What's a food you love, that isn't worth making from scratch?

ericbomb@lemmy.world to Ask Lemmy@lemmy.world – 165 points –

For me, crepes ain't worth the stress to make fresh. Just buy a little pack from store and focus on filling is my go to.

229

You are viewing a single comment
View all comments

Mashed potatoes.

The "just add hot water" things are just as good, if not better since they come in all sorts of flavors.

Edit: The snobbery here is astounding. They're potatoes!

No shade; it's just funny that mashed potatoes are so derisive lol

My stepson, the first time I was around for his birthday, asked me specifically for "mashed potatoes made from potatoes". I don't think most people would agree with you on this one. Instant pot whole potatoes, mash with milk and butter, salt and pepper. I never peel them. So good and so easy.

Santa (aka my credit card) brought me an instant pot for Christmas. Do you have pressure and times for the potatoes? I didn't even think of cooking them in there and then mashing.

so easy

Peeling, boiling, mashing, mixing taking like 30-60 minutes, depending on how much you're making vs 3 minutes boiling water in a microwave and mixing a bag of flakes in for the same starch paste.

Any differences are marginal and so not worth the effort and time it takes.

I am not peeling nor boiling, have never peeled a potato. Boiling them in chunks I agree won't yield something so much better than dehydrated powdered potatoes - that puts too much water into the equation and makes them similarly gluey. You can microwave chunked potatoes and mash them if you don't have a pressure cooker or instant pot.

Yes it takes longer than boiling water but in the context of cooking other things it's easy and potatoes pressure cooked whole are so fluffy and easy to mash.

I have used the flakes for potato bread, they are useful like dry milk is. But just like dry milk, or instant coffee, something is lost in drying and rehydration.

This is a very subjective prompt though - if the marginal time savings are worth it to you, they are. I don't usually have an urgent timeline for mashed potatoes so letting them cook while I do other stuff works out.

I don't peel, wait to boil, or even mix. I'll literally throw whole garlic cloves in at once, and between the heat and the mashing they'll take care of themselves. It also helps a lot of you have an actual potato masher and you're not just using a spoon or something. Unlike this gif I found though, I just mash them in the pot as they cook.

I'm with you on this one. It's one of the few things I refuse to make from scratch on Thanksgiving. I don't know how or why, but every time I've tried to make them from scratch they get fucked up and turn into an inedible mess. I consider myself a decent cook and so does everyone else I've ever cooked for, but I cannot make mashed potatoes from scratch.

It's probably how you mash them, if you over mash them they get gummy. It's really easy with a mixer or blender to overdo it.

That was one of the first things I learned how to cook that wasn't between two pieces of bread.

I'm not a good cook by any means -- it just surprises me that mashed potatoes would be one of "those" foods for someone who can actually cook!

Yeah, flavor wise, there's not any significant difference. Texture wise, that's where scratch cooked excels. But if you're going to rice it or cook it down all the way anyway? Dehydrated is going to be as tasty once finished.

If you just follow the directions, you're a heathen.

But if you're going to disregard the directions and add cream, butter, salt, pepper etc. Then you can get a result thats almost as good.

In terms of nutritional value it's actually quite a huge difference, with homemade mashed potatoes being a lot better for you. Something about food being healthier when it's less processed.

Still, the powder one is not the worst thing, and boiling up potatoes takes too long some days. I like keeping some texture though, so for me it's homemade whenever I feel like having it. :)

They're literally just dehydrated potatoes cut into flakes. Nothing is lost.

If homemade mash tastes exactly like the box to you, you're doing something wrong when you make them. I'm not saying instant is bad to have in a pinch, but having the dehydrated potatos in flakes immediately makes them starchier and have a more gluey consistency. Plus, there are tons of additives that definitely make it taste different from freshly cooked potatoes.

If your flakes come out gluey, you're not using enough liquids to rehydrate it. I feel like everyone disagreeing here likes lumpy potatoes. One person already admit they don't even remove the skin when they make theirs. Gross. They're supposed to be smooth and creamy.

I skin the potatoes and use a ricer. They are very smooth and creamy, not lumpy. I actually like boxed potatoes, but fresh still taste 10x better

It's more recent science, but it seems every step of processing food (boiling, mashing, drying etc) breaks down cell structures, and that this in turn can make it harder for the body to take up nutrition. So you end up eating more but getting less nutritional value.

Research is still ongoing though, and of course mashed potatoes from powder is obviously still much better than ultra-processed food.

Here's a source