Save on Potatoes

Potatoes are an inexpensive food that can be prepared and served in hundreds of different ways. Many people like to buy the big ten-pound (or bigger) bags of potatoes, but remember when you're shopping: If you won't use it, it's not a good deal. Buy in smaller quantities when you just need a few.

Do you find that your potatoes start to bud before you get to use them? You can prevent potatoes from budding by simply placing an apple in the bag with the potatoes. It works!

A good way to prevent waste and cut down on your cost is to share a bag of potatoes. Go in half and half with a friend or neighbor on the potatoes. You'll still get the lower price from buying in large quantities, but you won't have a bunch of potatoes going bad before you can use them.

Don't waste your potatoes when you're cooking them, either. Stop your boiled potatoes from turning black by adding a little vinegar to the water (1 teaspoon per gallon of water should be enough). You'll have far fewer yucky potatoes to throw away.

Besides saving money on potatoes, you can also save time when working with them. It is no surprise that peeling potatoes is considered a punishment in the Army. Believe it or not, though, potatoes can easily be coaxed to remove their jackets without a lot of elbow grease. All you need to do is wash the potatoes, pierce each one with a fork in several places, put them in the microwave for ten minutes, and let them cool. The skins will become wrinkled, and you'll be able to pull them off easily under cold water.

You can also blanch your potatoes to remove the skins easily. Boil potatoes with the skins on ten to fifteen minutes, and then quickly put them into a bowl of ice water. The skins will peel off easily after that.

Do you love oven-baked potatoes but find that it just takes too long to prepare them? Save time when baking potatoes by simply using a muffin pan. First, chose medium-size potatoes (make sure they fit in the pan). Then place them on their ends in a muffin pan. Bake as usual, but check them in half the normal time. You'll be amazed by how fast and well they cook.

You can also reduce the amount of time your potatoes are in the oven by putting them into a pan of boiling water for a few minutes before popping them into the oven. If you boil the potatoes for fifteen minutes, you can cut the time they are in the oven in half.