"IDAHOAN" Instant Spuds

[RagingHampster]

Are these simply not the best instant potatoes available?

I like the following flavors...

- Southwest
- Roasted Garlic
- Loaded Baked

Already packaged for trail use, and simple as heck to make.
Makes a great lunch with some gravy, or mix with Stove-Top.

[PKH]

Are these simply not the best instant potatoes available?

I like the following flavors...

- Southwest
- Roasted Garlic
- Loaded Baked

Already packaged for trail use, and simple as heck to make.
Makes a great lunch with some gravy, or mix with Stove-Top.

Agreed, certainly the best and easiest to prepare that I've come across. I hadn't thought of mixing them with Stove Top - I will now.

Cheers,

PKH

[Bankrobber]

You are absolutely right. Idahoan Mashed Potatoes are amazing. I will go out on a limb and say that Fully Loaded are the best cheap trail food that are widely available. I couldn't find them too often up North. When it comes to potatoes, I have always been a bit of a purist. I was never one to mix my potatoes with Liptons.
Besides not having instant mashed potatoes, I have another qualm about shopping up north. There are no Grandma Utz's Kettle potato chips.

[Streamweaver]

I tried Sgt Rocks Idea ,Mixing Mashed potato flakes with ramen noodles.Not only did it taste good but If you want something that sticks to your ribs,thatll do it!!! Streamweaver

[Skeemer]

My favorite and "easiest fo fix" meal. Try adding Hormel or Oscar Meyer bacon bits which come in 3 ounce resealables.

[firefly]

Yum..tried out your potatoes this past weekend...I mixed them with boiling water in a ziplock baggie (something I have never tried before but read about on this website) I also mixed in chicken from a foil pouch. EZ. No mess to clean up..ate it straight from the bag.

[Lilred]

Yum..tried out your potatoes this past weekend...I mixed them with boiling water in a ziplock baggie (something I have never tried before but read about on this website) I also mixed in chicken from a foil pouch. EZ. No mess to clean up..ate it straight from the bag.


I did the same thing with my oatmeal on my section hike. Portioned it out in ziplock baggies and poured my boiling water in the baggie and ate it right from there. No muss, no fuss and nothing to clean.

[ToeJam]

Have to agree that Idahoan instant rules! As a matter of fact, I am hooked on them and eat them year-round now. :) Last year we had Loaded Baked with extra bacon bits (carried along in an M&M Minis container) one night, and plain kind mixed with stuffing mix and powder gravy mix another. Very stick to your ribs kinda fare indeed, for us carb addicts lol! None of the storess carry the southwest variety anymore tho - those are great with some Taco Bell sauce added in too.

[minnesotasmith]

Nutritionally and physiologically, eating a potato isn't much different than eating an equivalent mass of white sugar. Both are blood glucose/insulin level bombs that (if you make much of a habit of eating them) raise your chances of obesity, diabetes, etc. nontrivially. When "whole grains" are encouraged by medical/nutritional types, I can guarantee they're not thinking about potato anything, any more than they're thinking of white flour-based products. (Bye-bye to Ramen in the informed hiker's pack.) Much better to lay off the potatos, and buy coarse-ground whole grains (100% whole wheat bread or pasta, buckwheat pancake mix, various whole-grained corn flours, brown rice, etc.).

[ToeJam]

I "hear" ya and it if I un-covered my ears it probably even makes logical SENSE, but my Atkins and South Beach buddies have tried to convert me against the evils of carb consumption but I'll never ever give up my addiction!

I don't suppose if I were thru-hiking it would hurt to consume in moderation tho, knowing that. :)

[minnesotasmith]

removed:

http://www.thepaleodiet.com/faq.htm#fallon

http://www.thepaleodiet.com

[Fiddleback]

Instant mashed potatos make a great addition for a whole bunch of stuff cooked up in a baggie. Anyone got an instant gravy brand or recipe that'll work in a baggie too? Not looking for the, 'stir over low heat for ten minutes...' kind. :)

As far as various foods and diet are concerned,

"All things in moderation...except in Washington."

FB

[ToeJam]

Hmmm, minnesota, neither of your links worked for me for some reason? Maybe not a Firefox friendly site which does happen from time to time but I get page cannot be displayed? Is it just me?

And FB, I have always just used that kind that SAYS store over heat yadda yadda, when addng to a mishmash of stuff. Has been fine to me, but I didn't know there maybe existed a kind that was MADE to be instant? But I have not had any problem with that regular supposed-to-simmer kind in the past. Although I have not yet used the baggie method (WILL be this year tho!) I did basically do the same thign in our pot and just poured and mixed all together and ate.

[minnesotasmith]

Copy the URL for one of the sites, right-click, select "Open in new window", then paste the URL into the address bar. That should work for you. I just tried both of those URLs, and they both work.

