Can You Freeze Mashed Potatoes?
Mashed potatoes still remain the most crowd-pleasing meal for any event. The unfortunate news; is that this is highly perishable hence the need for freezing. Can you freeze mashed potatoes? Then the answer is Yes!
We’ll guide you on how to freeze potatoes. Also includes how to reheat mashed potatoes in different ways.
How To Freeze Potatoes?
The Best Way To Freeze Mashed Potatoes
Below is a step-by-step guide on how to freeze your mashed potatoes.
1. Cook your mashed potatoes for 10 to 12 minutes.
2. Add butter or oil and mash the cooked potatoes thoroughly.
3. Let the mashed potatoes cool for at least 4 minutes.
4. Scoop the mashed potatoes and store them in a high-quality freezer bag.
5. Get rid of all the air from the freezer bag.
6. Label the freezer bag accordingly.
7. Set the freezer to -18 degrees celsius.
8. Put the freezer bag containing your mashed potatoes.
Kindly avoid overloading your freezer with too much food. You should only freeze the food that you intend to eat much later.
How To Reheat Mashed Potatoes? 3 Easiest Ways
Fortunately, there are diverse ways to thaw your mashed potatoes. Let’s now explore the best way to reheat mashed potatoes.
1. Reheat Using An Oven
Put your mashed potatoes in your bowl and add melted butter or oil. Stir the mashed potatoes in the bowl and cover the bowl properly. Set your oven to between 90 to 120 degrees Celsius. Add salt to the mashed potatoes and put the bowl in your oven.
2. Using A Double Cooker
Double cookers provide a less risky way to reheat your mashed potatoes. As you’ll see shortly, your potatoes can’t dry out. Put your mashed potatoes in your double boiler and add some butter. Stir your mashed potatoes for 2 – 3 minutes and put them in a glass bowl.
Add water to the double boiler and place it on the heat and let the water boil. Place the glass bowl on top of the double boiler for cooking. Let the mashed potatoes cook for 5 to 10 minutes.
The only disadvantage is that this method may make your mashed potatoes overheat.
3. Reheat With A Slow Cooker
Slow cookers offer the best way to reheat your mashed potatoes moderately. Start by adding oil to your pot to prevent burning. Add oil or butter to your mashed potatoes and stir exhaustively. Transfer the potatoes to the slow cooker to warm them for 10 – 15 minutes.
Why Do We Freeze Mashed Potatoes?
Now that you know how to freeze mashed potatoes let’s shift to why freezing is necessary. The following are the top reasons why you should freeze your mashed potatoes.
A) To Save The Freshness and Flavor
Professional cooks freeze mashed potatoes immediately after cooking them for preservation purposes. No customer would spend their hard-earned cash to eat stale mashed potatoes in a hotel. The frozen mashed potatoes will remain fresh until you de-ice them.
B) To Ensure The Mashed Potatoes Remain Natural
The most effective way to preserve mashed potatoes is to freeze them. Adding preservatives may endanger the lives of the consumers. Research shows preservatives are capable of turning into carcinogenic agents.
C) To Save Time
Nowadays, it’s possible to purchase packed mashed potatoes from the supermarket. Therefore, you don’t have to spend half of your day preparing this covetable meal. The supermarket freezes these potatoes until customers buy them for cooking.
D) For Convenience Purposes
Nobody is in total control of what happens every day. It always pays off to freeze pre-cooked food such as mashed potatoes in your freezer. If your workload at the office becomes too much, you’ll still eat well before you retire to bed.
E) To Prevent Food Wastage
A study showed that supermarkets dispose of 35 % of foods such as mashed potatoes. We can attribute this to poor refrigeration as well as lack of customers. Imagine the costly financial consequences of it. To avoid such wastage in your house, we suggest you consider freezing your pre-cooked food.
F) To Save Money
Freezing food means that you can eat it for as long as you please. Therefore, you don’t have to keep buying more and more ingredients daily to prepare a meal. Another way to look at it is that frozen food tends to be relatively cheap.
On the contrary, it’s relatively expensive to prepare mashed potatoes on your own. You’ll need multiple ingredients, time, and the right recipe in mind.
G) Safety Reasons
Mashed potatoes are prone to food poisoning by dangerous bacteria like Salmonella or Norovirus. For this reason, you should freeze the food to hinder the growth of these harmful microorganisms.
What To Consider When Freezing Your Mashed Potatoes?
