Mashed potatoes? Cheaper way of doing it.

DANDILION_3

Buy large potatoes. Pierce liberally with skewer. Put two or three in microwave till done - about 10 minutes depending on quantity. Then peel and mash. Saves all the peeling, washing and fuel cost of boiling for 20 minutes or more.

Avocado

We call this a microwave jacket potato in my house, straight out of the microwave and onto the plate, it saves even washing up a masher. Oh and you can stab them with the fork you'll eat them with too... We're all about least-possible-effort in this family :rotfl:

Raksha

DANDILION wrote: »

Buy large potatoes. Pierce liberally with skewer. Put two or three in microwave till done - about 10 minutes depending on quantity. Then peel and mash. Saves all the peeling, washing and fuel cost of boiling for 20 minutes or more.

I do them here, sometimes even doubling up when baking pots and doing the mash for the following day. Tastes different to normal mash, but my kids prefer it.

TonyMMM

And you need to compare the cost of the 10mins electricity usage, with 20 mins of gas .... may not be as cheap as you think.

savingqueen

Another cheap way if you have a gas hob... put enough cold water to cover spuds in a pan and leave until reached room temperature before boiling the water. cut spuds into small pieces then put in boiling water. once boiled leave (with lid on) alone until cooked. mmmmm mashed pots, waiting for my toad-in-the-hole to cook and I'm starving!

Avocado

Doing real mash for tea we have a steamer pan a bit like this one. It doesn't make the mash any cheaper, but it does mean the peas/carrots/sweetcorn in the trays above it cooks for free (and it retains vitamins too).

tanith

I've found I can just turn the hob off after 6/7 mins and the pots will cook in the hot water ..

adelight

Heck, an even cheaper way if doing a small-ish amount of mash is to cut your potatoes up really small, put them into a flask with boiling water and leave for an hour or until they're soft. If your resulting mash isn't quite hot enough, 30 seconds in the microwave will sort that out.

oldtractor

boil the spuds on top of the woodburning stove. free cooking heat.

Avocado

Ah now adelight, your commitment to economy outshines mine hands down, the thought of washing the starchy flask up enough to put me right off. I salute your efficiency! :rotfl:

adelight

Avocado wrote: »

Ah now adelight, your commitment to economy outshines mine hands down, the thought of washing the starchy flask up enough to put me right off. I salute your efficiency! :rotfl:

Don't mash them in the flask, mash them on to the plate with a fork you'll eat with!!

I know it sounds mental put ever since I started making "flask soup" for my walks I've got really into cooking things in a flask as I can just ignore it for an hour or so while I do other things. It makes incredible rice