Just for Christine - What the hell is Fresh Mashed Potato all about?

Yesterday Christine put up a post on Facebook about freezing left over mashed potato for later use.

 

Firstly, I'm confused how there would be left over mashed potato.  I may be a bit greedy, but I'd just eat it all.

 

Secondly, it reminded me of something I wrote some years back about being in a queue in the supermarket and seeing what a lady had in her shopping trolley.  Here's the piece:

 

"I was in Tesco's today at the check out waiting to be served when I noticed that the women in the queue next to mine has two trays to fresh mashed potato in with her shopping trolley.

 

Now you can't blame Tesco's for trying it on because obviously there are people out there thick enough to buy it but why would you?

 

How difficult is it to boil some potatoes, then drain them off, add some milk and butter, and mash them - there you are a free cookery lesson as well today. Have we really become so lazy that we can't even make mashed potato from scratch. Are peoples lives so busy that they can't spare the time to cook mashed potato.

 

And what part is actually fresh. This has been prepared in some factory somewhere and then transported to the store and put on the shelves before this women has picked it up. Surely she isn't stupid enough to think that this was all done that very morning for her convenience.

 

This women also had packets to pre-cut vegetables - how f**king stupid and lazy is she. Does she not possess a knife - on second thoughts it's probably best that she isn't around sharp objects.

 

Her bill was pretty big but couldn't she think that if she was just prepared to cut up her own vegetables and mash her own potatoes she would drastically reduce her bill and actually her food might taste a little better because its not all pre-processed shit.

 

What's next pre-eaten food?"

Tesco's Fresh Mashed Potato

 

You may have noticed a certain amount of sarcasm towards this lady and her shopping, but I was amazed at the number of people, who up to that point I had thought of as being reasonably sensible people, who commented what a great product it was.

 

I'm glad to say that Tesco's no longer sell this.  But now we have Tesco Fluffy Mashed Potato, which is part of their frozen vegetable range.  I can't help thinking you'd need to be some sort of vegetable to buy the stuff.

 

 

Tesco Fluffy Mashed Potato

 

How can it possibly be 'fluffy' coming out of the freezer. And look at the cooking instructions:

 

"Hob

Time: 8-10mins

Instructions: For best results cook from frozen. Remove from packaging. Empty required amount into a saucepan and cook over a moderate heat for 8-10 mins stirring constantly until piping hot. If required, add water or milk as required during cooking to achieve the desired texture. Serve immediately."

 

Well, I'm glad they tell you to take it out of the packaging, because I expect quite a few people would have been munching on that plastic bag otherwise.  And aren't those instructions basically the instructions you'd need to just cook mashed potato for yourself, albeit that you'd need to remember to peel the potatoes.

 

And the price of this bag of deliciousness?  Almost the same as buying a bag of potatoes, which would go further, would taste better and from which you could make your own mashed potato, or roast potato, or jacket potato, or any other type of potato you might fancy.  And you wouldn't be feeding the profits of the supermarket chains, who must be laughing themselves sore, from the gullibility of some shoppers.

 

There was a survey the other day that said a third of all primary children in the UK, thought that cheese grows on a plant, and thought that Fish Fingers were made from chicken or pork.  Worse still a high percentage of secondary school children thought that tomatoes were a root vegetable.

 

If we are going to be taking packets of food like this mashed potato product out of the freezer to use because its convenient, isn't it any wonder that children grow up without any idea where food actually comes from and how its produced.  And surely, this sort of product cannot taste anything like food that has been prepared properly from scratch.