CrockPot Instant Mashed Potatoes

Day 160.

Today launches Retro Week at A Year of CrockPotting. Why? I don't know. I just decided.

Instant mashed potatoes---I grew up having them and liked them, yet once I started cooking for my own family I forgot all about them. There is nothing wrong with instant potatoes---food snobs will tell you that they aren't "real" food, but the back of the box says dehydrated potato flakes, some salt and an anti-caking preservative. Huh. Maybe it's the anti-caking preservative that weirds people out?

Anyway, they are creamy, delicious, and easy. My kids prefer them to "real" mashed potatoes and will eat a ton in a sitting. And the cooking is ridiculously fast---it takes maybe 10 whole minutes to prepare a bunch.

Unless you use your crockpot.

Then it will take two hours.

The Ingredients.

--box of instant potatoes

--the stuff on the back of the box that they tell you to use.

I used soy milk, water, and butter in our potatoes.

The Directions.

Follow the directions on the back of the box. I used my 1.5 qt mini crockpot and used the 1/3 of a cup proportions---which is supposed to be enough to feed 3-4 people as a side dish. They must be smufs, though. My kids ate it all for lunch and wanted more.

Cook on low for 1-2 hours---you will know the potatoes are done when you stir them and they look done.

so very scientific...



The Verdict.

This worked. The stove is MUCH quicker, and the results are exactly the same. The only advantage of using the crock in this instance is that you can put all the ingredients in the crock together and leave it alone. Just like making them on the stove, they will thicken once you remove the cooked product from the heat.