover packaging. And they taste better than from a bag!”

In addition, Mrs. Dwight sent along a helpful household cleaning tip:

Replace harmful cleaners with vinegar and water. It makes a good window cleaner and is a good way to also recycle newspaper without going through a roll of paper towels,” she said.

“Again, just more money to be saved at the store and being good to our Mother Earth,” she said. “I once heard someone say, if your grandmother wouldn’t know what it is, or couldn’t pronounce it, we shouldn’t be eating it. I think it’s hard for many of us to understand the concept, but with the rising prices of everything, we should take a second look at how Grandma used to do it.”

I couldn’t agree more.

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