Yummy instant potato find

[Homeless in Canada]

Root vegetables are easy to keep even in warm weather. I stack them in layers inside a milk crate with lots of holes and recycled cardboard in between the layers to absorb the humidity. When you need some rummage through the bin use the softest ones and reorganize with fresh cardboard. Newspaper works too but I don't trust the inks they use.

I like the Knorr sides I add a little extra pasta and some fresh brocoli I find them a little rich and it's an easy way to add some fresh vegetable. Brocoli keeps well I wash it as soon as I buy it and then dry it off good and store in a tupperware with some paper towel. Replace the towel often and you can keep it over a week easily.

We used to buy a pickup truck load of potatoes once a year for like $50 and store them in the basement. They kept for months the trick is to have some paper to absorb the humidity and replace it from time to time and pick out the bad ones.

 

[ssminnow]

I like the Hungry Jack hash browns that come in the little Milk cartons. All ya do is open the carton and add to the fill line with Hot water and let sit for a few minutes. It says on the carton that it is 7 servings so you could probably split it up before you add water or have a friend two over. Tasty with Eggs! Oh don't forget the Bacon.

 

[Dingfelder]

Wow a truckload of taters for 50 bucks? Dang now that's economical! Our local supermarkets try to sell the fresher ones for over a buck a pound, sometimes well over.

 

[ssminnow]

I don't remember anything on that scale but we used to get the spuds by the gunny sack and put them in cellar. We ate a lot of those despicable potato's back in the early 60's

 

[eDJ_]

If you have a cup or so of left over plain mashed potatoes from your dinner,  and about 4 cups of powdered sugar....and a jar of peanut butter...you could make yourself some potato candy. 

If you have some wax paper and a can of veggies that haven't been opened...to use as a rolling pin...you can 
make this confection rather easily and inexpensively.

 

[Homeless in Canada]

Wow a truckload of taters for 50 bucks?  Dang now that's economical!  Our local supermarkets try to sell the fresher ones for over a buck a pound, sometimes well over.

Technically they were sold as animal feed to fatten hogs and cattle but they're perfectly good for people to eat.

Here they come on sale quite often $2-3 for a ten pound bag. I'll get two or three bags at a time even if I lose a few it's still cheaper than paying full price.

I'm just using the milk crates for now but when I do my build I'm going to add some wire shelves for produce. If you have to leave your vehicle parked in the hot sun you can take the racks out and slide them under the vehicle where it is cooler. For people who camp on public land and only go into town every few weeks keeping fresh vegetables is totally doable.

A good way to keep carrots is by packing them in a plastic bin with moist sand.

 

[Dingfelder]

Nice racks.

 

[Kaylee]

Thanks for this cool thread!

In the last ~2 months, I've had only one opportunity to buy only a walking load's worth of groceries. This thread inspired me to buy potato flakes, so (originally) I could have it with an MRE "meatloaf" (actually meant to be a burger patty, but it's much closer to meatloaf).

When I went to make it, I also found two small freeze dried packets of green peas and corn.
A lightbulb flashed in my brain, and I realized I could make pseudo Shephard's Pie, which is one of my favorite comfort foods.

I used a fork to mash up the MRE patty/meatloaf, and made it kind of upside-down in a sauce pan (instead of an oven). Worked out well, so I repeated with an MRE Pork Patty (aka "pie porn"):

Did both in an S&B, however I intentionally did it in a minimalist manner to test it for future van prep.

Please keep on posting these great minimal equipment cooking ideas!

 

[texas0322]

These are great. There is another brand that Walmart carries in addition to this that is good. I've bought generic versions at Aldi too. All great.

I like to cook up a half a pound of hamburger meat in my RoadPro Lunchbox Oven when I'm driving down the road, stop somewhere for lunch, boil some water real quick and have some mashed potatoes and hamburger meat with a little cheese. Good stuff.

 

[maki2]

I took a look at those Idahoan instant potato flavored mixes the other day.
Here are the ingrediants from one of them... Smoky cheese & bacon
IDAHO® POTATOES, VEGETABLE OIL (COCONUT, SUNFLOWER SOYBEAN), SALT, CHEDDAR CHEESE (PASTEURIZED MILK, CHEESE CULTURES, SALT, ENZYMES), NONFAT DRY MILK, SUGAR, MALTODEXTRIN, WHEY, TEXTURED VEGETABLE PROTEIN (SOY PROTEIN CONCENTRATE, CARAMEL COLOR), BUTTERMILK, NATURAL FLAVOR (INCLUDING SMOKE), MONOGLYCERIDES, CALCIUM STEAROYL LACTYLATE, YEAST EXTRACT, PAPRIKA EXTRACT (COLOR), ANNATTO EXTRACT (COLOR). FRESHNESS PRESERVED BY SODIUM ACID PYROPHOSPHATE, SODIUM BISULFITE, MIXED TOCOPHEROLS AND CITRIC ACID.

