Do The Mashed Potato

I made an entirely-too-large batch of mashed potatoes for lunch today, and wondered what to do with it. Since I have a frugal (read: make more work for myself) mindset, I really didn't want to throw it away.

Here are some options I came up with:

• Freeze it
• Use it to thicken and flavor a soup or stew
• Make potato cakes
• Make potato soup
• Make mashed potato rolls
• Make gnocchi
• Use it to make Shepherd's Pie

Honestly, after making an involved lunch I wasn't too keen on any of the ideas that started with the word "Make" or "Use", so I'm opting for freeze it.

Many people cautioned against this, saying that thawed mashed potatoes can turn out runny or mealy (that is, gross). The people who said their mashed potatoes turned out just fine made their potatoes with a lot of fatty ingredients like butter, cheese, sour cream, milk, etc.

Now, my mashed potatoes are usually chalk full of goodies like that, but I don't want to eat runny, mealy potatoes and it's not worth wasting a whole batch in experimenting. So I divided my potatoes into two smaller quart-sized freezer bags and then froze them. I plan to use them to thicken my soups/stews, make shepherd's pie, or potato soup. I'll let you know how it turns out!

For more information:

http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/528070

http://www.thriftyfun.com/tf802857.tip.html

http://www.thekitchn.com/thekitchn/good-questions/how-do-i-freeze-potatoes-good-questions-095567