What to do with all these potatoes?!
By dragon54u
@dragon54u (31634)
United States
January 10, 2009 9:06am CST
I bought a ten pound bag of potatoes since they were cheaper than the 5 pound bag and the package of 4 single potatoes was the most expensive of all! Well, I figured I could give the excess to my neighbors but they all thought as I did and were awash in potatoes!!
What can I do with these?! They'll eventually go bad and I don't want to waste them. I have no family living with me or close to me and the food bank doesn't accept opened packages.
I've fried some, baked one, made some potato soup--is there any way to store them so they'll last longer? I hear that if you refrigerate them they turn to pure starch.
6 people like this
30 responses
@royal52gens (5488)
• United States
10 Jan 09
Potatoes don't last long in my house. But if need be, I slice them thin and pack them in an air tight container. I then freeze them to be used for frying or scalloped potatoes. I also make a big dish of potatoes. I use some for dinner that night and then divide the rest into smaller portions which I freeze. Then when I want that potato dish again, I reheat it in the oven or microwave.
If some of the potatoes happen to get old enough and have the eyes sprouting on them, I cut them into small sections. Make sure each section has a good eye growing on it. Then I plant them in the garden. In a few months, I can then dig up new potatoes and use them. I can leave them in the ground until I need them so that helps on storage. And it saves me money at the grocery store.
2 people like this
@Loverbear (4918)
• United States
11 Jan 09
I read about a process of growing the potatoes that makes it very easy to harvest them. You grow them in a large plastic garbage can! It's deep enough so that they can spread and you get really good potatoes, and you aren't out in the yard breaking your back trying to find the spuds!
When the plant blooms and then starts to die off you can figure that it is time to harvest. In the mean time, you can dig around and find the smaller spuds (classified as "new potatoes") which are so great for different dishes. I went to a reception where the new potatoes were baked, cut in half and a small amount of the potato was removed to be replaced with sour cream topped with caviar. YUM, they were soooo good! Also, after a few months you can go out when you need a spud and dig around and find one the size you need.
You can keep yourself supplied with potatoes nearly year round since they are a root product. When the weather gets too cold you can move the container someplace warm and keep the plant growing. (Gee, some people grow pot, you can grow pot-atoes!!!
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The early settlers kept alive with potatoes, they would store their root veggies in a "root cellar" which was a cool dry place. I am sure if you did a search you could find a site that would provide you with a good way to store your potatoes. Also, even if they do grow eyes they're still good. Just cut off the eyes at the base of their sprout point (the spud it self) and peel as usual.
One other thought, if you still have too many potatoes, call your local homeless shelter and see if they can use some of them. Feeding the homeless is expensive and they are very happy to take donations.
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The early settlers kept alive with potatoes, they would store their root veggies in a "root cellar" which was a cool dry place. I am sure if you did a search you could find a site that would provide you with a good way to store your potatoes. Also, even if they do grow eyes they're still good. Just cut off the eyes at the base of their sprout point (the spud it self) and peel as usual.
One other thought, if you still have too many potatoes, call your local homeless shelter and see if they can use some of them. Feeding the homeless is expensive and they are very happy to take donations.@dragon54u (31634)
• United States
10 Jan 09
I didn't know you could grow them, thank you!! How do you know when to dig them up since you can't see them?
1 person likes this
@KUSHANK55 (2437)
• India
10 Jan 09
if i was in your place i would have converted them into chips and kept for the future use!!!
2 people like this
@creativedreamweaver (7297)
• United States
10 Jan 09
In order to get potatoes to last longer, store them in a cool dark place. As for making potatoes, you can always make mashed potatoes, baked mashed potatoes with cheese on top, and chili fries with them. I believe you can also freeze mashed potatoes for later use. You can also cut up french fries and freeze them in an airtight plastic bag for later cooking. Hope this helps.
@dragon54u (31634)
• United States
10 Jan 09
Now that's a good idea, thanks! I'll cut up some french fries today and freeze a bunch of mashed potatoes!
@vera5d (4005)
• United States
10 Jan 09
There's lots you can do with potatoes - make potato bread, potato soup, french fries, home fries (or cook them and add them into an omelet), make stew, cook them with a pot roast, serve mashed potatoes with a tuna white sauce....
You could also use them for stampers...or maybe even use them to grow potatoes depending on what your climate is and if you have the garden space...
