# I was in Sams this weekend and picked up this and thought I would share my thoughts



## rawhide2971 (Apr 19, 2013)

Idahoan® REAL Premium Mashed Potatoes - 3.24 lbs.

I was in Sam’s club this past weekend and as always when there I keep my eyes open for good things to put up for my emergency storage area. I was picking up my rice, beans, sugar, salt and other miscellaneous items when the above titled item caught my eye. Now I have bought a number of units of dehydrated potatoes of various styles from Freeze dried guy and other sites and have a good bit put up but the price was what really caught my attention. $5.76 for 3.24 pounds and the yield was 65.5 ½ cup servings……hmmmmmm my brain started calculating and the smoke started coming out my ears and I said to the Boss hold on let me do some thinking. Well long story short she held on because she is use to me doing this kind of thing and I picked up two cartons, yes see the picture it comes in a carton and I took them home. I then transferred them into quart mason jars/ each carton was the equivalent to 3 quart jars. I put one 300CC oxygen absorber in the jar and used my Food saver jar sealer attachment to seal them. Way I calculate this is much cheaper than what I pay for the stuff I am buying from the prepackaged suppliers. Worse case it should shelf life at least 3 to 5 years past its stamped date of 2015 and I am betting it would extend 10 years and be acceptable. I think I am going to make this one of my staples from this point on. We are going to pick some more up this weekend, by the way we did fix some of the stuff up for supper and the grand kids gave it 3 thumbs up so you can’t get much better than that. 
:laugh:


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## Grimm (Sep 5, 2012)

My local Costco only has the 2lb box. I'm not a big instant fan but I might have to get a few for storage.


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## Magus (Dec 1, 2008)

Still made in America?
I'm in for a carton!


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## helicopter5472 (Feb 25, 2013)

When working at the Casino we would use 1/2 & 1/2 creamer, butter, and a handful of real potatoes mashed up and people thought they were fresh mashed ones.
I have several boxes I picked up about 3 months ago at Sams, It's not a bad deal. I put them in a bag with a oxy. absorb. in a 5 gal food bucket. Planning to get more and will do like you are to have small portions available.


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## rawhide2971 (Apr 19, 2013)

Magus, According to thier website all of thier product comes from Idaho. Sooooooooooo its a trust issue I guess. As much as you can believe any truth on any package and website.


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## JayJay (Nov 23, 2010)

helicopter5472 said:


> When working at the Casino we would use 1/2 & 1/2 creamer, butter, and a handful of real potatoes mashed up and people thought they were fresh mashed ones.
> 
> That's why I can't tell at times if they are instant or not:scratch..thanks for that tip.
> I will also try that here at home.


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## OldCootHillbilly (Jul 9, 2010)

Way yall got em packaged, keep em in a cool dark place, I'd bet 10 plus years an that be a good price fer em to.


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## Genevieve (Sep 21, 2009)

Idahoan are the only brand we eat. Add powdered cheese ( or fresh), sour cream powder, bacon ( oh em gee lol), garlic and onion powder..... it just goes on and on lol


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## ZoomZoom (Dec 18, 2009)

That's the only brand we get. Haven't seen them in the big containers. We buy the meal size packages (by the box).


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## tsrwivey (Dec 31, 2010)

They are pretty tasty when you doctor them up & a whole lot faster than making it from scratch


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## LincTex (Apr 1, 2011)

I can taste the difference, but have absolutely no objections. I need to go looking for something similar!!!


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## Magus (Dec 1, 2008)

Idahoan makes the BEST Potato soup period!
the only way to make better is pull one out of the ground!


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## ZoomZoom (Dec 18, 2009)

Magus said:


> Idahoan makes the BEST Potato soup period!
> the only way to make better is pull one out of the ground!


A potato soup plant!?!?!? I want some. Do you pull it out of the ground right into a bowl or do you need to crack the potato open (like a coconut) or ???


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## Meerkat (May 31, 2011)

We really need to check these out. We are low on our preps this year.


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## OldCootHillbilly (Jul 9, 2010)

Round here we can't get them big boxes. But from time ta time they have a swingin deal on them little packs. They already be in a mylar pouch, repack inta mylar bags an vac seal em then they go inta buckets fer storage. Good eatin durin hard times.


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## Magus (Dec 1, 2008)

ZoomZoom said:


> A potato soup plant!?!?!? I want some. Do you pull it out of the ground right into a bowl or do you need to crack the potato open (like a coconut) or ???


LOLOL had me going for a minute there.:laugh:


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## tsrwivey (Dec 31, 2010)

OldCootHillbilly said:


> Round here we can't get them big boxes. But from time ta time they have a swingin deal on them little packs. They already be in a mylar pouch, repack inta mylar bags an vac seal em then they go inta buckets fer storage. Good eatin durin hard times.


We usually have those around for fast fixin'. They're pretty good as is although the certain ones have a little too much garlic & salt for my taste.


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## Magus (Dec 1, 2008)

Boil a carrot in the water before you fix them.
will dull the artificial taste.


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## goshengirl (Dec 18, 2010)

I've also seen the boxes as GFS (Gordon's Food Service), if anyone has those nearby.

For instant, they're pretty darn good - and if something happened and we needed to live off our food storage, they'd get a whole lot tastier.  I'm with G - we have sour cream powder, cheese powder, and bacon bits in storage, too.


