Potato-How To Cook Several Meals On The Cheap
Would you love some recipes using a potato you can cook, mash, and fry on the cheap? Potatoes are the leading vegetable crop in the United States (not including sweet potatoes), with about 15% contributing to farm sales. Over 50% of the potatoes grown are processed for french fries, potato chips, dehydrated potatoes, and other popular potato products.
I purchased a 20-pound bag of #1 potatoes for $5.99. Woo Hoo! Let’s see how many meals or side dishes I can make with it. Start saving money today!
1. Mashed Potatoes
These potatoes are peeled and boiled in water until a fork test shows that they are cooked enough. I drain the water and add whatever I have in the refrigerator to make them creamy and fluffy. I use either milk, sour cream, whip cream, butter, and salt, then mashed with my stainless steel masher. I really like the peeled potato look, but sometimes I just don’t have time to peel the potatoes, but today I did (with a little help from my husband). I must say my husband would love mashed potatoes every night…he really would! My favorite potato masher: Best Manufacturers Waffle Head Potato Masher
2. Dirty Mashed Potatoes
Okay, now I will show you my “dirty” mashed potatoes. Of course, you can see some of the peelings because these were not peeled. I just boiled them, drained them, and mashed them with the hand masher because I like a few chunks in the dirty mashed ones! I add milk, sour cream, whip cream, butter, and some salt. Fabulous to eat!
3. Nachos
I honestly could eat Mexican food every night, so I thought why not slice some cooked potatoes, add some re-fried beans, grated cheese, and top with sliced black olives? Add a little guacamole, sour cream, and some salsa….yummy! These really are good! Great for football games in front of the television!
4. Homemade Hash Browns
Here you can see I grated some baked potatoes and made my own hash browns. I freeze these in baggies to enjoy later. They are so much cheaper than the frozen ones you buy at the grocery store. I thaw them in the refrigerator and fry in a little butter. No other ingredients. Healthy natural potatoes. My favorite grater: Cuisinart CTG-00-BG Boxed Grater
5. Steak Fries With Fry Sauce
With this recipe, I sliced the raw potatoes in wedges and placed them in a bag with a little olive oil and water. Shake the bag and spread them on a cookie sheet and bake at 375 degrees for about an hour, or until cooked to desired tenderness. I used equal amounts of chili sauce and mayonnaise to make the fry sauce. Is your mouth watering yet? Mine is for sure. My grandson ate all of these over the weekend. Love that guy!
6. Potato Chips
I baked 1/8 inch sliced potatoes in the oven @ 375 degrees on a greased cookie sheet for about 40 minutes. I let them cool on the cookie sheet to make sure they stayed crispy. This makes for an easy healthy snack. Sometimes you just need some chips!
7. Stuffed Bell Peppers
I had some friends over for dinner last night and they are always willing to try my creations. I had a few different bell peppers, so I made some stuffed bell peppers with some of the mashed potatoes. Yummy! I baked them @ 350 degrees for about 40 minutes. Our friends loved these! WooHoo!
8. Potato-Turkey Wraps
Here are some whole wheat wraps spread with mashed potatoes along with some cooked turkey slices. I baked them with a toothpick to help hold them together. I baked them @ 350 degrees for about 30 minutes. Everything is actually already cooked, so I was really just heating them through to serve. Add some Pico de Gallo and you are set for a great meal!
9. Mexican Potato Salad
I am sincerely trying to eat more vegetables, so I took some baked potato chunks and added black beans (drained) and corn (drained). I then added a little Pico de Gallo, cilantro, green onions, and black olives. You can serve this cold or at room temperature.
11. Pico de Gallo Bites
Here I used some sliced baked potatoes topped with re-fried beans, guacamole, Pico de Gallo, and black olives. Easy to make and serve. Another football game favorite snack!
12. Potato & Cheese Quesadillas
Okay, these were going to be taquitos, but the corn tortillas were too dry so they crumbled when I tried to roll them with mashed potatoes and cheese in them. So, I make quesadillas! I baked them at 350 degrees until I could see the cheese melting. I did spray the tortillas with vegetable oil because they were so dry and brittle. You could bake these on a griddle or fry pan. I think salsa or Pico de Gallo goes with almost every meal!
