Looking at the item browser, it looks like a craft of mac’n’cheese gives two 50/25 portions, while a craft of hamburger helper gives 4 30/13 portions. Thus, mac’n’cheese gives a total of 100 nutrition and 50 quench while HH gives 120 nutrition and 52 quench. You can argue whether that’s “worth it”, but it seems like a balance question rather than a bug.