Frozen Potatoes

Tip Tip # 1
Potatoes:

So, usually every month I go on a big grocery shop. During this little spree I buy baby potatoes, the ones that come in the small bags. Sometimes I get fingerling potatoes, which I see a lot of in autumn, but there is such a great variety of 'small' potatoes in the store- all of them are very versatile.

I grab one or two bags, and when I'm lucky, I find 'double bags' which are usually on sale and combine both red and yukon potatoes.

So how does one consume this many potatoes in a short period of time (you can only count on baby potatoes to stay fresh for about fifteen days- beyond that you're facing eyes and black bits)? Well, in my brilliance, I've devised the perfect shopping day for myself which combines organization AND my little grocery list. This is how it goes:

Buy enough baby potatoes to last a month.
Freeze the baby potatoes to prevent eyes.

But, like everything in life, there are steps which one must take less you want to make a muck of things. I froze the potatoes raw and, well, they took nearly two hours to cook. Baby potatoes are small, but they are hard so they take a while to cook in the first place. Cooking the potatoes from frozen is just asking for an extra thirty minutes on top of things.

What I do is as soon as I get home I have the things I want to freeze- before I've even left the house to shop I've cleaned out my freezer and my refrigerator (also helps me make a grocery list based on what we need in the fridge)- and I lay it all out on the counter. I take out my big stock pot and fill it with water. I don't salt the water. I scrub the dirt of my baby potatoes and I take out all of the black bits, anything mushy or protruding, and I rise them off. All of the potatoes go into the pot, and I boil until the potatoes are 3/4 cooked.

(You can tell when that is by sticking a fork into a potato, if it falls apart you've cooked it much too long, and if the fork doesn't easily slide out of the potato and makes a crunching sound on it's way in- the potato needs a bit more time. Keep an eye on it, this part is worth noting.)

Now, there are a couple of reasons why we must let these cool. A lot of people don't believe in letting things go cold before putting them in the freezer, but boiled potatoes ARE hot, so freezing left overs isn't as detrimental as hot potatoes- the potatoes WILL warm up the freezer. Potatoes take a very long time to get cold, and they also let off a lot of steam- condensation turns into ice crystals which makes your food prone to freezer burn. You think only your babies will suffer? Try all of the food around the potatoes that has been warmed the slightest bit.

Let the potatoes cool for at least an hour and a half before bagging them. Bag them in meal sizes: three to four potatoes per a family member. One of the best things about letting the potatoes dry and cool is that they will not stick together in clumps, so you can also easily just grab three or four out of a large bag, but I enjoy the convenience of 'ready counted bags'.

Now, not only will the potatoes be light and fluffy on the inside and crunchy on the outside, next time you go to cook them they will cook in a fraction of the time (15- 20 minutes for roasted potatoes!). No more eyes, no money lost, no more time consuming potatoes.

Here are a few things you can do with your new freezer potatoes (other than save the 3-4 dollars it costs to get frozen baby potatoes in the freezer isle- the bag of potatoes has more than the freezer bags and they only cost $2-3.50, where as the pre-made ones cost roughly around $4-6. You're getting less for your money, people! And you don't know who cleaned those potatoes!):

Make hash browns but slightly defrosting the potatoes (I'm talking 10 minutes, not until they are soft). They are so easy to grate and cut into little squares while semi frozen.

Make roasted potatoes- throw them in with your chicken and by the time it's all done you've got perfectly cooked potatoes (as opposed to when they are still hard while everything else is now slightly mushy *grunt).

Make mini twice baked potatoes- awesome for a party and now a million times more convenient.

Easy sauteed mushrooms, onions, and baby potatoes are a great side dish any time of year. Throw it all into a frying pan!

Potato salad- no boiling on those hot summers days! Defrost and use your favourite potato salad recipe and you're off!

Potato skins/ potato wedges: cut into 1/4 and season, put int the oven and cook for 10 min on 400 c.

Quick mash potatoes- I love my mash with the skins inside, especially yukon gold potato! Try boiling the frozen boiled potatoes in milk for extra creamy and thick mash! If you dont like the skin it's easy enough to take the skin off now that the potatoes are cooked.

(But potato skin is the most nutrient part of the potato! The rest is just starch! Don't skip out on it, and make your kids eat it!)

Believe me, once you've got your hands on these potatoes you'll come up with countless recipes you can make.

Everyone is always so amazed how quickly I can make dinner with 'fresh' ingredients when all it really takes is preparation. All of my organic food and garden gets frozen- I waste nothing this way and I still save the nutrients, flavour, and money that I spent buying expensive produce.

There is no reason to be frivolous and waste hard earned cash on the freezer section of your grocery market, especially not when it comes to 'frozen vegetable medleys', spinach, potatoes, carrots, and peas. What you pay for is convenience and labour, things which you could accomplish in a matter of a half an hour and where you can ensure these things are YOUR choice of produce, washed, and guaranteed by you. There is nothing better for your family, I'm serious!

Whether you're living alone or a family of ten, saving money and accomplishing something that will make your life easier is always appreciated.

Eat up!