I'm sure you'll find something to do with them soon :)
2 people like this
@dragon54u (31634)
• United States
10 Jan 09
Thanks for the suggestions! A single person with ten pounds of potatoes can be a real problem, thank goodness for myLot!
@jdyrj777 (6528)
• United States
11 Jan 09
Ummm so many delishious things to make with potatoes. You can not freeze them before cooking but maybe you can make mashed potatoes and freeze into single size portions. Make hash browns and freeze in single size portions. Etc. You may be able to freeze potatoe salad too. Experiment. Potatoes have a long shelf life too. so thats a good thing. I am also alone but shop costco and sams. My freezer is very full most of the time. I never have problems with potatoes going bad and i get the biggest pkg.
@dragon54u (31634)
• United States
11 Jan 09
Seems there are a lot of us singles! I do wish they would make smaller sizes, maybe 5 potatoes to a bag or half a loaf of bread. I did see a half loaf of bread awhile back but it was yucky white bread and the price was high. They make single serving frozen vegetables but they're more expensive than the regular bags.
@elaine5004 (84)
• United States
11 Jan 09
That is a problem most of us face when we do not have many people to cook for. I think my favorite way to fix potatoes is use the crock pot mixed with other vegetables that you like to eat with a meat if you want. I always put in extra potatoes for some reason they taste better from a crock pot and I don't mind eating them so much that way. Then you can take leftovers and make a pot pie with it, sometimes a soup, if brown gravy mix is around a stew.
@dragon54u (31634)
• United States
11 Jan 09
I think I'll make a turkey pie with leftover frozen turkey and some mushroom soup and vegetables, top it with mashed potatoes that are nicely browned. And freeze the rest of the cooked potatoes! 
@elaine5004 (84)
• United States
11 Jan 09
Hey, will add that combination to my list too. Hadn't thought of getting rid of the turkey in the freezer (STILL!) Thanks!
@flowerchilde (12529)
• United States
12 Feb 09
In these leaner times, I have made the potato one of our staples.. But we are a family of four adults and two kids.. a ten pound bag will last a week.
1 person likes this
@dragon54u (31634)
• United States
12 Feb 09
That's a big family!
I saw a deal on potatoes the other day and bought 5 pounds. I can handle that big a bag but ten pounds is a bit much for me! Too bad you're not my neighbor, I'd share my taters with you, as well as those bags of carrots and celery stalks that I can never use up!
@Sissygrl (10912)
• Canada
29 Apr 09
i put my taters in the fridge in the crisper .. they seem to be fine.. The bag should last almost a month or you use them up.. whichever comes first.. You could make a slew of mashed tatters and freeze em lol. or a slew of soup and freeze it.. just incorperate potatoes in your meal everyday.. like if you were going to have spegetti.. isntead make sheppards pie, you just need a few veggies and know hwo to make gravy after you've fried the burger then smear the tatters on the top and bake 15-20 mins till tatters start to brown..
Bake some, cut them in half and put butter on the top of them.. browns them nicely and a little twist to the boring old baked potato.. or bake em and put cheese and brocoolli in them.. I also like potato skins, but that's a lot of work!! baked them cutting them in half, scooping out all the potato.. lol.
What about a soup kitchen or something in your area if all else fails ? they may take a few potatoes yea ?
1 person likes this
@dragon54u (31634)
• United States
30 Apr 09
You have some really tasty ideas! I did get rid of them but I'll never bake 7-8 pounds of potatoes for potato skins again! I did use the potatoes but ended up throwing out some of the skins--where all the nutrition is!!
I'm growing my own this year! 
I'll stagger the planting so I'll have a consistent supply of fresh potatoes!
I'll stagger the planting so I'll have a consistent supply of fresh potatoes!
@suspenseful (40192)
• Canada
10 Jan 09
Keep the unused ones down in the basement or some place where it is dark. Not in the pantry, because the door is closed and it gets a little hot in there. Also if you make fries, you can partly fry them and then fput them in separate freezer bags and freeze them. http://www.cdkitchen.com/recipes/recs/64/HomemadeFrozenFrenchFries20638.shtml
Do not keep them out of the plastic bag or the ones that are rotten will go to the other ones and they smell really horrible. It is best to store them loose.
http://www.mvproduce.com/storing.html
1 person likes this
@suspenseful (40192)
• Canada
11 Jan 09
You're welcome. I froze some partly frozen fries and they turned out well when I reheated them. Of course, it was just a couple of days later. So I could have just kept them in fridge.