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## OldCootHillbilly (Jul 9, 2010)

:idea: Duh! I just gotta thinin, there be a food service outlet perty close. From time ta time I buy some stuff from em. Gotta watch the prices though. I'll have ta check an see what they got fer spuds. Haven't been in there ina bit, so might have ta stop by next friday an see what all they got.


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## tsrwivey (Dec 31, 2010)

I just remembered they used to sell the Idahoan instant potatoes in #10 cans. We have some stored like that. If I remember correctly, I found them at the grocery store with the food service sized stuff. I just checked their website & they still make them in the cans. That would save having to seal them up yourself


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## Magus (Dec 1, 2008)

Ka-ching! Nobody here sells the cans anymore, those things are useful!


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## Tacitus (Dec 30, 2012)

Thanks for the post, Rawhide...and everyone else.

This will motivate me to go buy some and package it up properly.


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## LincTex (Apr 1, 2011)

tsrwivey said:


> they used to sell the Idahoan instant potatoes in #10 cans


That made for an interesting search:

Idahoan instant potatoes in #10 cans


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## LincTex (Apr 1, 2011)

Tacitus said:


> This will motivate me to go buy some and package it up properly.


Oh heck yeah, going to look for a 40 lb bag!

http://store.honeyvillegrain.com/instantpotatoflakes40lb.aspx#.UfZya2GQFPE


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## stayingthegame (Mar 22, 2011)

sam's also sells a fifty serving box of dried hash browns. we use those and they taste pretty good. soak in water for 15 mins and then season and fry.


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## rawhide2971 (Apr 19, 2013)

I was back in Sams this weekend and looked for the Hash Browns and did not find any. Of course Sams and the other Warehouse club stores frequently don't have many of the "spot Buy" items all the time and you have to keep checking each visit and I will. But all the comments on this thread have made me do a ot of thinking about what is out there of a similar nature product wise and I have picked up a few packs of the Lipton soups, the Chicken noodle in a couple of variety. I think they are good to keep for an emergency and what I do is take them out of the box, cut the panel front and side off, put a small cut in each pack and then vacumn seal them in a small vacumn bag and then in one of my storage units. They are cheap and easy to prepare.
I put a lot of the Ramen noodles up in the same way because the Grandkids love them for snacks, please, no lectures on sodium and all that, I know all about it, all that is over rated, I ate that stuff for years. And in a true SHTF its going to be more important to fill the belly....anyway what I have noticed that if you pay attention in the grocey store there is a lot of dried soups and other foods that are cheap and easy to store and with a very littleeffort you can extend the shelf life. Around here the folks in NC are having to deal with Major flooding for the first time in many years, all the rains are a mixed blessing and folks are seeing that prepping for emergencies is not such a bad idea after all, and sealing stuff up in a vacumn bag or a nice bucket with a tight lid keeps things nice and dry.


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## Genevieve (Sep 21, 2009)

What is in sam's or walmarts depend on where you are living. here they don't carry any large bags of dried beans only canned. they also don't carry any wheat or large bags of oats like they do across the mississippi. I had to ask and then complain to the sams I go to for them to bring back the powdered milk! some guy who worked there tried to tell me they never carried it and I laughed at him and told him he didn't know what he was talking about. my sams carry the carton of the instant potatoes but they also get in a large box with envelopes of flavored potatoes too sometimes. those are handy for when I don't feel like messing with adding anything and can just use an envelope lol
If I want dried beans in anything larger than 1lb bags I have to go to aldis where they have 2lb bags lol


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## LincTex (Apr 1, 2011)

Idahoan instant potatoes in #10 cans

6 cans to a case, $37

http://www.webstaurantstore.com/true-recipe-instant-mashed-potatoes-6-10-cans-case/10700582.html

$6.49/Each
http://www.webstaurantstore.com/true-recipe-instant-mashed-potatoes-10-can/99900582.html


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## readytogo (Apr 6, 2013)

Meatloaf and potatoes for me and I`m in heaven, I just make a good gravy and pour over the spuds to hide the artificial flavors if any and I`m good to go, but yes Idaho are the best and whatever is on special second, I also preferred olive oil instead of butter for the mashed when there is no gravy or meat sauce. Ok I`m hungry now.


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## VoorTrekker (Oct 7, 2012)

Marie Caledar's. Chicken chili in cans.


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## rawhide2971 (Apr 19, 2013)

LincTex thanks for that link but when I went and took a look at it and looked at the shipping charges I just about pooped my pants. 
The advantage of picking my stuff up at SAMS is that I am in there all the time and I can just throw it in the cart and add a box and put it into jars as I want, of course I do have to buy the jars and allow for my time etc. It would be nice to have the ability to pick the cans up tho. That would be nice for long term storage and easier to stack.
Funny that this thread just went active again because I was in SAMS just yesterday and picked up a couple of box's, I think I paid $6.76 per box. The hash browns are a little more.

One thing I noticed and I picked up another pack of is pinto beans. a 10 pond bag was down to $6. and change. Don't recall exactly what I paid but just a couple of years ago the same bag was about $9 and change. I have a lot of Pintos and other beans put up and my lovely wife says that we won't have to worry about gas in the case of SHTF...but I love beans lol and the grands will come to love them to if that's all that I have for them. I put them up dry and canned.

Thanks all.


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