15 Easy Ways To Use Healthy And Cheap Potatoes

Now that the year 2015 has arrived let’s find ways to cut our food bill. Here are 15 Easy Ways To Use Healthy And Cheap Potatoes. Potatoes are the leading vegetable crop in the United States (not including sweet potatoes), with about 15% contributing to farm sales. Over 50% of the potatoes grown are processed for french fries, potato chips, dehydrated potatoes and other popular potato products. I purchased this 20-pound bag of #1 potatoes for $5.99. WooHoo! Let’s see how many meals or side dishes I can make with it. Start saving money today!

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The fall harvest produces approximately  90% of all potatoes grown, although they are grown year round. Potatoes are a tuberous vegetable crop grown from the Solanum tuberosum. I buy certified seed potatoes and plant them in containers/pots in my raised gardens. You basically cut the “eyes” from the seed potatoes and plant them. Easy peasy. I will have a post showing you how to plant seed potatoes when I start my Spring planting. There is nothing better than seeing those plants start to sprout. They are really attractive plants in your garden and add to the landscape appeal.

Potatoes are pretty low calorie, it’s all the stuff we add to them that gives them a bad rap. They really are good for us. They are full of vitamins like Vitamin C & B.  They are really high in Potassium, Magnesium, and B-6.  They have a little iron and a little calcium. A medium potato is about 165 calories.

I wash and scrub all the potatoes with a vegetable scrubber and cut off the bad spots before I make any of these. Let’s get started with my 15 easy ways to make some meals with potatoes.

1. Mashed Cheap Potatoes

These potatoes are peeled and boiled in water until a fork test shows that they are cooked enough. I drain the water and add whatever I have in the refrigerator to make them creamy and fluffy. I use either milk, sour cream, whip cream, butter, and salt, then mash with my stainless steel masher. I really like the peeled potato look, but sometimes I just don’t have time to peel the potatoes, but today I did (with a little help from my husband). I must say my husband would love mashed potatoes every night…he really would!

2. Dirty Mashed Cheap Potatoes

Okay, now I will show you my “dirty” mashed potatoes. Of course, you can see some of the potato peelings because these were not peeled. I just boiled them, drained them and mashed them with the hand masher because I like a few chunks in the dirty mashed ones! I add milk, sour cream, whip cream, butter, and some salt. Fabulous to eat!

3. Nachos

I honestly could eat Mexican food every night, so I thought why not slice some cooked sliced potatoes, add some refried beans, grated cheese, and top with sliced black olives. Add a little guacamole, sour cream, and some salsa….yummy! These really are good! Great for football games in front of the television!

4. Homemade Hash Browns

Here you can grate some baked potatoes and make your own hash browns. I freeze these in baggies to enjoy later. They are so much cheaper than the frozen ones you buy at the grocery store. I thaw them in the refrigerator and fry in a little butter. No other ingredients. Healthy natural potatoes.

5. Steak Fries With Fry Sauce

With this recipe, I sliced the raw potatoes in wedges and placed them in a bag with a little olive oil and water. Shake the bag and spread them on a cookie sheet and bake @375 degrees for about an hour, or until cooked to desired doneness.  I used equal amounts of chili sauce and mayonnaise to make the fry sauce. Is your mouth watering yet? Mine is for sure. My grandson ate all of these over the weekend. Love that guy!

6. Potato Chips

I baked 1/8 inch sliced potatoes in the oven @375 degrees for about 40 minutes. I let them cool on a cookie sheet to make sure they stayed crispy. This makes for an easy healthy snack. Sometimes you just need some chips!

7. Stuffed Bell Peppers

I had some friends over for dinner last night and they are always willing to try my creations. I had a few different bell peppers, so I made some stuffed bell peppers with some of the mashed potatoes. Yummy! I baked them @350 degrees for about 40 minutes. Our friends loved these! WooHoo!

8. Potato-Turkey Wraps

Here are some whole wheat wraps spread with mashed potatoes along with some cooked turkey slices. I baked them with a toothpick to help hold them together. I baked them  @350 degrees for about 30 minutes. Everything is actually already cooked, so I was really just heating them through to serve. Add some Pico de Gallo and you are set for a great meal!

9. Mexican Potato Salad

I am sincerely trying to eat more vegetables, so I took some baked potato chunks and added black beans (drained) and corn (drained). I then added a little Pico de Gallo, cilantro, green onions, and black olives. You can serve this cold or at room temperature.

11. Pico de Gallo Bites

Here I used some sliced baked potatoes topped with refried beans, guacamole, Pico de Gallo and black olives. Easy peasy to make and serve. Another football game favorite snack!

12. Potato & Cheese Quesadillas

Okay, these were going to be taquitos but the corn tortillas were too dry so they crumbled when I tried to roll them with mashed potatoes and cheese in them. So, I make quesadillas! I baked them at 350 degrees until I could see the cheese melting. I did spray the tortillas with vegetable oil because they were so dry and brittle. You could bake these on a griddle or fry pan. I think salsa or Pico de Gallo goes with almost every meal!

13. Heidi’s Potato Chunks

These potatoes are my whole family’s favorite ones. My daughter, Heidi makes them like the potato steak fries, but cuts them into chunks and sprinkles them with Lawry’s Salt. Bake at 375 degrees for about 40-45 minutes, or until desired doneness. Serve with fry sauce above.

14. Regular Baked Potatoes

This one is easy because I just baked the potatoes. These make for an easy side dish with butter, sour cream, grated cheese, and bacon bits if desired. I have to admit I like way too much sour cream on my baked potatoes. Okay, I like a lot of butter as well. There is something about the combination of these together.

15. Twice Baked Potatoes

You can bake the potatoes covered with foil (non-shiny outside), plain or oiled and sprinkled with Kosher Salt. I poke the potatoes with a fork. I don’t know if it’s an old wives tale but I always do this when baking them. After baking cut them in half lengthwise. Scoop out the insides as close to the edge of the peel as possible. I mash the insides with my potato masher with butter, sour cream, green onion and salt in a medium-size bowl. Heap the filling back into the skins and bake until heated through. Bake at 350 degrees about 30 minutes. Sprinkle with a little bit of grated cheese.

Here is the finished product below:

***Bonus-You Can Freeze Potatoes:

Yes, you can freeze your leftover mashed potatoes or hash browns. The ones you buy at the store that are already mashed are so expensive, plus they add ingredients I cannot pronounce.

I hope you can use some of my 15 Easy Ways To Use Healthy And Cheap Potatoes and save money! I feel like some steak fries and fry sauce right now! Enjoy!

Dinner Roll by Linda

Reader Potato Ideas:

Kris: I like to boil potatoes and carrots together and then mash them together. Looks funny but tastes great.

USDA United States Department of Agriculture