If you bought a bulk bag of potatoes and are wondering what to do with them, one easy and filling option is to make mashed potatoes.
Shopping on a budget means looking for items with lower unit prices, and often, that means buying foods in bulk. Luckily, potatoes are cheap enough to buy when you’re broke: they’re also highly versatile so, even if you buy a sackful, you can change up how to prepare them to keep meal times exciting.
In this article, we run through how to make mashed potatoes. A quick, simple, and filling addition to your dinner.
Ingredients (with prices)
- Scottish Wonky Potatoes, 2.5kg – £1.49, Aldi
- Tesco All Rounder Potatoes, 2kg – £1.35, Tesco
- Ocado Washed White Potatoes Sack, 5kg – £4.30, Ocado
- Washed White Potatoes, 25kg – £15.99, local farm shop (Barleylands, if you’re nearby)
- Whole milk – £1.55 for four pints, Aldi
- Salted butter – £1.99, Aldi
In the list above, we’ve listed a few different places you can buy bags of potatoes of varying sizes. As you can see, potatoes are very cheap. If you buy a big bag, you can use them in your batch-cooked meals, or you can simply do some ingredient prep: chop and cook your potatoes however you plan to use them and freeze, rather than incorporating them into whole meals. The laziest thing of all is to pick out the biggest potato in the bag, stick it in the oven for an hour or two, and call it a jacket potato.
Plan to use one medium potato per person, and for every third person, add an extra potato. So, two potatoes for two people, three plus one for three people. The smaller the potato, the more you’ll need per person, and the opposite goes for larger spuds.
Don’t go out to buy milk and butter if you’ve already got some in your fridge.
Optional
When making mash, you can flavour your potatoes with some garlic, chives, stock, or anything you think would taste nice. Some things, like garlic, you can add to the water while it’s boiling; other things, like chives, you can add at the mashing step.
Method
Step 1
Peel your spud(s) and chop into robust pieces (use your first thumb knuckle as a size gauge… try not to cut smaller than that, unless you’ve got giant hands). If you cut them too small, your potatoes will just break up while boiling. Too big, and cooking will take ages.
Step 2
Run the potatoes under cold water to wash the starch off.
Step 3
Add the potatoes to a saucepan and fill with cold water. The water should just cover the potatoes.
Step 4
Salt the water. (You can also add a stock cube, garlic, or any dried herbs you fancy at this step.)
Step 5
Boil the water and cook until the potatoes are soft all the way through, this should take around 10-15 minutes. You can use a knife to check this.
Step 6
Once the potatoes are soft, strain, then add a healthy splash of milk and a tablespoon of butter. The more people you’re cooking for and the more spuds in your pot, increase the quantities of milk and butter accordingly. Be careful not to add too much, as the potatoes will end up sloppy.
Step 7
Mash, mash, mash. Mash until the potato is smooth and lump-free. At this step, stir in any herbs or spices you plan on adding. Once you’re happy with the consistency, serve it up!