CONTAINS: MILK & SOY

I think I will stick to adding my own mix-in basics into the standard instant mashed potatoes. Why would you need sugar in mashed potatoes and artificial colors, yeast, etc? There is not even any bacon in this package, instead they are giving you textured soy with caramel color and smoke flavoring. Plus potatoes have a lot of natural sweetness, they don't need added sugar. Choose foods using the KISS principle.

 

[Kaylee]

I like the Hungry Jack hash browns that come in the little Milk cartons.

Thanks ssminnow!!!
I'd never had those, but your review was so intriguing, I ordered a single box with my last food package, and made it for Monday's dinner... Oh.Grandpa.
Nice treat, inexpensive, and excellent shape/size for van storage! I'd buy again.

These are great. There is another brand that Walmart carries in addition to this that is good. I've bought generic versions at Aldi too. All great.

Ditto! I had bought a box of plain/unflavored generic flakes, so the ingredient list was pretty short.

P.S. Tex: if you change your sig image link from "http" to "https", it should show.
I beat my head against that rock recently, so need to dilute others' pain.
It's a forum flaw.

 

[Cammalu]

What’s wrong with a good old red potato cooked and mashed? Seems just as easy to me and probably much cheaper


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[B and C]

Not as easy but is probably a little cheaper. Doesn't take long to boil a little water to mix in versus a long boil to cook a potato. Then you have to mash the potatoes versus just stirring and letting sit a short time. I like homemade better but I will eat the Idahoans all day and the packages keep a long time versus the somewhat short life of a potato. They are good especially if you mix in a little butter.

 

[kygreg]

I tried these for the first time yesterday and it was very good. I used chicken broth for the liquid and I think that really did well. Thanks for sharing this find!

 

[texas0322]

Thanks ssminnow!!!
I'd never had those, but your review was so intriguing, I ordered a single box with my last food package, and made it for Monday's dinner... Oh.Grandpa.
Nice treat, inexpensive, and excellent shape/size for van storage! I'd buy again.

Ditto! I had bought a box of plain/unflavored generic flakes, so the ingredient list was pretty short.

P.S. Tex: if you change your sig image link from "http" to "https", it should show.
I beat my head against that rock recently, so need to dilute others' pain.
It's a forum flaw.

Thanks for the info

 

[Kaylee]

Weird. That image hosting site does not appear to support "https".

I tried the URL in a browser, no joy.
Even weirder, my browser went to a web page (not an image) when I tried the http version of the URL.

Next, tried it with a little command line utility that directly GETs stuff, and there wasn't even an error code, just a null result (with the https URL).
I used the same plain utility to get the http URL, and it worked beautifully, so it's there.

Sweet rig!

Are you comfortable using a different image host?
You'll also have to resize it so it's no wider than 640 pixels.


Um, obligatory/obfuscatory potato comment...

kygreg: great tip! Did you use broth from a carton (liquid) or a cube (dry)?

 

[texas0322]

I'll give that a shot this week when I'm on a computer!

 

[Kaylee]

I'll give that a shot this week when I'm on a computer!

Feel free to PM me if you need a 2nd set of eyes.

Obligatory Potato content...
I've got the first "The Equalizer" movie on (only partially watching it), and there was a potato discussion near the beginning.

Also, I had opened some #10 food cans, including one of "dehydrated Potato Slices".
Does anyone have suggestions/recipes for what I could do with them?
They look a lot like potato chips.
I might try rehydrating some, then oven toasting.
Only 1 1/2 days left with an oven.

 

[MikeRuth]

tried one of these last night, I was pleasantly surprised. Not for home, but when I'm in the van they will be on board.

 

[B and C]

I carry dehydrated hash browns: https://www.amazon.com/Idaho-Spuds-...r=8-1&keywords=dehydrated+hash+brown+potatoes

The little milk cartons are easy to reseal and are square for space savings. I pour a 1/4 cup into a covered pan or bowl and add just enough boiling water to cover them, then put a cover on. Fifteen minutes later they are ready to cook. I put a pat of butter in a small skillet and cook according to directions. Turns out yummy everytime.