To not realise that McCains baked potatoes are nothing special.

[boredwfh]

So my DD is a fussy eater however decided she wanted a jacket potato this week with cheese and bean. As it was a last minute request but eager to find new meals she likes, I only had some sad looking potatoes that were starting to sprout but managed to make one and she thoroughly enjoyed it. I decided whilst doing the weekly shop online & after reading a recent thread where everyone said McCains frozen baked potatoes were good, to add them to my basket thing they’d be good to have in as a quick meal if my DD asks again. Now I don’t know what I was expecting, maybe that it had been part cooked so it would be faster for me to bake, or maybe it had some special seasoning on the jacket. But AIBU to be bemused that it literally is just potato with vegetable oil on the outside & it still needs cooking for 45-55 mins! So no less effort than me just getting a spud and cooking it myself?! Am I the only one who doesn’t get the point of them?!

The whole point of them is that they have an oil coating that crisps them in the microwave.

Microwave a spud 7 mins, air fryer 7 mins for crisp skin - you don’t need these travesties!!

total waste of money. baked potatoes are one of the quickest cheapest items you can do. i often buy potatos and do the usual few mins in microwave then oven bake but for about ten mins less than usual. then i cool and freeze them easy to take out and pop in microwave for quick tea. i am vegan so like my vegan cheese and beans oh likes tuna mixed with mayo and sweetcorn got to be better than those yukky McCain ones

I can't see the point of them, exceptperhaps for taking to eat at work. It's about the same as "pancake mix, just add milk", when making your own pancake just needs milk and an egg added to flour. Consumers can be gullible!

Ah yes that's a fair point!

I part microwave the potato then put it in the oven

We buy them all the time. They cook much quicker in the microwave than any fresh potato I've ever tried, so we keep them in the freezer for convenience. I kind of assumed they must be part cooked already, or how are they cooking so much quicker?

We don't have an air fryer though, perhaps I wouldn't see the point as much if we did. I guess I could ore bake and freeze myself but that requires levels of organisation and pre planning I don't have headspace for at the moment, and with our freezer size would only be able to do it with a few jacket potatoes at a time.

They save far more time than pancake mixes.

They are about 75p each. Why is something that saves time a waste of money. I am not sure that they do cost much more anyway given very little electricity to make compared with oven baked potatoes.

Didn’t work for me unfortunately, still soggy. Although I do like a particularly crunchy skin so maybe my expectations were too high !

I used to buy them all the time until I tried the Bannisters ones and the difference is huge. The McCains ones are quite “floury” and sometimes look undercooked even if they’re not.
The Bannisters ones are as close to a home cooked Jacket potato and much better value at £4 for 8 in Iceland and they come in a bag which is less bulky than a box.

I’m not a potato snob but I wouldn’t have the McCains ones even if they were free.

Time (in the pan in five seconds), accessibility (hand pain / arthritis), useful in small kitchen space with few utensils, uniform product which is a great advantage in planning, frozen veg retain nutrients well.

Stir fried peppers, stir fried onions, frozen potato etc are a quick basis for a healthy meal. I like having them to hand for rough days or busy days.

I use them sometimes because you get a potato that tastes like it’s been in the oven for an hour but it only takes a few minutes in the microwave. They’re also something my teens would use rather than choosing something unhealthy and they wouldn’t always want to wait an hour with them in the oven or even transfer them from the microwave to the air fryer when being lazy or short of time which can be fairly standard for teens. Cost isn’t an issue for but I usually stock up when they’re on offer 8 for £5.

eta I buy frozen onion too. It saves time chopping and the tears and it’s great for quick stir fries, also soups, curries etc.

As with everything, if they’re not for you, don’t buy.

@RupertRipperGilesForever That depends on whether they are prepared with seed/veg oils, which are intensively and chemically refined.

Agree it’s probably ok if it’s just olive oil but I don’t get why you wouldn’t just make your own at home and freeze them. At least you know for sure what you’re eating.

Yes, they're fluffier than microwaved from scratch potatoes. Great freezer staple.

The ingredients list
Potato
Olive oil
🙄
I only eat the Bannisters, they are nicer

Honestly the stretching to make out a bloody frozen jacket is UPF is ludicrous
Its a frozen JP
It takes 5 minutes to cook

you do know what you’re eating, it’s on the label
I rarely eat jacket potatoes but when I want one, I don’t have potatoes in. So I keep a box of those in the freezer
also handy for people with disabilities or who need carers so they can have a hot meal in 5 mins

I like them, quick, easy and convenient. I don’t eat jacket potatoes enough to buy fresh ones and I hate microwaved fresh potatoes, they taste of sadness. They are only nice if oven cooked for well over an hour.

The interior of them is extremely dry. It doesn't taste like the jacket potatoes I make. Or have tried anywhere else. I just microwave a normal potato for about 8 mins and then another 10 in a high oven. I do like to add oil and salt but then you need to use a tray.

I thought it was meant to be that it comes out of he microwave with a baked looking skin? Rather than you cook it fully in oven? I only ever had them at work when we didn't have an oven.

I microwave a raw spud for a few minutes then oven for 15-20 mins to give a crispier skin (airfryer can be used for this stage). If doing a few potatoes, then I might microwave them together for say 8 minutes then bung in the oven. Come out just as nice as if you cooked them in the oven for a long time.

I am not fussed about specific types of spud, but the texture is best with specific ‘baking’ varieties such as Marfona (usually says on the packet) and they’re usually a bit bigger.

Because that would take time and probably not even save more than about a pound once you take into account the cost of having the oven on for about an hour.

They are shit.
They have no place in this world.

Microwaved from scratch potatoes are always a bit more moist, but the microwaved frozen potatoes taste more like oven-baked from scratch. I'm happy with any of the three, but the frozen ones are great when I'm tired or busy or unwell.

I am not fluffing around microwaving and then airfrying just so I can have a baked potato for lunch.

I hate microwaved fresh potatoes, they taste of sadness

I love you!!!😂

Microwaved fresh are just vile lumps of gloop, sticky and wierd