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OLD SCHOOL SPAGHETTI FROM THE BOX A 1970s Favorite Meal of Mine with Ground Beef
May 11, 2026
OLD SCHOOL SPAGHETTI FROM THE BOX A 1970s Favorite Meal of Mine
#spaghetti #meals #catherinesplates #groundbeefrecipe
recipe: https://catherinesplates.com/1970s-old-school-spaghetti/
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0:00
Hi everyone, welcome back. I am
0:02
Katherine with Katherine's Plates. Today
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I am going way back to 1970s.
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This right here, Craft Spaghetti
0:15
Classic. How many of y'all remember
0:18
this? I remember this as my first
0:21
spaghetti that I've ever had. All right.
0:24
And that at some point it went to
0:27
homemade spaghetti sauce, jarred
0:29
spaghetti sauce or whatever. But when I
0:32
think of spaghetti, I get taken back 50
0:35
years, about 50 years to write there in
0:39
the 1970s. My mom made this. So I did
0:43
talk to my mom and I had her going back
0:46
50 years. She's like, "What? My gosh."
0:48
She goes, "That was a long time ago."
0:49
I'm like, "Yeah." and something brought
0:52
it back to my attention and I was like,
0:56
I gotta make this
0:58
and I want to see if this is reminiscent
1:02
of the flavor that I remember as a child
1:06
cuz I would have been a child. Now, the
1:09
box comes,
1:11
it's an 8 oz box, and there's the
1:14
spaghetti in there, which we're going to
1:15
cook. And then it has a little seasoning
1:19
packet.
1:21
It's called the sauce mix. And then the
1:24
Parmesan cheese. Why do I remember this?
1:28
So, talking to my mom,
1:31
she bulked up the dish because there was
1:33
four of us. my mom, my dad, my brother,
1:36
and me
1:38
eating this box of spaghetti here. So,
1:39
she had to bulk it up with things. And
1:42
now, the directions for this just call
1:45
for making this with the sauce.
1:48
My mom put ground beef in it to bulk it
1:51
up. And then also, she added onion and
1:54
any kind of bell pepper that she had,
1:57
maybe some squash, some zucchini,
1:59
whatever they had because they did have
2:00
a garden back then, too. So, everything
2:03
went in there. And then she said we
2:04
would eat it with a side salad and also
2:08
garlic bread. Now, if you know the
2:11
1970s, you probably remember the bread,
2:14
just a loaf of bread, and you would just
2:16
butter the slices, sprinkle some garlic
2:19
salt or garlic powder on it, and then
2:21
pop it in the oven, right? And get it
2:22
nice and toasty. That was the garlic
2:25
bread. I remember that, too. All right,
2:28
you guys. So, what I'm going to do is
2:31
since my water is coming to a boil back
2:33
there, I'm going to go ahead and start
2:34
cooking the spaghetti. And then in the
2:37
meantime, we're going to put it all
2:39
together with the ground beef and the
2:41
peppers and onions. Now, if you remember
2:44
this and I'm taking you back many, many,
2:47
many years, let me know down in the
2:48
comments. We would love to hear from
2:50
you. or if there was another brand of
2:53
spaghetti that you made that helped you
2:56
get through because my parents were busy
2:59
at that time, always working, and this
3:01
was a quick meal at night for us instead
3:04
of simmering things all day long. Hey,
3:08
that's what I remember. So, let's see if
3:10
it takes me back.
3:14
All right, I'm going to show you the
3:15
spaghetti,
3:17
y'all.
3:22
That's the size of the spaghetti. It
3:24
fits my hand right there. Right. And
3:28
then we have a whole box of it. I'm
3:31
trying to get y'all to see in there, but
3:33
I'll put it into the pot and you'll see
3:34
it there.
3:40
All right, let's see what we get out of
3:41
there.
3:46
That much? We'll see if that is worthy
3:49
of a fourperson family.
3:55
All right, I'm going to push it down.
3:57
We're going to cook this per the
3:58
directions on the back of the package.
