Freezing Potatoes

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pckouris

Senior Cook
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Mar 26, 2005
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I have an abundance of baking potatoes. I am wondering how to "save" them from going bad sitting around by freezing them. Peel? Cut into different sizes say for hashbrowns, cubed for soups etc, and then blanch them? Is this the best I can do? And will they be watery when I get them out to use? Any better ways?
 
If you have a cool dry place to store them, they'll do ok for quite a while. Colonial Americans used to store them in the 'root cellar' in sand from harvest through the winter. But, I guess there aren't a lot of root cellars in Marathon.

If your home is air conditioned, just keep them in a dark spot with some ventilation.
 
I've had better success freezing stuffed baked potatoes than any other way of freezing them. Mashed will freeze if you don't make them too wet.
 
iF YOU FREEZE FRESH POTATO, YOU WILL NOT BE ABLE TO USE THEM AFTERWORDS. eVEN A SLIGHT FROST BITE WILL MAKE POTATO SWEET AND IN MY OPINION (oops) unusable. Unless you cook them first and then freeze the only other way to save them, as it was mention above is a root cellar.
 
Pete said:
I have an abundance of baking potatoes. I am wondering how to "save" them from going bad sitting around by freezing them. Peel? Cut into different sizes say for hashbrowns, cubed for soups etc, and then blanch them? Is this the best I can do? And will they be watery when I get them out to use? Any better ways?
we used to keep our potatoes in a paper sack in the outdoor shed. That was England, a slightly more temperate climate..
I wouldn't waste my freezer space for spuds, though, much as I adore them.Exchange them with the neighbours:
10 lbs spuds = 6 Farmers Cheeses, or 20 Dill pickles, or what ever!
 
What Shunka said. You need to cook them and add a good bit of fat(butter) and milk and make 2X baked potatoes. And the mashed will freeze with the stabilizers of milk/fat. Otherwise, they get mealy when cooked and frozen.
 
The water in the spud can render the thawd spud useless. The ice crystals are shards. the starch crystals are durable. Prep accordingly. Also it depends on the typ of potato, more starch, the better you are. We freeze bulk cubed hashbrowns all the time with fine end results. We use youkons. Buttery and creamy. i guees try out some variety for optimum performance.
 
I agree - you can't freeze raw spuds if you expect anything edible. They need to be either cooked or par cooked (par boiled, par steamed, par fried).

This site has some spud specific info - worded differently here - and a hodge podge of here's the list of articles you can pick from to read - covers all things about freezing potatoes.
 
I had the misfortune of having to discard 50 + meals recently because we had included little gourmet nadine potatos in the dish, skin on.
These meals were then frozen for a Meals on Wheels run my company does also.
It did not take long for the complaints to roll in. These wee tatties spat at you when pierced with a knife of fork. And aimed well by all accounts!!:ermm:
My staff and myself tested them and concurred, so out they went. Now it must be the variety as I have had no problem with any others. I was amazed at the amount of water in the middle of each potato...
 
CharlieD - yeah - pirogies!!! Solves all the problems!!!! Right???

Lynan - you bring up a point that I was just noticing ... it appears you have to peel your tatties unless your going to cut them them up before freezing.

I know that even mashers heated in a nuker (microwave) need to be given a stir halfway through because they will seperate ... or be really "nasty".
 
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So Michael, are you saying that if I cut them in half when cooked and with skins on, then freeze they may be fine??

If so, that would be so great as we are trying to vary how we present the potatos to these elderly people. We all love mash but with 16 different meals it is not feasible. Or wise!
These particular clients voice their likes and dislikes very clearly.:) :)

I will try doing that...thanks!
 
Oh, yeah, no need to stir pirogies. The mashed potato kind is my wife's favorite she can eat them everyday
 
UGH! You brought back a memory for me, Pete! Many years ago, shortly after my father retired, he decided to try to help out the wicked step-monster by peeling pounds & pounds of potatoes for her one day. She (gourmet chef that she was) got home from work & had a big hairy fit because something would have to be done with them before they could be frozen or refrigerated. They would need to be cooked in some way. I think most of them got thrown away. I felt so bad for my Dad - he made such an effort. Obviously it made a big impression because I still remember that incident from so long ago. And the wicked step-monster? Couldn't cook worth a lick. Spatini spaghetti sauce anyone?
 
Something like that, Lynan - boil and then slice in some way (sliced, halved, quartered, etc.) to eliminate the center being enclosed. Poking a few holes in them might also help. It sounds like the problem is the potatoes have a lot of moisture which is building up pressure when reheated. Theoretically, anything to alleviate the pressure problem should work.

But, I would try a couple of different ways with a few potatoes before packing up 50+ meals the next time!
 
One year when I had a lot of potatoes that had nicks, cuts etc in them, I peeled, sliced into french fries and par boiled . I had ready made fries all winter.
 
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