@dragon54u (31634)
• United States
10 Jan 09
Thank you so much! That last site will prove very useful to me!
1 person likes this
@chrislotz (8137)
• Canada
29 Apr 09
So now that four months have passed since you posted this discussions and asked this question, What happened to your potatoes? Did you end up throwing some of the away.
I keep my potatoes in the fridge in my crisper and they usually last about 6 weeks before they go bad, and I usually have them all eaten by then. I buy 10 pound bags as well for the same reason as you, quite often they are just cheaper than the 5 pound bags. There is just the two of us to eat them, my 26 year old daughter and I and we both don't eat a lot of carbs so it is good that they last me that long. I may have even had some last for two months.
1 person likes this
@dragon54u (31634)
• United States
29 Apr 09
Thanks for asking! I baked most of them and had potato skins whenever I wanted them, they lasted quite awhile. The rest I made into potato cakes, as a topping for casseroles. fried, etc.
When you put potatoes in the fridge they turn more starchy, so I don't do it. I guess, from talking to a few farmers, that potatoes don't keep because they've already sat in warehouses for months before they get to market. I'm growing my own this summer so I should have potatoes all fall, winter and spring! I have a perfect dark and cool place for them in my basement!
@GreenMoo (11833)
•
17 Jan 09
Your potatoes should store for ages if you can find somewhere cool, dry and dark for them to sit. An outside shed would be great, or a cellar. I have a load in my loft at the moment, as it's not insulated up there. Ideally put them in a paper sack for storage, as they need to breathe.
My potatoes store from when they come out of the ground, right through the winter months until the next ones are ready to harvest. You've no way of knowing how old the ones you've bought are, or how they've been stored already, but they should last until you can eat them.
Potatoes are great for this time of year though, and I wish I could take them off your hands as we're eating them daily. I try and avoid frying them, but I use loads in soup bases and in casseroles, stews and curries. Then of course you can boil them as a side dish, mash them with some gravy, combine them with leftover green veg as bubble and squeak, turn them into a potato salad (my favourite contains sweetcorn, fried onions and hard boiled eggs) ... the list goes on ...
If they really do start going soft and you have the space, you can prepare and freeze them. Mashed potato freezes well and is really convenient.
1 person likes this
@dragon54u (31634)
• United States
17 Jan 09
Moo, if I put those potatoes in my shed they would freeze--it's warmed up to 22 degrees here today!
I ended up baking them all and putting them in the fridge. I've GOT to get busy and mash them up! I think I'll make a nice batch of potato soup, too.
I ended up baking them all and putting them in the fridge. I've GOT to get busy and mash them up! I think I'll make a nice batch of potato soup, too.
@Paula1966 (1102)
• United States
10 Jan 09
If you get tired of all the mashed potatoes you may end up making, you can make some potato pancakes. My mom used to do that when I was a kid, and I wasn't too fond of them then. However, now I add some garlic powder and onion powder to the mashed potatoes, make them into patties, and fry them up. Yum!!!
@dragon54u (31634)
• United States
10 Jan 09
I do plan to do that! Mom made great potato cakes. Did your mom ever make salmon patties? During her recent stay here, I asked Mom to teach me how to make them and they were as yummy as ever.
@Paula1966 (1102)
• United States
11 Jan 09
We were never big fish eaters, and Mom wasn't the most avid cook. According to her, all she knew how to cook when she met my dad was fried chicken and potato salad. So, when she would make a "special" dinner for him, that was what they had. He thought, based on those things, she was a pretty good cook. THEN he found out the truth after they got married, LOL. Good thing they only dated 3 months before getting married, otherwise he might have found out her secret sooner.
1 person likes this
@ank_47 (1959)
• India
12 Feb 09
if i have more potatoes i make potato chips , frenchfries which can stay for more long time. and i will make potato curries daily in meals and take it with cooked plain rice. in india we can make many curry recipes with the potatoes. so i will make daily one variety of curry. and recently i have seen in one indian channel how to make gulabjam(sweet) with potatoes. so i will try it,if i have more potatoes. u also can try those recipes if u want .
@dragon54u (31634)
• United States
12 Feb 09
Those sound very good, but I'm not familiar with curry. I ended up baking them all then using them for hash browns, potato skins (yummy!), potato cakes, fried potatos with onions and green peppers and then made a batch of potato soup!