4:02
And it says, "Bring a large pot of water
4:04
to a boil, add the spaghetti, stir it
4:06
in, and then cook for 10 to 12 minutes
4:08
until tender, stirring occasionally. And
4:12
then we'll drain it.
4:17
So, I'll go ahead and get my timer set.
4:19
We'll do 10 minutes and check it.
4:24
All right, let's start on that sauce.
4:29
All right, I'm just going to heat up my
4:31
pan to a mediumigh heat. Then, I'm going
4:33
to add in my one pound of ground beef.
4:39
Sometimes it was all about bulking up
4:41
the dish, right?
4:43
and she remembers that we did the ground
4:45
beef.
4:46
Now, what's funny is my mom is a
4:49
vegetarian.
4:50
She didn't eat meat products, but she
4:53
ate this without the meat. So, she had
4:56
cook the whole sauce and then strain out
4:58
some of the juice to put on her
4:59
spaghetti separately, and then the rest
5:02
went to us with the the meat in it. All
5:05
right, I'm just going to use a spatula,
5:08
break it down, and then we'll just start
5:11
cooking it
5:12
till it gets nice and browned up. And in
5:16
the meantime, we're going to cut up a
5:18
yellow and a bell pepper. All right, I'm
5:21
going to chop these up into small pieces
5:23
and add it to the ground beef and let
5:24
them cook all at the same time. Now, I'm
5:27
using the red bell pepper cuz that's
5:29
what I have in my refrigerator. I
5:31
thought I had a green one in there, but
5:33
I think I used it for something else.
5:37
So, the red one's totally fine. I'm just
5:40
testing the waters here and seeing if I
5:43
remember the flavor of this versus what
5:46
I normally cook this day and age for my
5:51
spaghetti sauce. All right, I'm going to
5:53
go ahead now and dice the onion. You
5:54
know how to do that. So, I'm going to go
5:56
ahead and have that done and then we'll
5:57
add it to the ground beef.
6:03
Now, this was just a whole yellow onion.
6:06
It'll melt down in there.
6:10
I'm going to finish cooking up the
6:11
ground beef till it's no longer pink.
6:14
And then those onions, we want to cook
6:15
down until they're nice and soft with
6:17
those peppers. It'll just take a few
6:19
minutes. Now, my spaghetti is done. And
6:22
I'm just going to drain it and then set
6:24
it off to the side for just a second.
6:25
I'm going to put a little bit of oil or
6:27
some butter into it just to keep the
6:29
strands from being stuck together. Now,
6:33
do y'all remember having to take a piece
6:36
of spaghetti and then you just kind of
6:38
toss it onto your cabinet or your wall.
6:41
If it stuck, then it was a done
6:43
spaghetti, right? All right. I'm not
6:46
going to do that step, but I do know
6:47
it's done. I gave it a try. So, we'll
6:49
drain that and then we'll finish off the
6:51
sauce. Once your meat is all browned up
6:54
and the onions and peppers are done,
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just go ahead and drain it, whichever
6:57
way you do, and then meet me back over
7:00
here. Now, the original recipe calls for
7:04
tomato paste and water. There's also an
7:07
option on the back of the package where
7:09
you can use tomato sauce and a little
7:12
bit of water. So, we're going to do the
7:13
tomato sauce, which is 16 oz.
7:17
And then you're going to add in
7:19
a/4 cup of water.
7:23
So, we'll add that in. Now, my mom also
7:26
would bulk it up with a can of tomatoes
7:29
and chop them up really good.
7:32
And we got rid of that and add that. If
7:36
you want to add mushrooms, you can add
7:38
mushrooms to it. I don't think she did
7:40
though because I didn't like mushrooms.
7:43
So,
7:47
let's bring that over here. All right.
7:50
I've drained the ground beef. The
7:51
peppers or onions are nice and softened
7:52
down. So, let's go ahead and add the
7:55
tomato sauce.
7:58
Oh my gosh.
8:02
And I think I remember my mom doing
8:03
this, y'all. Yeah.
8:07
All right. Here's our seasoning packet.