13. Heidi’s Potato Chunks
These potatoes are my whole family’s favorite ones. My daughter, Heidi makes them like potato steak fries but cuts them into chunks and sprinkles them with Lawry’s Salt. Bake at 375 degrees for about 40-45 minutes, or until desired tenderness. Serve with fry sauce above.
14. Regular Baked Potatoes
These make for an easy side dish with butter, sour cream, grated cheese, and bacon bits if desired. I have to admit I like way too much sour cream on my baked potatoes. Okay, I like a lot of butter as well. There is something about the combination of these together.
You can bake the russet potatoes covered with foil (non-shiny outside), plain or oiled, and sprinkled with Kosher Salt. I poke the potatoes with a fork. I don’t know if it’s an old wives tale but I always do this when baking them. The time to bake your potatoes will depend on the size of the potato you are baking. I bake mine at 425 degrees for 45-60 minutes.
15. Twice Baked Russet Potatoes
You can bake the russet potatoes covered with foil (non-shiny outside), plain or oiled, and sprinkled with Kosher Salt. I poke the potatoes with a fork. I don’t know if it’s an old wives tale but I always do this when baking them. The time to bake your potatoes will depend on the size of the potato you are baking. I bake mine at 425 degrees for 45-60 minutes. After baking, cut them in half lengthwise.
Scoop out the insides as close to the edge of the peel as possible. I mash the insides with my potato masher and add butter, sour cream, green onion, and salt in a medium-sized bowl. Heap the filling back into the skins and bake until heated through. Bake at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes. Sprinkle with a little grated cheese. Nordic Ware Natural Aluminum Commercial Baker’s Half Sheet
Here is the finished product below:
***Bonus-You Can Freeze Russet Potatoes:
Yes, you can freeze your leftover mashed russet potatoes or hash browns. The ones you buy at the store that are already mashed are so expensive, plus they add ingredients I cannot pronounce.
Final Word
I hope you try some of my potato recipes above, it’s all about cooking from scratch. Have you ever grown potatoes? They are so different from the ones you purchase at the store. They are soft and so moist! See my link below to give growing them a try. Thanks for being prepared for the unexpected. May God bless this world. Linda
AH – Potatoes. I think that the ONLY way to ruin a potato is to burn it!! LOL.
My favorite potato, however, is a red potato. My mother made creamed peas and potatoes when I was growing up. When the peas were ready in the garden, we picked and shelled a bunch; dad dug a few new potatoes (tiny reds) and mom made the creamed peas and potatoes. Still one of my absolute favorites. She did something else with red potatoes that I have not been able to re-create. She parboiled small red potatoes then cut them in chunks and fried them in butter. OH my – they were great but I haven’t been able to make these quite the way she did.
Love the idea of stuffed bell peppers. I think, though, that I would top them with grated cheese and get the tops good and browned!!
I’ve switched to using Yukon Golds, as that’s what we grow in our garden. I make mashed potatoes in my Instant Pot, using about 5 pounds at a time. It makes enough for about 8 or so servings for my hubby and I. I seal serving size leftovers with my FoodSaver, then freeze. When I re-heat, I just slip the bag in boiling water for about 10-15 minutes. Works great!
Hi Kathie, my favorite seed potatoes are Yukon Gold! My potato seeds have been shipped and I can’t wait to get them in the ground! I love hearing you use your pressure cooker for making mashed potatoes. It makes it so easy! No pot over boiling anymore! Great tip on the FoodSaver! Linda
Hi Leanne, I would top the prepper with cheese as well, but they don’t photograph very well for my blog. LOL! My mouth is watering for the creamed peas and potatoes! YUM! I love love love potatoes! Great comment! Linda
Don’t forget about potato soup, I love that. Especially with cheese in it. You can put mashed potatoes on Shepherd ‘s pie. Don’t forget scalloped potatoes; augratin potatoes; boiled small potatoes, drained, added to a skillet, add butter, and whatever herbs you like, and real butter. Yum! You already covered mashed, baked, twice baked. You can use cold mashed potatoes to patty out and fry in butter. There are hasbrowns too. Can make potato latkes. My aunt made mashed potato chocolate cake. Made it very moist. There are the standard French fries, tots, etc. One of my personal favorites is Vichyssoise. The potato is extremely versatile, and delicious. The only problem that I have with potatoes is the fact that they are nightshade vegetables, and contain a lot of lectins. But, I still eat them.
