Freezing mashed potato

maryfred

A quick question: if I make cottage pie and cover it with mashed potato, can I freeze it before cooking or indeed after with the potato on top. I know I've seen ready meals with frozen mashed potato but I'm assuming that they are some sort of potato flake mixture with other stuff added. I would be using Rooster potatoes with butter, milk and salt in the mash. It's just for convenience sake it would be quicker to freeze the complete meal. I've never frozen mash before so I don't know how it would freeze, thaw and then cook.

Dizzyblonde

I don't find mashed potato freezes well when I've added milk and/or butter, it just doesn't taste the same and the texture is awful. I've frozen mashed potato with nothing added and that was better, but for something like shepherd's pie I usually freeze the meat part and make fresh mash on the day.

katydid

Dizzyblonde wrote: »

I don't find mashed potato freezes well when I've added milk and/or butter, it just doesn't taste the same and the texture is awful. I've frozen mashed potato with nothing added and that was better, but for something like shepherd's pie I usually freeze the meat part and make fresh mash on the day.

I have to disagree. I had mash tonight, made with butter and milk, and defrosted, and it was absolutely grand.

the beer revolu

I often freeze mash topped pies without problems.

Yes...last year I pre-made some shepherd's and cottage pies, doing all but the final bake in the oven, and froze them. I used milk and butter in the mash too.

I then cooked them straight from frozen and they were delicious.

Dizzyblonde

I use very little butter in my mash and mostly milk - maybe that's why? It just never tastes the same as fresh mash to me.

maryfred

I'm doing some batch cooking at some stage during the week so I'll try both ways and see how they go when I thaw them out. Thanks for the replies.

maryfred

Mystery Egg wrote: »

Yes...last year I pre-made some shepherd's and cottage pies, doing all but the final bake in the oven, and froze them. I used milk and butter in the mash too.

I then cooked them straight from frozen and they were delicious.

I would have thought I would have had to let them defrost first, I don't know why I thought that.

katydid

maryfred wrote: »

I would have thought I would have had to let them defrost first, I don't know why I thought that.

You just have to give them ten to fifteen minutes longer.

Tree

Just don't microwave the meals and expect them to be good. The mash never reheats properly, always stone cold and the meat has turned to super-heated plasma. Baking it seems to make everything alright though

katydid

Tree wrote: »

Just don't microwave the meals and expect them to be good. The mash never reheats properly, always stone cold and the meat has turned to super-heated plasma. Baking it seems to make everything alright though

If you microwave properly - not too high a setting, taking time, leaving it stand, you can microwave just fine. Baking is best for most things, but some things just dry out.

vibe666

katydid wrote: »

If you microwave properly - not too high a setting, taking time, leaving it stand, you can microwave just fine. Baking is best for most things, but some things just dry out.

if I'm reheating in the microwave I usually just put it on defrost for a really long time (even if it's not frozen) and it works just like sticking it in the oven (just a bit quicker), i.e. 20-30 minutes on defrost will cook through most things, but obviously everyone's microwave is different.

rawn

vibe666 wrote: »

if I'm reheating in the microwave I usually just put it on defrost for a really long time (even if it's not frozen) and it works just like sticking it in the oven (just a bit quicker), i.e. 20-30 minutes on defrost will cook through most things, but obviously everyone's microwave is different.

Just curious, why microwave for that long when it can be reheated in the oven in the same time-scale?

The Hill Billy

Just a guess, but it would be probably less prone to drying out.

maryfred

Made my cottage pie mix and its in the freezer with mashed spuds on top! If the weather keeps up, I will be eating it very soon. Proper comfort food.