Do you always make mashed potatoes from scratch or are you a boxed user?

I make everything from scratch. My stomach can not tolerate the chemicals in boxed and pre packaged foods. Yes, you are right it sure does taste better. Better for you too. I even make my own potato chips.

I like to make mine from scratch, that way I can control the amount of sodium that is in them. I also like the skin and lumps in mine. But, I only make those for me, I wouldn't serve them to any guests.

I always make my potatos from scratch I peel the potato and cook it myself. I think those boxed mashed potatos taste funny. I have even cooked one potato and mashed it before since I am dieting to know the calories and keep the butter and milk out of it worked just fine.

As a professional cook I often used what is called 'convenience' foods in my commercial kitchens - like frozen chips, precrumbed seafood baskets, and stuff like that - because it was economic to do so, and since most of the kitchens I worked could not afford the staff to make them from scratch. But dried mashed potato, sorry, no way, I don't even consider that stuff as potato after the things they have to add to it to make it work. In traditional French cooking, what I was trained in, variations of mashed potato are a whole little section all on their own. Mashed, duchess, croquette, dauphine, just for a start. Fresh made always tastes better, and is always more nutritional. Lash

Funny, I just got a free box of them in the mail so they are fresh in my mind - I definitely prefer homemade. For me, it is a matter of texture. I like to use a hand masher and leave some small chuncks, the boxed potatoes are like paste. And you're right, they do not take that long at all, especially if you cut the potatoes into smaller chuncks before boiling...I hate the peeling, but it's still worth it! For a more subtle garlic flavor; try adding the cloves with the potatoes into the boiling water, works on pasta too.

Most of the time I make potatoes from scratch. But upon occasion I have used the boxed if I am in a really big hurry. But by far I like the real ones the best.

Scratch mashed potatoes have it all over boxed ones. Who knows what is in the boxed ones too. I don't always peel mine but make sure they are clean and any bad spots and the eyes are removed. I do make a pretty big batch and freeze them for future use. My grandson loves them. I don't cook them in chicken broth but have added it instead of milk or cream. I also put a number of different things in them so they aren't always the same. I also do scratch scalloped potatoes. I prefer scratch cook all the way around.

From scratch. Definitely tastes better. Plus it allows for much more creativity!

I make them from both. And I always add things like you mentioned. I really don't make them very often only when requested. I don't think they are very good for you so they fall into the treat catagory around here.

I am one of those istant mashed potatoe makers. I usually make mines from the box, it is faster and easier for me. I love the ones made from potatoes best. I rarely by potatoes, if I do I would buy the separate ones, if I bought a bag of potatoes they end up ruining. When I was raising a family I bought the bag.

I also make ours from scratch. My kids just love mashed potatoes because of KFC chicken so my two girls experiments often on the flavorings and gravy they want to put in. ALthough sometimes potatoes here are expensive, 2 -3 big potatoes are okay with them. I also do things like yours putting chicken broth. We'll try dried herbs next time and roasted garlic?

I agree that using real potatoes tastes better but it is also very time consuming. I don't even use boxed not so much because of the taste but for some reason mine come out lumpy. I will usually recruit my husband to make the mashed potatoes because he does an awesome job. When I must I have resorted to using the ready made mashed potatoes that come in a tub. They are quick and pretty tasty. They do cost quite a bit though.

Where I live, it's too hot to grow potatoes, so they are all brought in from elsewhere. Because of that, they are expensive and frequently are bruised or have other imperfections. I grew up in New England and was used to garden fresh potatoes, and never used boxed. Nothing makes me angrier (in Oklahoma) to pay premium prices, then have to throw away half of the potato because it's black in the middle. So, unless I'm making baked potatoes or oven roasted, I usually use boxed. They actually are much better tasting that they used to be (I remember when instant didn't taste much better than melted crayons...lol), and I look for plain, unflavored ones, containing as few preservativew as possible. I flavor them with herbs, garlic, cheese, etc. just like I would with fresh. The added bonus is that I can make them in a bowl in the microwave and have them table ready when they come out.

I live in India and I don't know that potatos will sold in boxes. We buy them in vegetable market once a week or from a super market. At both places, we have to select from the scratch.

My mother used to recite a rhyme (which was part of a hand game in which the thumb was a mock preacher in a pulpit). "Dearly beloved bretheren, is it not a sin That when we peel potatoes, we throw away the skin? For the skins feed the pigs and the pigs feed us. Dearly beloved bretheren, is it not thus?" I generally make mashed potato from scratch. If the potatoes are unblemished, I usually leave the skins on and cut them into about 2 inch chunks. I add a little salt to the water and boil for about 20 minutes. Then I drain them and allow them to steam for a little. Since all the vitamin C in a potato is concentrated within a couple of millimetres of the skin, peeling them is a waste and it is, in any case, just as easy to peel off just the skin after they have been boiled. I use a hand masher rather than a machine (much less bother to wash) and make sure that there are no lumps. I then add a knob of butter (about an ounce for 6 potatoes) and enough milk to make the mix of the right consistency to stand in stiff peaks. The secret to good mashed potato is to cream it (I use a wooden spoon and try to beat as much air into it as I can). I also add 15-20 screws of fresh black pepper from a pepper mill, some salt and, very often a pinch of ground fenugreek or nutmeg. I may also add some chopped green onion or chives and I may use cream instead of milk! For those who are scared of cholesterol, I would use olive oil or walnut oil instead of butter and skimmed milk instead of whole milk but, in my opinion, the flavour is not as good. Other variations are to beat an egg into the potato or to add cheese (a good mature cheddar and a pinch of mustard powder or a teaspoon of made mustard). I would bake this in the oven to brown the top slightly and then it is known in our house as Cheesy Potato Pie. Other excellent additions are flaked smoked haddock or roughly mashed corned beef from a can. All of these make an excellent, cheap and filling meal which, I find is very acceptable to kids! (Serve with peas or green beans and, perhaps, a spicy tomato sauce on the side.

I myself use the bnoxed variety of instant. It is that I cook for just dad and I and the box is a smaller portion than real. Now when the family visits or when the wife is home we make them from scratch. They taste much better than instant but she always makes way too many for just 3 or 4 of us. I like mine made skin on and some garlic added as it is stirred etc. The instant I use are garlic herb flavored as well. I love a lot of garlic in my diet for some reason. HAPPY POSTINGS FROM GRANDPA BOB !!~

i always make my own. i have dairy issues, so i tend to make them with soup or stock and lots of garlic and i always leave the skins on for an added texture.... if you use a veggie stock then its safe for the vegetarians in your family too! i cannot wait for thanksgiving, my moms gravy is one of the best things on earth

It depends on the situation whether or not I make real or instant mashed potatoes. It also depends on who is going to be eating them whether or not I peel them. I like them with the peeling on myself, as long as it is the new potato peeling and not the thick old potato peeling. It is better for you health wise to keep the peeling on. I have been told that made this way they are called "dirty mashed potatoes". I used to always peel my potatoes and rarely made instant unless I was in a hurry. Now I have carpal tunnel in both hands and peeling them hurts and makes it worse. So the only time I peel them now is if I am serving them to people who don't like the peeling in them. I also sometimes boil cut up carrots and onion in the potatoes to mash them all together. I learned this in a make your own baby food cookbook as a way to get kids to eat carrots and onions. My son really likes it and all through is growing up life would ask me to make them this way.

my mom makes hers from scratch and i love them but i make mine from a box since i always get too much milk or something in the scratch kind lol

i like to make them from real potatoes because the ones in the box taste like soap and here allways runny you can never get that lumpy taste that the real potatoes have.