HI Jmar, oh my gosh, you talked about some food items I grew up with as well. Plus some I have never heard about but I will Google them very soon! LOL! I love your comment! Linda
Yum–I know what I’m having for breakfast!
Hi Roxanne, this is so funny, because this morning I got up and started baking some bacon to go with fried potatoes for breakfast! Have fun eating breakfast!! Linda
My favorite meal with potatoes is a Spanish omelet (or tortilla). I slice 4 or 5 medium to large sized potatoes about 1/8″ thick. Chop a medium onion . Fry the potatoes and onion in a healthy amount of olive or vegetable oil until tender. Remove from heat and drain, but save the oil. Beat 6 eggs and add salt and pepper. Stir the potato mixture into the eggs. Return the remaining oil to the skillet. Heat over medium heat and pour the potato & egg mixture into the hot oil. Cook over medium heat until the bottom is golden brown and the egg mixture is cooked at least half way through. Slide the omelet onto a pizza pan very carefully. Pour any excess oil out of the pan and invert it over the omelet on the pizza pan. Using oven mitts or towels, hold the skillet and pizza pan together tightly and carefully flip them over so that the uncooked side is now in contact with the skillet and continue cooking until the eggs are set, but not dry. A little bit of softness is best. Slice and serve. This makes a great meal with a salad, or cut into cubes and serve at room temperature ad an appetizer. This is a traditional Spanish dish and is super delicious, inexpensive and filling.
Hi Dawn, oh my gosh, I’m going to try this recipe. I love hearing about new recipes, thanks so much for sharing!! Linda
A tip I would like to offer about mashed potatoes…I like to scoop them with a 1/2 cup scoop onto a parchment lined tray and then freeze until hard. Then I store them in the freezer and only pull out how many scoops I need for the meal. No waste, so convenient. Thanks for these wonderful ideas!
Hi Geni, oh my gosh, I love this idea! No waste and really convenient! I love your comment! Thank you! Linda
Great comment about freezing in 1/2 cup servings. One thing my mother always did to stretch meals for the 10 people in our family was to cut up a bunch of potatoes for fries, put them in a big cast iron skillet along with a little diced onion, julienned carrots , sometimes squash sliced. Fry it all together, turning everything with a spatula regularly so nothing burns, until it is all done. My kids liked that too. They called it nama’s skillet potato fry. Good with salt and black pepper. We ate it with ketchup, just like you would fries. But you had to eat them with a fork. Yum, we loved them.
Hi Jmar, I can almost taste that skillet potato fry. It sounds yummy and with Ketchup too! Love it! Linda
Good eats! There used to be a little restaurant near me that served Veggie Browns–boiled potatoes cut in small chunks and sauteed with peppers, onions, mushrooms and at the end of the cooking time stir in some chopped tomatoes just until they are hot but still fresh tasting. S&P to taste. If you want you can top with a little cheese and let it melt but its delicious as is.
I’ve been doing that too, although I didn’t think to use a scoop. Great idea.
To reheat from frozen put individual serving on a plate then put an upside down bowl over potatos then heat 3 min in microwave.
HI Chris, great tip on the potatoes! I love it! Linda
Hi Linda, I know someone mentioned potato pancakes-great way to use leftover mashed potatoes. Depending on how much you have left, take cold mashed potatoes, put them in a bowl, add a tablespoon or two of flour, an egg and some chopped onion. Fry in butter until browned on both sides. My grandmother, who was great at stretching her pennies, also would boil potatoes cubes until tender. She would drain all but about an inch of the water, leaving the water and the potatoes in the pan. Return to low heat, add milk to pan until potatoes are covered. Add some butter and bring to a gentle boil. Stir in one tablespoon of cornstarch dissolved in one tablespoon of water to thicken. Season with salt and black pepper. My grandmother would serve this with pinto beans and cornbread triangles. Not quite a soup, but delicious! My dad (who reads this blog too) also makes a great potato soup. Thanks for the imaginative post!
Hi Julie, oh my gosh, I think my mom used to make something similar to this!!! I grew up on potato pancakes as well. It sounds like I need to write another post on more potato recipes! I love your ideas!!! Linda