Potatoes are frugal eats at their finest. They are cheap, filling, and can be cooked in so many different ways. Sometimes I’ll find 5 or 10 pound bags of potatoes go on sale. But, what to do with that entire bag besides plain old baked potatoes?
Back in 2010, fellow blogger Audrey from Tight Wad in Utah shared three recipes to use up an entire bag. To date, her recipes post has been one of the most successful ever published here at The Coupon Project. (And that’s saying a lot as I have over 15,000 published posts as of August 2019!)
I recently decided to go back and give her post some new love with some fresh food photographs and “bump” it for readers who may have missed it. It’s definitely worth pinning or hanging onto for the next time you find yourself with a glut of potatoes!
Recipe #1: Scalloped Potatoes
This recipe which uses 8 potatoes (found at AllRecipes) freezes well, so I hear. I can’t manage to have any left to freeze. The section that is gone was my “test” piece to make sure they were done.
The recipe is pretty straight forward and uses ingredients you probably already have. If you’re not going to eat it all at once like me, divide it into meal portions after it’s cooled from baking, seal in a freezer container or bag, label it with the name and date, freeze!
Reheat in the microwave or oven. Get the entire recipe at AllRecipes.com.
Recipe #2: Rosemary Mashed Potatoes
This is another recipe that comes from AllRecipes.com. Now, I KNOW these freeze well. And not because they aren’t as good. My friend made them for me during a freezer swap. DELICIOUS! You can read all the rave reviews at AllRecipes. This is also an easy recipe to follow. I doubled the recipe using 10 potatoes and 5 yams.
Peel and cube them all, then throw them in some salted boiling water until tender. (20 to 30 minutes)
My pot was FULL! If you don’t have a huge pot just turn it down from high so you don’t have a raging boil with water splashing everywhere. When done, retain 2 cups of the water. Then drain.
Then just mash it all with the other ingredients, except for half of the cheese that you sprinkle on top. In the recipe it calls for roasted garlic. I just used minced that I had on hand. And I used about 1 cup of the retained potato juice 🙂 – 1/2 cup if you don’t double the recipe. Refer to the recipe link for ingredients and added instruction.
If you’ve doubled the recipe put it in a 9 x 13 casserole dish, otherwise use an 8″ dish. Bake at 350° for 45 minutes.
After it’s somewhat cooled, separate into meal portions and seal in freezer bags. I like to freeze them like this so that they fit in my freezer better.
Reheat in microwave. I spent $3.44 in yams (not on sale) and $1.25 on cheese. The rest I had on hand. And now I have a fancy side dish for 5 meals! (One isn’t pictured because we ate it.)
Recipe #3: Oven Fries
I love homemade fries, but I don’t make them often because I think it’s too much work for a side dish when I’m trying to get dinner done. So I found out how to freeze them. This way I can just take out how much I need and throw them in the oven! Nice, am I right?
So here’s what you do: Wash, scrub and cut the potatoes into 1/2″ fries. Toss them with oil (I used canola because I have lots) and add some salt and a little sugar (helps with crispyness – is that a word?).
Then place on baking sheets and bake for 20 minutes at 475°.
When done, let them cool on paper or dish towels. Then put them in the freezer (on the sheet, or on something that will fit in your freezer – I used pie tins). Keep them there until they are frozen solid. Half hour or so. All that’s left is putting them in a freezer bag and labeling it!
When you’re ready to eat…spray baking sheet with cooking spray and bake at 450° for 20-40 minutes (depends on size of fries).
DONE! Now you have a 10-lb. bag of potatoes making itself useful instead of stinking up your house. I did make the fries and the rosemary potatoes at the same time. I just started cutting the fries while the rosemary potatoes were baking.
For more recipes, feel free to check out Tight Wad in Utah!
Angela here: For more freezer cooking ideas like this one, I highly recommend this excellent cookbook: Fix, Freeze, Feast: The Delicious, Money-Saving Way to Feed Your Family. I’ve used this cookbook extensively in freezer meal preparation and I have to say the meals are very flavorful. Even better, you won’t find a single “can of cream of mushroom soup” in any of the ingredient lists!