8:09
Well, they call it a tangy Italian herb
8:12
spice sauce mix. So, we'll add that in.
8:15
Then, we'll give that a stir. All right.
8:18
Let's mix that in.
8:21
We're going to lower the heat to a low
8:23
setting. We're going to cook this for 10
8:26
minutes. Let it simmer all together and
8:28
get all those flavors in.
8:32
Some other favorites that I remember
8:34
back in the day that came from a box was
8:37
noodles Romanoff. Do y'all remember
8:39
that? I make that homemade version now
8:43
with egg noodles and then cheese, sour
8:45
cream, chicken broth, and some
8:46
seasonings, especially paprika in there.
8:49
And I think I've almost replicated it
8:51
with my mom's help. We were always
8:53
making it because we don't think they
8:55
have the boxes anymore. She would make
8:58
that and then also she would take
9:00
scallop potatoes and bulk that up with
9:03
hot dogs. Who remembers that?
9:06
I do. I think I took that into when I
9:09
had kids and I fed that to them also.
9:12
All right, when your sauce is thickened
9:14
up a little bit and all those flavors
9:16
have merged together, we're going to
9:18
take it off the heat. It says to place
9:21
this on a serving platter, the
9:23
spaghetti, and then pour the sauce over
9:25
it and then top with the cheese.
9:28
I'm going to add the spaghetti to the
9:29
sauce.
9:31
Give it a good mix. Let all those
9:34
flavors and the sauce just get right on
9:36
into the spaghetti. I remember tongs
9:39
being in the picture. So, I'm gonna do
9:42
that. I definitely remember tongs,
9:46
the oldfashioned tongs. Now, I have
9:48
these right here, but I remember the
9:50
oldfashioned tongs.
9:52
So, we're just going to mix this all in.
9:55
Get that sauce all in there. All right.
9:58
She would put in some parsley. I'm going
10:01
to because I don't have any green bell
10:03
pepper in there. So, I'm going to give
10:04
it some color. Get that mixed up in
10:07
there.
10:12
That sauce will plump up that spaghetti
10:14
even more. Take your little packet of
10:17
grated Parmesan cheese. We're going to
10:19
sprinkle that on top. And I'm going to
10:21
go in with just a little bit more
10:22
parsley put on top for a beautiful
10:24
picture for you guys.
10:27
There you go. What do you think? Boom.
10:29
Let's give this a try. Hi. I want to see
10:30
if it takes me back.
10:34
Who's ready for some spaghetti and meat
10:37
sauce? Doesn't that look beautiful?
10:46
Piece of that meat.
10:49
All right, let's give that a try.
11:01
Wow. It's warm. It's comforting. Isn't
11:04
that what we always want these days?
11:07
Something delicious.
11:10
One pack.
11:12
Okay. So, this came in a three-pack on
11:15
Amazon and I have it linked in my recipe
11:17
blog, kathernflakes.com, under the
11:19
Amazon store link in that tab. You can
11:22
find it there. If you're interested in
11:24
these again, if you remember and you
11:25
want them again. Now, the three-pack. I
11:27
made one right here. I'm going to give
11:28
one to my son Joseph for him and Megan
11:30
to make and one for my daughter Rihanna.
11:34
She can make Chris a nice meal with that
11:36
one night. They love spaghetti, so why
11:40
not? All right, you guys. This was
11:43
delicious. It takes me back. Oh my gosh,
11:46
this was the first spaghetti meal I ever
11:49
remember.
11:52
Not for many, many years, but after
11:53
that, my mom was making sauces, homemade
11:56
and stuff like that, and that's where I
11:57
learned it from. We're even using the
12:00
jarred sauces and doctoring them up. All
12:03
right, all it needs is a piece of garlic
12:05
bread and a side salad, and you have a
12:08
delicious meal for your family. All
12:10
right, you guys, tell me what you think
12:11
of my fun video today. I had to try this
12:14
one for you today and bring it back
12:15
because, oh, I was like, why not show it
12:18
to y'all? I'll see y'all on the next
12:20
episode. Bye. I'm here for this.
12:25
Here. Here. Here.
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