to think frozen mash is a work of genius?

[BriechonCheese]

I had resisted for ages but bought some on a whim earlier this year and found it incredibly handy for those nights when I'm picking up and ferrying DC to various activities. It doesn't beat the real thing but it comes pretty damn close.

Does anyone else have any genius home or food products that they expected to be crap but now use to happily to survive family life?

Waitrose do a nice fresh soffrito and a nice frozen one @WalkingInMyShoes

Also highly recommend their soffrito passata (ocado have all three)

Anguished mince is the name of the new Morissey single.

My DP bought some frozen mash and I thought he was having a joke but it was lovely. I'm also a convert to frozen roast potatoes...the ones in goose fat or beef dripping. I always thought home made were best but the frozen are lovely.
After years of stressing out about Christmas dinner, this year I am getting frozen potatoes and parsnips and sprouts and only making my own stuffing. I may just buy sliced turkey instead of cooking one. Maybe this year I will get to relax with the family instead of having a minor breakdown.

Walkinginmyshoes. Waitrose do it frozen

I used it when my DS was an only child. He wanted mash and we were eating later and he couldn't eat a full potato.

I just freeze leftover mash!!! Pop it in th microwave and add a bit of butter.
I batch cook rice and pasta too, cool it in cold water and freeze in portions.
I love frozen minced garlic, I always keep some in the freezer along with chopped parsley for soups.

Frozen soffritto at Morrisons too, only seen fresh in Waitrose

I like the Worral Thompson method - bake the spuds then scrape them out!

We had the ultimate cheat of Costco fish pie last night, much nicer than anything I could make, not "ready meal" ish at all

This thread is a revelation! I have recently been buying some frozen veg and frozen fruit and I love the convenience. I never considered it before as I didn't know all this stuff was available! I just don't tend to walk down the freezer section but I will be now!

Never considered frozen mash before but sounds like it would be useful to have in the freezer as my DS loves mash! Can you only cook it in the microwave (we don't have one!)?

If it's tastes like smash then you're not "making" it properly (or buying it from dubious sources!).

Just defrost in microwave, stir a couple of times until it's piping hot in the middle, add more milk or butter if it's a bit dry or if you like your mash wetter.

Knock yourself out if you want to make your own but like I prefer frozen peas to fresh but fresh broccoli to frozen, I prefer (or least like as much as) frozen mash to fresh.

Does cooking from scratch mean you make your own condiments as well? Mine your own salt, milk your own chickens? We all use convenience foods in some ways - frozen mash is a good tip for healthy no-additive forzen product for people who either struggle to get their own lump free or just need small portions (which is why I started it)

Applecrumblecake - I've used it to top a cottage pie (still frozen) and cooked it in the oven so I'm sure you could just let it defrost and warm it up in the oven

I must admit to being incredibly sniffy when it came to frozen mash.
Then one day when faced with a culinary crisis I bought it, suffice to say I have never looked back.

I just freeze leftover mash

How do you do that well... mine goes watery. It's horrible defrosted

I didn’t like Aunt Bessie’s. It tasted watery, with not much texture.
I so want to find a better one.
Bessie’s goose fat roasties are ok.

We tried the freezer mash but not that impressed. Our autistic son loves the chiller cabinet mash, it's his current "favourite" with gravy. I'll only eat fresh made mash, sorry, but I do have somebody very willing to mash for me (DH) so long as I do the peeling.

We'll eat frozen roast potatoes but they're not a patch on the real thing.

I'm not fond of the pouches of rice, I find they have a 'tang' to them from the packaging. But they're handy when on holiday.

We've been weaning 12mo DS and the Waitrose frozen mash has been brilliant. The tiny little tube shapes it comes in are just the right size for a baby portion, with no waste. The only ingredients are potatoes and cream - I add some cheese and milk/butter most of the time.

Also yy to Waitrose Soffrito. LOVE it for soups and stews. Makes everything taste great.

Most recently for myself I've been chucking a bag of frozen veg in a pot with a stock cube and some soffrito. Voila, lunch for the week.

Eurgh, frozen mash? Frozen roast potatoes? Frozen veg? That stuff is not allowed in my house, I find them completely revolting. I'd never even eaten it until I visited my husband's grandmother, such a lovely lady but no wonder my husband was so underweight his whole life. He hardly ate anything because it tasted terrible!

Jesus, I draw the line at frozen roast potatoes and please do not even mention frozen yorkshires.

Most frozen mash is quite dry - I think they probably have to dry it out a bit to stop it going watery so to make it a decent texture you need to add some liquid back in.

I buy any supermarket own brand, no need for Aunt BEssies. Frozen raosties are OK but are different to home made as they rely on coating the potatoe in batter mostly.

I discover the frozen bake your own yorkshire puddings which are the batter frozen in little silver tin cases. I thought they weren't bad and I'm certainly not making yorkshires just for DS - life's too short to make one yorkshire pudding.

I'm way too engaged in a thread about frozen mash

I tried it once after reading about it on here. It was Tesco's version. Will not be buying it again.

Is aunt Bessie's better?

I'll let you off Kew
My yorkshires are legendary though.