Chips

[Deleted User]

Si_Clist wrote: »

Can't be doing with oil and chip pans and the smell and the fire risk ...

There's no fire risk, if you use a thermostatically controlled fryer.

sairy2010

I bought a 25kg bag of potatoes last Sunday from a chap in a layby for £3.50. It is the cheapest I have seen them for years. I do live in Norfolk where we grow a lot of spuds and he said there were so many about this year and with the new ones about to come in he was trying to get rid of them.
I keep chickens so any left overs will be boiled up for them. (and yes I do know that you are not supposed to do that). I have always done it and no harm has come to us so far.
So at these prices it would be silly to buy frozen chips. However last year I was paying £9.50 - £12.00 per sack so frozen ones were cheaper.
I also buy powdered mash (20p per bag) in case I run out or cant be bothered to peel potatoes. Now this is cheaper and makes better bubble and squeak or fishcakes than real potatoes.

chocgirl_2

Hiya - can I ask you lovely people who are buying large bags of potatoes where and how you store them? We don't have a garage but we do have a shed?
Thank you

minimacka

Bedsit_Bob wrote: »

Have you seen the price of slices/scallops/fritters/smacks/specials recently? :eek:

To be honest we don't usually go to the chip shop, we owned a cafe which sold breakfasts, fish and chips etc so we used to get them from there if we wanted them, but we have now sold the cafe and so we are quite shocked at the price of fish and chips etc.

minimacka

chocgirl wrote: »

Hiya - can I ask you lovely people who are buying large bags of potatoes where and how you store them? We don't have a garage but we do have a shed?
Thank you

We have put them in our shed, they have been there a couple of weeks and I think they are ok?


x

carlamarie_2

chocgirl wrote: »

Hiya - can I ask you lovely people who are buying large bags of potatoes where and how you store them? We don't have a garage but we do have a shed?
Thank you

I keep mine in the cupboard under the stairs, which has a concrete floor and it's pretty cold in there!

lezah56

You have to remember that if you're using a deep fat fryer, or oven top frying pan, the (healthy) unsaturated oil needs to be thrown away after 3 uses or else it becomes (unhealthy) saturated fat. So I guess it depends on which oil, aswell as potatoes, you use as to whether bought oven cooked chips are the cheaper option.
(Personally, 'twice-cooked' homemade chips are nicer but not necessarily cheaper. If oven cooking home-made chips, try par boiling them in water first, like roasties. Then they don't need as much oven time.)

[Deleted User]

lezah56 wrote: »

Personally, 'twice-cooked' homemade chips are nicer but not necessarily cheaper.

I prefer to microwave them first, then fry once.

reluctantworkingmum

I know it is advertising BUT I love home cooked chips but hate the smell of the oil and I never knew what to do with the full pan of oil afterwards so left it in the fryer then worried about it going off (and trying to get my kids eating healthily) so I splurged out and treated myself to an actifry. Very very expensive (about 50 squid) but it does mean we can eat proper chips with only a spoon of oil. no pans of used oil hanging around. I use the whole spud, skins and all and they are great - so much nicer than frozzy ones.

Lwcus

Potatoes as all root vegetables need to be stored ideally at 40°-50°F (5°-10°C) with a humidity of 70-80%. Most homes are too warm and dry and that's why potatoes start growing. Traditionally, root cellars were used to store the summer's harvest, which is basically a room below ground with a 60cm depth of soil on the roof. Remember those tornado shelters you see on the USA films, they are root cellars first and storm shelters second. If you have a basement/cellar, that possibly could be used as a root cellar. If you have a small garden, allotment you can make a simple root cellar using a galvanized refuse bin (new preferably, don't fancy storing my food in a used one). Bury the bin so that the lid when fitted is 20cm below the surrounding surface. Keep the lid on and pack the soil completely around the bin to within 50-100mm of the rim of the bin. Put the lid on and place about 15-20cm thick styrofoam sheet over the top. To finish, you will need a sheet of exterior grade plywood larger than the excavated hole, which will be weighed down with rocks, old tires or similar to prevent the wind blowing it away. Pack your vegetables in hessian type bags (no plastic, the vegetables need to breath and not sweat). Keep only one type of veg in each bag and remember not to put too much in each, unless you lift weights for a past time. If you wish to know more about root cellars, just google it.

Ron
Up in the beautiful mountains of North Wales