Potatoes are one of those foods that every frugal mom adores and always has a variety of different ways she loves to prepare them. Potatoes are cheap, they are filling and they are a blank canvas ready to be packed full of flavor!
There is a certain story that comes to mind every time that I think about potatoes. Unfortunately the memory is from a very rough time in my life. There was an instance about 10 years ago when money had always been tight. I was young, living on my own and learning the hard way. It was winter and there was an awful ice storm. My employer was shut down for a couple weeks which meant that I couldn't go into work so my paycheck was a lot smaller than expected. I reached a point when no money was left in my bank account and no food was in the kitchen - other than some mustard and margarine. Thankfully during this time it was only myself... no children yet. I was able to find enough change to pay for one 5 pound bag of potatoes at Walmart. If I remember correctly it was something like $1.80 in dimes and nickels, maybe a quarter or two. I went to the register HOPING that the tax wouldn't put my total over more than the change that I had jingling in my pocket. Welp, the price was wrong. The bag of potatoes rang up more than $2.00 and with my hand gripping the change in my pocket the cashier looked at me and gave me my unexpected total. I was so embarrassed. How do you tell a stranger that you don't have two dollars to buy a damn bag of potatoes? He looked at me, waiting to be handed money. I stared back a moment and managed to speak: "Can you please double check the price? I don't think that's correct..." Fortunately, the check out station was right next to the produce department so it was only a few steps to double check the price on potatoes. To my surprise, the cashier returned and said "My apologies. The price rang up incorrectly. As per Walmart policy, if the item that scans incorrect is under $3 that item is free of charge." I WAS SHOCKED! I smiled and asked the cashier if he could hold on one more moment and I ran a few aisles up and grabbed a bottle of ketchup. I left the store with 5 pounds of potatoes and a bottle of ketchup with change leftover! I ate roasted potatoes with ketchup for the next 4 days until I was paid again and they were the most delicious potatoes that I'd ever had up until then...
Anyways, enough of the sad back story and back to the spuds! Costs for nearly every grocery item has gone up so significantly but you can still buy a 10 lb bag of potatoes any day for around $5.00 and on sale I've seen 10 pounds for as little as $2.00! You can make and stretch a lot of meals with potatoes so it's always something that I work into my grocery budget no matter what. I find that 3 good sized potatoes are sufficient for our family of four so one bag goes a long way!
This is my personal favorite way to make russet potatoes:
I quarter the potato and cut into 1 inch cubes. I place all pieces in a large bowl and drizzle a few tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil then toss to coat well. The key seasoning for potatoes is salt... lots and lots of salt! I use both table salt and seasoning salt. I also love both onion powder and garlic powder. Finally I toss in a couple teaspoons of parsley and a couple tablespoons of Ranch seasoning powder.
Lay the potatoes on a lined baking sheet (sprayed with cooking spray!) in a single layer at bake at 425 degrees for 30 minutes or until fork tender. YUMMY!
I also love having something as simple a loaded baked potato for dinner. Now that's a really cheap meal!!
Mashed, roasted, baked, fried, cubed, coined, diced... there is no wrong way to make and eat a potato. Don't even get me started on sweet potatoes... Holy yum...
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