[Fiddleback]

ToeJam,

OK, thanks. I'll plan some kitchen experiements with 'regular' packaged gravy. Man...these kitchen experiements hurt my waistline!!! :o

FB

[Jack Lincoln]

Nutritionally and physiologically, eating a potato isn't much different than eating an equivalent mass of white sugar. Both are blood glucose/insulin level bombs that (if you make much of a habit of eating them) raise your chances of obesity, diabetes, etc. nontrivially. When "whole grains" are encouraged by medical/nutritional types, I can guarantee they're not thinking about potato anything, any more than they're thinking of white flour-based products. (Bye-bye to Ramen in the informed hiker's pack.) Much better to lay off the potatos, and buy coarse-ground whole grains (100% whole wheat bread or pasta, buckwheat pancake mix, various whole-grained corn flours, brown rice, etc.).
minnesota

We eat what we come across. Most of us worry very little about the nutritional BS that comes with just about anything you get these days.

You always have some pat answer for everything that anyone posts. Your ignorance, I suppose. Try long distance hiking, ONCE, then come back here and offer your advice. I'll bet it really sucks to be you!

[ffstenger]

Hey, the "pouring hot water into a baggie of stuff" cooking method works for
lots of things !! I learned that from oatmeal trials at home before taking it to
the trail, now I find it works for almost everything 'cept powdered eggs....go figger. I can't wait to try Idahoan:p

[minnesotasmith]

Learn something about members before you shoot your mouth off spouting unfounded insults about them:

Not a hiker, oh, yeah... :-? :rolleyes:

http://www.whiteblaze.net/forum/showthread.php?t=5807&page=3&pp=20&highlight=Approach+Trail

http://www.whiteblaze.net/forum/showthread.php?t=6166&highlight=leaf+walk

Oh, and I don't post B.S.; I leave that to the druggies, liberals, environuts who hate human beings in general, and such. There is much impeccable up-to-date medical evidence behind advice to eat more whole-grains/ vegetables/fruits and less refined starches and sugars, less saturated fat (especially mammalian animal meat fats), etc. I suppose even "People" Magazine would occasionally mention it, so you have no excuse not to have heard of it.

[Scorpion]

I also like the Idahoan 4 cheese.

I cook by pouring boiling water over what I"m cooking in a plastic freezer bag. With the Idahoan potatoes you don't even need the plastic bag. The pouch they come in works fine. The same is true with stove top stuffing. It can also be cooked in the pouch it comes in.

Scorpion

[Rain Man]

you don't even need the plastic bag. The pouch they come in works fine.

As I sit here at my keyboard, eating a half-portion of the Idahoan Loaded Baked Potato instant mashed potato mix (which I made in a bowl in the kitchen just now), I wonder... how the heck do you get TWO cups of hot water into that little pouch? What's your secret?

:sun
Rain Man

.

[Scorpion]

Rain Man
When I originally started cooking in plastic bags I had a problem holding them uprite while pouring boiling water into them. I made a sleve out of tyvek (left over from my groundsheet). It was double thickness tyvek and flatened out between my fuel bottle and windscreen.

When I cooked I would open it up to be circular. This worked for quart plastic bags, and also for the potato pouches and stove top pouches. The bottom of them isn't round, but the rest of the pouch could be opened up as round as possible to hold quite a bit of water. I could get right at the two cups into it. Sometimes I couldn't completely stir and mix what was in the bottom corners. So the last of my meal was a little crunchy, but I ate the whole thing.

I boiled my water in a snow peak 600 titanium cup. It didn't boil as fast in the cup as a more conventionally shaped small pot, but I used it because a quart plastic bag would fit into it and the top of the plastic bag then roll over the cup. I could then hold the cup by it's handle while eating out of the plastic bag inside the cup. When finished I sealed up the plastic bag, put it in my trash, and my cup had nothing in it but boiling water, therefore no dirty dishes except my spoon. I also used the cup to hold the pouches of potatoes and stove top.

I often would add tuna or chicken from the pouches that many stores now stock.

Again like many things mentioned here, it worked for me, but may not for others.

Scorpion GA ME 04

[ocourse]

Try re-packaging into a 1 qt. square-bottomed ziploc bag. That way you can pretty much eliminate the corners that don't seem to saturate well. More room for extras (chicken!) too.

[TDale]

Really odd question for y'all: Ever eat potato pancakes made from leftover mashed potatoes? Ever tried making them from instant potato products? I feel an experiment coming on. Hmmm, if this works, I can see fried country ham in a potato pancake sandwich. Hmmmm.

[Ewker]

anyone ever add a tin or foil pack of smoked oysters to the instant potatoes. It is great esp in the 4 cheese or loaded potatoe pack

[IdahoDavid]

Neither my Irish ancestry and my Idaho residency will hear evil spoken about the noble potato. Of course, where I live all our potatoes come from Washington. For a quick, hearty meal shred a little jerky into your instant potatoes and let it soak awhile. I would think that a bit of beef boullion powder stirred in, too, would add a nice gravy flavor.

[The Old Fhart]

Try the Hormel dried beef or even Bacos with lots of Squeeze Parkay in instant potatoes.