Uses for instant potatoes?

[prawncracker]

i've made potato pancakes with potato flakes, very very quick and very cheap too, and have added a spoonful in soup occasionally to thicken it, as i hate flour in my soup

[sleepyowl]

'FOOD' FIGHT
Other 'foods' to be used in such situation;
instant noodles
angel delight
chicken nuggets
pretty much anything from Iceland
tinned meatballs

[Loobyloo]

Hmmm angel delight.

I know its wrong but I still love it. Got to be butterscotch flavour though.

[Brij]

Now potato flour I can understand (though I've never eaten/used it) but what on earth are instant potatoes?

I'm imagining a small, unsticky-sultana like object to which you add water then... poof... a potato appears in a cloud of smoke? Or maybe it is a potato-plant seed that, with the addition of water grows to produce a potato in just a few seconds?

To be honest, I wouldn't even eat mash made with fresh potatoes unless it was disguised in a pile of beans and cheese... and even then...!

[Rosendula]

Now potato flour I can understand (though I've never eaten/used it) but what on earth are instant potatoes?

I'm imagining a small, unsticky-sultana like object to which you add water then... poof... a potato appears in a cloud of smoke? Or maybe it is a potato-plant seed that, with the addition of water grows to produce a potato in just a few seconds?

Now that would be something. Instant potatoes (or instant mash) come in flakes or powder form. You add boiling water, give it a stir and it turns into mush. It looks a little like day-old mash but has none of the yummy lumpy bits.

[Brij]

I see!

[Odsox]

On a recent visit to the UK, I actually spotted ready made mashed potato in the chiller cabinet.
But there's more ... right next to the potatoes were ready made omelets.
I thought Aunt Bessie's frozen yorkshire puddings and frozen roast potatoes were the height (depth) of laziness, but you live and learn.

[Millymollymandy]

I'm imagining a small, unsticky-sultana like object to which you add water then... poof... a potato appears in a cloud of smoke?

Brij that is exactly how I remember instant mashed potatoes when I was a teenager. It was called Smash. Mind you you did need to add boiling water to slightly more than one of these little sultana sized blobs.

[Brij]

On a recent visit to the UK, I actually spotted ready made mashed potato in the chiller cabinet.
But there's more ... right next to the potatoes were ready made omelets.
I thought Aunt Bessie's frozen yorkshire puddings and frozen roast potatoes were the height (depth) of laziness, but you live and learn.

I've seen ready-made omelettes in France! And they really tend to look down on us Brits for using ready-meals!

[Maria]

Oh my word - I can't help myself - forgive me Ina, but Shirley and Andy said it's time I stopped lurking so here goes....

That said, I have plenty of time to prepare meals from scratch now, which was not the case when I used to buy convenience food. (Turns out I was working for money to buy the food I didn't have time to grow/make because I was too busy working for money to buy the food I didn't have time to grow/make )

So very very well said! And a me too! I used to eat smash - or whetever the heck the cheapest version of it was called....yep, disgustingly, with all those e numbers in it too - and to my horror so did my eldest - yep, I fed it to her on occasion. And forgive me one and all, Bessies, or again, whatever the cheapest version of the yorkshire puds nasty too. Not that I was too dim to know better - far from it - I was just too busy denying it mattered! I'd tasted home-grown from my grandads garden, and tasted the most marvellous home-made yorkies. Problem was, I was too busy trying to earn my 'stuff' to realise I knew better, and wow I could grow it. Here follows a wonderful explanation of that trap many of us are/were in (including me until I became the stay at home fem I am today) http://www.storyofstuff.com/

Ok, apart from those of you who I bow to, and aspire to become. Yep that's you too Ina - she of much know how and....mmm potatoe flakes....can I suma them....are they worth it?...or were you balancing a debate....tell me more. To eat E's with ones potatoes or not - which is the most eco/nomic/logical?