AIBU to be pissed off with potatoes?

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Am I the only one wondering why it doesn't seem possible to buy decent sized potatoes anymore? I have just peeled my way through half a bag full and the majority of them in any 'supermarket' bag now are about the size of a bloody golf ball. There are 9 of us. Even if you buy a sack then the large majority of them are what we used to call 'pig tates' ie. the ones that used to be discarded for animal feed because they weren't bloody big enough to sell!

It takes forever to peel enough of them so that we can have sausage and mash for tea (I know...we are sophisticated ). The ones I have scraped are nearly all black at some point. It's like the damn Irish potato famine.

I also loathe packs of 'baking potatoes' which generally contain 4 potatoes about the size of a tennis ball. That is not a 'baking potato' FFS!

WHAT HAPPENED TO BIG POTATOES?

Thank god I'm not the only one that's been thinking this.

I'm sick to death of peeling tiddlers and ending up with scraped fingers. The 4 pack of bakers are terrible too. I get my mum to buy mine from the market as they are the size of my head and I'm a greedy potato lover

Oh I feel your pain, I hate peeling potatoes and they are so tiny! Takes ages to peel them when you have a family and then there are the ones that are rank when you start peeling. (DH works for a big supermarket (shhh) and is fending off irate women who wave bags of potatoes at him moaning about the state of them. )

Bloody hell TSC, you're being pasted at the moment on your thread!

I used to rant about potatoes too - especially the ones from Tesco, which used to sprout within 2 days despite being kept in a dark cupboard, AND at least half were full of black bits, AND most of the rest were green and/or tiny. 2.5kg for £2.50 which sometimes only did 2 or 3 meals for 4 by the time you cut all the grot out.

However - have just found a great little farm shop near me - a real one selling mostly hay and carrots for horses rather than a posh deli type - which sells 7.5kg of Maris Pipers for £4. I'm now on my 2nd bag and they're great - they don't sprout, very few have "bits" in them and they're a decent size and they make fantastic chips. Feel at getting so excited about potatoes but these days it's great to find a real bargain - much much cheaper and last so much longer as you don't have to throw so much away.

This is the reason why more and more of the meals I cook are based on rice or pasta. I've had enough of peeling tiny potatoes.

Mash last week was made with the sounds still on the buggers...

I get my potatoes from the local fruit and veg van, and whilst they don't last as long as the supermarket ones, they are whoppers

Have tried growing them but they always go to mush.

I honestly don't know how they sell them at that price. Just shows how much the supermarkets take the piss.

Just one word - ricer! Since I've bought one it's been much easier. No more peeling and you don't waste so much potato as when you peel.

I bought a bag of king edwards from asda yesterday and I have seen bigger baby pearl potatoes. I wanted to do chips, ended up doing fritters instead...

Can anyoneelse stab a potato with a fork and 'smell' whether it is good or bad? I do this before cooking and everyone in my family thinks is weird, but they have a 'bitter' smell.
Wouldn't usually ask but as you are all potato ranting anyways

Nope

I actually had this same problem today, ended up filling my own. Don't even get me started on sprouting potatoes...

caoilainn, no.

Just me then

You're the potato whisperer, caoileann.

They send out a little bitter stink, but only you can decode the message.

That's it exactly! They are bitter stinky little buggers!

What are my chances of getting a reality show out of it do you think?

Dont blame the potatoes, blame the weather. If you are eating English potatoes now then these are from last year's crop which frankly was only fit for burying in the compost bin and pretending it never happened.

oh sowornout

I feel your pain there are 7 of us..... I am not a mashed potato fan tbh, but my dh and the kids are..... dd peels some for me sometimes, but she takes all the biggest ones, and leaves all the small ones, and it takes forever to peel enough for us all..... I am sick of it!

If only Matthew Kelly was still doing You Bet!

You could have been the woman who could tell in advance if a potato was good.

It wouldn't have had quite the visual impact of 20 trampoliners or a 3 year old who knew every bus route in London.

But I would have been impressed :) :o

Although I think all potatoes are stinky and a bit horrible...

Happens here too, our local Tesco had a sigh up explaining wjat was wrong with yon spuds...they are crap just now and have been for a while

YABU peeling potatoes for mash.

AThingInYourLife I don't know what You Bet! is, but I Bet I'd be good at it if its potato sniffing!

Now worried about the trampoliners and 3 year olds, maybe I could sniff while throwing them at Diversity or 1D?

Have I outed myself if no one else has the bitter potato gene?
Every time I Google it I get the almonds or Coriander smell or the taste of bitter, tis a smell I tell ya!