Thursday, April 9, 2009

Frozen Mashed Potatoes

Did you know that you can freeze mashed potatoes? Maybe this is one of those things that everyone else knows, but it's news to me. I discovered this a few months ago and it's great! When I make mashed potatoes, I make a nice big batch. After dinner, I freeze the leftovers. I just put dollops of the potatoes on a cookie sheet and pop them in the freezer. When they are frozen, I put them in a freezer bag.
To reheat, just take out as many of the little frozen potato dollops as you want. This is great if you only want one or 2 servings. You could certainly do this is a microwave, but I usually put them in a small pot with just a tiny bit of water. Heat on low and just whip them up in the pot (I use a wooden spoon) as they defrost and warm. Add more water, just a little at a time, as needed. To me, they taste just like fresh.

If you want to do this with a large quantity of potatoes, try spreading them in a tray (not too thick). Then score lines back and forth through the potatoes to make little squares. When they are frozen, you can just snap them apart into squares to put in baggies. This might be a little quicker than making dollops.

These are cheaper and much tastier than purchased frozen prepared products.

6 comments:

free indeed said...

THanks for this great tip! I didn't know potatoes froze well esp. the mashed type. Now that our family of 8 has dwindled down to 3, with the last one leaving in the fall, this will be a time saver in the kitchen for me with hubby's meals.

Sue said...

So I'm not the only one who didn't know you could do this? I feel like I discovered the wheel or something! It's just soooo easy! Make a big ol' mess of mashed potatoes and freeze them and you can have a serving or two in minutes any time you like! And another note- if you're trying to be s little healthier with your diet, you can use chicken broth instead of milk and butter when you make mashed potatoes. They aren't quite as rich and creamy, but they're very good and way healthier. AND still one more tip... you can do this with mashed sweet potatoes, too.

Lisalou said...

Hum, I didn't know that! Wow!

Joy said...

What a great idea.. I have never heard of that.. I will def try that. Thanks for the tip.

imquilternity said...

Thank you for sharing this wonderful idea! I love mashed potatoes!

Anonymous said...

It's so funny. I was always told that you can't freeze potatoes... well, they meant raw obviously, since they've been freezing mashed potatoes in TV dinners forever. And I've eaten them and still didn't make the connection!

I learned to freeze mashed potatoes and mashed sweet potatoes a while back and I like to use an 8 ounce measuring cup to "form" the potatoes onto a cookie sheet and freeze them that way.

Now I just need to figure out how to freeze mayo and eggs!!

Katina