So I have to know. Do you eat and enjoy “fake” potatoes? Well there really not fake they are dried and at some point were a real live potato, or at least that is what I’ve been led to believe.
I have to admit I love the potatoes in the Swanson Tv Dinners. Ya totally unhealthy I know, but once a year or so I need those potatoes to breathe. About a year ago a friend was commenting on how the boxed fake potatoes are really good, so I mosied to the store and bought some. Followed the directions. Sat down to eat some with my dinner.… omgoodness! They were the most disgusting tasting thing ever. It tasted like I had just eaten a molotov potato cocktail. In the garbage they went. I really never thought about it again until this past Christmas. My dad’s side of the family decided to do a dinner at a fancy restaurant. It was just over $25 a plate. Ouch. Anxiously waiting for my $25 a plate Christmas dinner I smelt some familiar chemical smell but couldn’t quite place it. Maybe they just cleaned something in the kitchen. Not of my concern. Or so I figure.…. Out come the plates, piled with turkey, dressing, gravy, beans, and lumps of white stuff. Surely this can’t be mashed potatoes. What happened to them? Were they beaten beyond recognition? Omgoodness. It’s fake potatoes. You are kidding me right. $25 dollars a plate and I get dried chemical potatoes? I think I was more shocked that this fancy restaurant would find it appropriate to serve us such a thing.
So, Is it just certain brands that taste like paper mache? Do you have a brand that you eat that is good? Any instant potato horror stories? Please do share, I’m always up for a giggle!
For the party poopers, this isn’t a deal I know its an off topic. But I do have a few half boxes of dried potatoes in my cupboard I can send ya 
WOW cheap your grumpy lol!
Just so u know the xmas story fit with my instant potatoes blog. I’m not going to send back food at a family function and look like a joker. I didn’t post the name of the restaurant because I’m quite rural and don’t give out my exact location. But then again thats all need to know info
I’d like to think I help feed empty tummies by the large amount of donating I do to the local foodbank.
It was suppose to be a funny post btw.… most got that. Sorry you didn’t
The fake potatoes goes well with the chemical sludge we call gravy, the genetically modified veggies, the hormone injected beef and the sodium-injected chicken which is enhanced with beef/pork waste. YUMMMMM.
I’m glad you find the time to deride the evils of the potato flakes and turn a blind eye to the other perversions that sit on your plate.
Bad potato.…badddddd potato.
No way fake potatoes can stay on the shelf. There is nothing like fresh potatoes that has grown in your garden all summer
That’s the best tasting potato ever! 
I will not eat,buy or make instant potatoes!! My son tried them at a friends house once and was disgusted by them..I really dont know why anyone would use them,its very quick and easy to do your own potatoes..Never mind the crap that would be in them is very very unhealthy and its cheaper in the long run to use fresh potatoes..I see now there are frozen cubed ready to cook potatoes,why??Are paeople really that lazy,or do people have lots of money to throw away on expensive ready made foods!!! If you really look at the labels on stuff,you would be disgusted..The sodium levels are killing us..I know that for a fact as im recovering from congestive heart failure at age 36…High salt intake could easily kill me…
The Idahoan brand is pretty good, comes in a brown box. It works well to if you want to mix it with ‘real’ mashed spuds if you need a lot, like to top a Shepards Pie.
I love them!
These days it’s the only reason I can still make my fabulous shepherd’s pie that my spouse and kids love so much. No way I am sitting down to peel all those potatoes on top of all the other work (I suffer from a post-traumatic pain syndrome).
We still have a big box of Costco’s paradise valley dried potatoes and they have been great for us (I actually love the taste). I hope they haven’t been discontinued??? 0_o
~krismom
I buy small quantities at the bulk store. I don’t eat potatoes very often, but find this stuff handy on days when i don’t feel like cooking and have to make something quick and easy.
Thanks for the link for the gnocci!!!
I never tried instant/fake potatoes till I got married. My husband said he didn’t mind them so why not. Once I got the hang of it I grew to like them too. I originally bought some from McCains that were in a large red foil looking bag in the aisle of the grocery store. Not frozen stuff. I used to buy the big size and I could decide how much I wanted to make — just had to measure properly. Now I can’t find those anywhere! A friend of mine gave me the Costco ones and we have slowly used those up. I need to go to Costco this week so I hope the still have them. Anyone out there seen the McCain dry flakes that I am talking about? Let me know. Their cust. service dept is totally useless. Also, can’t find Cavendish hasbrowns either! What happened to those? Hubbie’s fave from his bachelor days.
Okay the best fake mashed potatoes are the ones from Costco!!
You would not be able to tell the difference
Just boil water, remove from heat, add skim milk for low fat recipe and stir, then stir in package of fake potatoes.…Stir it all up and Voila!
It’s awesome.…a must try! If my kids eat it and love it then anyone can eat it…they are the picky ones!
HHAHAHA this is too funny.. if i could choose.. i would never buy a BAG of potatoes again and strickly eat the boxed kind.. i dont know why but i LOVE them!!!!(my hubby thinks im a nut..) there just so much smoother and tastier(in my opinino)
butter and herb flavor is the BEST! lol
and i would also like to add to “cheaps” comment that not everything tastes good when your hungry.. beleve me.. i know what hungry is and there is no extent of hunger that would have me eat broccoli or fish.….….….….. LOL
fake potatoes are one of the nastiest things on the market.…I don’t get it…its such a simple thing to cook
Living in NB, home of McCain, it may be illegal to eat fake potatoes
I understand your reluctance to send back the potatoes at the time of the meal, but I hope you commented to the restaurant manager/company at a later time. $25 should warrant real potatoes, and the restaurant needs to know it had an unsatisfied customer.
Zabrina, my dad asks the exact same thing, LOL. You can’t serve a farm boy fake potatoes!
I have never believed in buying anything from a box to eat. However my friend raved about Paradise Valley instant mashed potatoes from Costco. She had us over for dinner, and had one bowl full of instant mash and one bowl of real mashed potatoes. My husband coudn’t tell which was which. I was shocked! He has amazing senses of smell and taste and he honestly couldn’t tell. In fact he thought the instant mash tasted better!!! From someone who only shops on the outside relm of the grocery store I have made my first “box” purchase of food. I guess never say never! Paradise Valley potatoes are worth the purchase.
Yuck!
I use Idahoan to coat haddock in before I panfry it. It is much lighter and crisper than useing a flour coating.
Had my swanson fix today! Go me!
I used to loooove the sidekicks spuds, but alas they have recently changed some additive in them because now they make me physically ill.
I love the Idahoan ones when I’m lazy
I just learned that store bought perogies are made from pototoes flakes?
Some of the bag potatoes when peeled, cooked, and mashed are terrible…Idahoan brand all the way for me since I found them, no more gambling with what are the real taters gonna taste like, Idahoan is consistently good.
I buy the 27 oz. bag and put 2 cups of water in a pot and bring it to a boil, shut the heat off and pour in about 2/3 cup of Idahoan potato granules and let stand about a minute. ready to eat.
I occasionaly use Idahoan for a side dish but mainly use potato flakes as an additive to my bread machine Potato Bread. They work great for this. We grow our own potatoes and I agree they are the very best! It is like Russian Roulette buying potatoes in a bag in the Grocery Store, I usually opt for the Baby Potatoes, they are more consistantly good.
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