@MdImranHossain (336)
• Bangladesh
12 Jan 09
I didn't understand whats the problem with potatos. Ten pounds no a matter to keep at home for a single if you take the regularly how much needed to end I think two weeks enough. We are only two member but we need so. Normally I buy 20 kgs at a time and no problem to end the within 4 weeks and no problem with them.
1 person likes this
@dragon54u (31634)
• United States
12 Jan 09
The potatoes we buy here in America are usually pretty old by the time they get to the grocery. They're grown mostly in the west, I'm in the mid-west. I think it's probably weeks before I see them in the grocery, they've been sitting in warehouses till they are shipped out.
When my grandma raised her own potatoes I remember they would last a long, long time if she put them in the cellar (basement) and her last crop would even last all winter. The potatoes I get are good for maybe a week before they begin to go soft and rot. That's why I need to use them quickly!
This summer I'll be raising my own potatoes and most of my vegetables. Thank you so much for replying!
@dragon54u (31634)
• United States
11 Jan 09
That's what I will do with potatoes next time, thank you! I baked them all last night and will be scooping them out and freezing them.
@moondancer (7431)
• United States
11 Jan 09
If you have a bunche and don't wish to cook them all go to a family that you may know that needs things and offer them the extra ones. It's not pity or anything else, just tell them you sure hope they can use them as it was cheaper to buy a bigger bag and them you have all of "these" left that you do not know what to do with, it's more than you can use. They will appreciate them alone or with a couple of the items.
It's a simple gester that will make a vast difference to someone that is in need.
A food panty that gives to ones in need can use them as well.
1 person likes this
@dragon54u (31634)
• United States
11 Jan 09
That was my thought when I bought the bag, but my neighbors were all thinking the same thing so everyone has too many potatoes! The food banks only take unopened packages, unfortunately. Last night I baked them all and I'll be freezing most of it after I scoop out the shells.
@annjilena (5618)
• United States
11 Jan 09
are you could make a potatoes soup,are potatoe salad,are you could make a big pot of soup and store some of it for later use.you can bake a few that will last a few days.and you could give some of them away to someone who could use them.
@dragon54u (31634)
• United States
11 Jan 09
I had hoped to give them away but all my neighbors had enough potatoes and some of them had too many, like me!
Last night I baked them all and I'll be freezing most of it after I scoop out the shells.
@Barb42 (4214)
• United States
11 Jan 09
With only two of us here, five pounds is lots of potatoes and sometimes some of them ruin. I believe you'd have been better off buying a 4 or 5 pound sack since you will probably lose some of the 10 lb sack. If I am going to make potato salad for a special dinner or for a church luncheon, a 10 lb sack isn't too bad. I usually make 5 lbs of potato salad for those meals. Then we usually use most of the 5 lb sack. Hope you find a way to use most of those potatoes.
@dragon54u (31634)
• United States
11 Jan 09
I did, thank you! I baked them all last night, scooped a couple out for baked potato skins, fried some up for breakfast today and will mash and freeze the rest of them today.
@missybear (11391)
• United States
11 Jan 09
I love making potato salad.
You can make some and eat it for a couple of days.
1 person likes this
@dragon54u (31634)
• United States
11 Jan 09
I'm not a big fan of potato salad, although I like it better than I used to. I baked them all and will divide and freeze them today. I'll have lots of yummy baked potato skins!
@snowcat46 (2322)
• United States
11 Jan 09
To store them, you can use old pantyhose. Put a potato in a leg, tie a knot, another potato, same thing till it's full. Do the same for all of them and hang them in a cool, dark place.
To cook a lot, my husband taught me how to do fried potatoes. Peel however many you want, cut into slices, put in a skillet. Don't use grease, use butter on bottom of skillet. Also put sliced onions in too. Cook either fast or slow, turning frequently. Cook till tender, or go further and cook till some are crispy. These are delicious!! We usually use our deepest skillet and fill it to the top with potatoes. Make sure to keep putting more butter in if it starts running dry.
@dragon54u (31634)
• United States
11 Jan 09
I love them fixed that way! This morning I took a baked one and scooped it out then fried the potatos with onions and bell peppers--yummy! Not crisp, unfortunately, because I'm watching my weight so I used pan spray.
