I recently found 5-pound bags of organic potatoes on sale for only .99 each, so of course I had to buy two. However, since organic potatoes are not sprayed with a sprout inhibitor, I was confronted with about seven pounds of sprouting potatoes about a week later.
You know I try very hard not to throw food away and yet- I don’t want to eat potatoes for the next week, either. Here are some ways I found to use potatoes before they become shriveled and inedible.
Well, after you’ve washed them and cut off all the sprouts, that is.
(or regular potatoes, for that matter…)
1. Bake them and make some into Twice Baked Potatoes- to eat now or freeze for later (to freeze: after stuffing- but before the second baking – lay them on a cookie sheet and freeze completely before storing in plastic bags for up to 3 months. Thaw and bake as normal).
2. Bake them and grate some for Freezer Hash Browns. Love this so much- I’ve just done without hash browns for years because I didn’t want all the extra ingredients that come with store-bought. My family is really enjoying these again and it’s very convenient.
3. Bake them and cut some for Freezer Home Fries. Same as the grated recipe in #2- just chop them to freeze and when you’re ready to eat, just cook them with butter, onions, and peppers.
4. Bake them and use a few for Loaded Baked Potato Soup.
5. Peel and mash them – to eat now or freeze for later (the make-ahead mashed potato recipe with cream cheese seems to work best for freezing).
6. Bake them and save a few to make these awesome looking egg, cheese & bacon-stuffed potatoes for breakfast.
7. Of course, if it’s potato-planting time where you live, you could always plant them in the the ground – and if you haven’t grown potatoes before, make sure to check out my easy potato planting method.
How do you like to use up potatoes?
-Jami
This is linked to Frugal Friday @LifeAsMom.
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This is good to know. I didn’t know they spray potatoes with a sprout inhibitor. Another reason to buy organic when I can. Good potato ideas too.
I thought you weren’t supposed to eat sprouted potatoes so I usually plant them or just throw them away. Growth inhibitor has never affected the growing capabilities of any of the potatoes I have planted ~ in fact, they grow better than the seed potatoes I have bought! I planted a whole #5 bag of sprouted store bought red potatoes one year and haven’t needed to plant potatoes again! I must have misssed one or two when harvesting and they come up EVERYWHERE each year now! :~/ Good thing I love potatoes! :~D
I had heard something similar, but come to find out it’s just the sprouts themselves that are toxic (and you’d have to eat a LOT of them for anything bad to happen) – but I always cut them off anyway. As long as the potatoes are still firm, you’re good to go!
I did not have your luck planting store potatoes – they were covered in scab when I harvested.
And I never have volunteers like you do – that’s kinda nice!
A very handy post, since during the summer especially, those big bags of potatoes (which often cost less than the smaller bags here!) decline pretty quickly.
I manage a small coffee bar/cafe/bookstore. We make a lot of our winter soups from scratch. Usually I don’t peel potatoes for our soups because I prefer my potatoes unpeeled (and I know it’s more nutritious to use unpeeled potatoes) (and it IS about me, isn’t it, lol??). Anyway. I had a bag of potatoes that was starting to sprout and decided to peel them–just to get the sprouts off, you see? Big Mistake, at least for that particular morning. I was either: too rushed or too unattentive…and ended up taking a huge chunk out of the tip of one of my fingers with the vegetable peeler. I will spare y’all the ensuing icky details!! However, from now on I will either: try to use up potatoes BEFORE they sprout (so as not to vigoursly whack off any more tips of my precious digits) or delegate this particular chore to my staff….’cause obviously peeling sprouted potatoes is not something I can effectively tackle!! So…cautionary tale here: Beware The Sprouted Spud. It is something that challenges (and potentially smacks back at) the best of us!
I will be doubly careful now.