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Last week our local store had 50lb bags of potatoes on sale for $10 and with even potatoes going up in price lately I thought it would be worth it to stock the freezer. Some of you faithful readers may know I regularly do freezer cooking (click categories on right for past articles) but I have to admit this is the first time I’ve done 50lb’s of potatoes!
To start out I chose the smaller potatoes and filled to crock pots full. These I baked all day and then cooled to use for potato’s skins. While they were cooking my daughter Lexie and I peeled like crazy.
We peeled as many of the larger ones as we could stand to and made mashed potatoes. My family loves mashed potatoes but I don’t always have the time when dinner rolls around to peel, cook and whip. They actually freeze very well and if you whip them up a little once thawed can’t even tell that they were from the freezer! If you don’t already know, when you whip your mashed potatoes use only milk (no butter), add the butter just before serving if you like. Adding the butter while whipping can make them not as fluffy. Another thing we like to do is add a little sour cream either instead of or in addition to the milk. Try it, it just adds a little flavor.
We ended up with 4 quart bags of mashed potatoes for the freezer. I know we could use more but we were tired of peeling!
Part of the reason we were tired of peeling is we also were peeling and dicing the potatoes for clam chowder. For this we peel and dice (into small bite size pieces) the potatoes and throw them in a large pot (I use a 5 qt) with water to cover about ¾ from the top. Once you can pierce them with a fork, add chopped onion (probably about a cup), a can of clams drained (or leave out if you want plain potato soup) and crumbled bacon (again probably about a cup). We also add about a Tablespoon of powdered chicken bouillon. Pour milk to fill the pot leaving just enough room to stir without spilling. Once that is heating up again I add cornstarch mixed with a little milk to thicken (make it the consistency of gravy and stir it in.) How much depends on how thick you want your soup/chowder. It will thicken as heats.
We ended up doing three pots of this and took one to a potluck, had one for lunch and have 4 in the freezer. Two pots we left as potato soup (my oldest doesn’t like clams) and one pot we made into clam chowder (my second son loves this!) Really it doesn’t taste much different. If you want more “seafoody” taste you could add old bay seasoning but I don’t.
By this time my crock pot potatoes were almost done and I had other things to do so I cooled them overnight in the fridge to finish the next day.
To make the potato skins we took the cooled potatoes and halved them. With spoons we scooped out most of the potato leaving only the jacket with a thin amount of potato. We saved all the scooped out part and added a chopped onion. I bagged these for fried potatoes to go with eggs for breakfast. We got four quart bags of these.
Once we had them scooped we lay them on a cookie sheet and brush each potato with oil. I usually add a little salt, pepper and sometimes other seasoning to the oil. Then we pop them in the oven to bake in the oil for a few minutes, maybe 10 minutes at 400. Once they come out we drain off any excess oil and top them. We like crumbled bacon, cheddar cheese and chives. Cook them till the cheese is melted then cool and bag them for the freezer.
We got 6 bags of 18 skins from the ones we did. A lot of times we’ll have them with soup or even just as a snack or appetizer. I like sour cream on mine!
Another one we could have done is what we call “mushy potatoes”. For this you take baked potatoes and mash them with a potato masher skins and all. We leave some lumps and add a stick of butter, ½ cup of parmesan cheese and dried chives.
We still have about 10lbs of potato’s left in my regular stash. Think we’ll put some in the crock pot so we can have baked potatoes with our grilled chicken breast tonight!
So what do you do ahead with potatoes?
Gina | 