No cook freezes their mashed potatoes for the sake of it. Instead, you do it to preserve that natural flavor. For some reason, we have researched crucial considerations to keep in mind.
1. Freezer’s Temperature
You must set your freezer’s temperature to -18 degrees Celsius before you freeze your mashed potatoes. The danger of fluctuating the temperatures of your freezer is that it might spoil the mash. A sudden temperature rise is sufficient to make your mashed potatoes go bad in hours.
2. Harmful Bacteria
Unfortunately, freezing doesn’t fully guarantee that all the microorganisms like bacteria will die. For this reason, it’s good to get rid of all the air before you start freezing your potatoes.
3. Air
We all know that microorganisms can survive comfortably as long as there’s enough oxygen. To avoid this, it’s more reasonable to store the mashed potatoes in an airtight container. As you’ll soon realize, removing air plays a pivotal role in preventing unnecessary freezer burn.
4. Freezing Container
Some people make the mistake of freezing the potatoes in an uncovered bowl. There are multiple benefits of utilizing an airtight freezing bag, instead, to store your mashed potatoes. Kindly check out the manufacturer’s details of the freezing bag first.
Please ensure the bag is vapor-proof and leak-proof, lest your mashed potatoes will go bad. Examples of the best freezing bag brands are Ziploc, Qinline, and Quart freezer bags.
5. Labels
We urge you to label the mashed potatoes storing bag before freezing them. Ensure that you include the date when you stored your food in your freezer. Labeling can make it easier to avoid wastage since you can accurately tell whether the frozen mashed potatoes are still safe for consumption.
FAQs
How Long Can Frozen Mashed Potatoes Last Before They Go Bad?
Nutritionists say that such food can last for as long as 6 months. However, mashed potatoes are good to eat when if you freeze the potatoes once you’re done smashing them. Impressively, if you keep the mashed potatoes at freezing throughout, they can remain fresh for a little longer.
Can I Make My Mashed Potatoes A Day Before Cooking Them?
Yes, you can! Unfrozen mashed potatoes can last for at least 48 hours before they get spoilt. Please ensure that you add milk to cooked mashed potatoes, then heat it for a few minutes before you cook it.
I Fried My Mashed Potatoes In The Morning. Can I Freeze It?
Yes, you can! Food experts opine that you can comfortably freeze cooked mashed potatoes. However, the specialists strongly advise people against freezing raw potatoes. Kindly ensure that your fried mashed potatoes are relatively dry.
You wouldn’t want the potatoes to turn mushy once they thaw.
Why Do We Add Oil To Mashed Potatoes Before Freezing Them?
Experts advise people to add some oil to the mashed potatoes to prevent a freezer burn. You can equally add butter or milk in place of oil.
What Is The Best Temperature To Freeze Mashed Potatoes?
-18 degrees celsius is the perfect temperature to freeze mashed potatoes.
Can I Thaw My Frozen Mashed Potatoes In The Microwave?
Yes, you can! Put your mashed potatoes in a nice plastic bowl for reheating. Put the bowl containing the potatoes in the microwave and set it for 2-3 minutes. Let the food thaw for the entire duration before you remove it. After that, the food is ready, enjoy it as it is or fry it.
My Mashed Potatoes Are Too Watery After Thawing Them. What Should I Do?
If your mashed potatoes turn out to be too watery, you should add some cream. Whip the mixture thoroughly until the mashed potatoes become fully creamy. Better still, you can add butter and stir the runny mashed potatoes.
Is There Any Danger Of Freezing Mashed Potatoes In A Plastic Bag?
Yes, there is! Studies show that plastic bags make mashed potatoes too watery. However, if you add butter or oil; the mashed potatoes won’t be that runny. Better still, you can dry out the water before storing the mashed potatoes for freezing purposes.
Can I Freeze Mashed Red Potatoes?
Yes, you can! Fortunately, it’s possible to freeze any type of mashed potatoes. Whether you want to freeze garlic, cheesy or red mashed potatoes, you can use any method you please.
Can I Try Flash Freezing For My Mashed Potatoes?
Yes, you can! Here’s how to flash freeze your mashed potatoes. Begin by scooping your mashed potatoes onto parchment paper and folding them properly. Put the baking paper containing the mash in the freezer and let it freeze for 13 – 15 minutes.
Conclusion
Are you planning to host your friends? The most thoughtful way to increase your bonding time is to freeze pre-cooked food. As already discussed, freezing will neither affect the flavor nor the freshness of your food. What a brilliant food preservation method!
