Can you freeze potatoes?

The humble potato is one of the world’s favourite foods, loved for its delicious taste and adaptability. The potato can be cooked in a variety of ways from boiled or baked, to steamed, roasted, microwaved or fried.

Usually featured as a side dish, many people love adding roast potatoes or mashed potatoes to their evening meal.

But you can also make them part of your main course by adding them to a soup or stew, or topping your fish pie or cottage pie with some fluffy mash.

But if you stock up, what happens if you add a few too many spuds to your shopping basket?

1. Prepare your potatoes

Wash your potatoes in warm water then peel.

You can then chop to size or leave whole, depending on what you plan on doing with the potatoes afterwards.

If you want to freeze potatoes with the skin on, make sure to cut the potatoes as blanching works best when the skin isn’t protecting the whole spud.

2. Blanch your potatoes

Fill a pot with water and boil it over a high heat.

Then prepare a large bowl of ice water, which should be about the same size as your pan of boiling water, and fill with about one tray of ice.

Transfer your chopped or whole potatoes into the boiling water and leave for about three to five minutes for small potatoes or up to ten minutes for whole potatoes.

Don’t cook them all at once, as they won’t cook properly if you overfill the pan.

Ideally, use a blanching basket and fill with a single layer of potatoes at the bottom.

If you don’t have a blanching basket, its okay to put the potatoes directly in the water in a single layer.

Then quickly transfer your potatoes from the pan into the ice water.

Let them sit there for they same time as they were given in the boiling water.

When they’ve finished in the ice water, drain the potatoes.

3. Freezing your potatoes

Put the potatoes in an airtight container.

This can be a plastic bag with a ziplock or a plastic food storage container.

As well as blanched potatoes, you can also save cooked potatoes for the freezer.

Chips: Put in the fridge to cool for about an hour, then put in an airtight container and freeze.

Mashed potato: Freeze mash in small patties on a baking sheet, then cover in cling film.

Freeze for 24 hours then you can put the mash patties into a single airtight container.

Baked potatoes: Wrap in cling film then freeze for up to 4 weeks.

To cook, scoop out the inside then mash up and put it back inside the skin.

How long can you freeze potatoes for?

You can store your potatoes in the freezer for about 12 months.

Be sure to write the date on the container so you can keep track of how long they’ve been in the freezer.

It’s a good idea to pre-portion your potatoes so that you’ll have enough for 1 meal in each bag.

source: express.co.uk