Idahoan Mashed Potatoes - Butter & Herb flavor - Easy, inexpensive, but bland.
Written: Nov 09 '09
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Easy to prepare, not too bad in terms of nutrition
Cons: They're just too plain - could really use some extra flavor.
The Bottom Line: It's nice to be able to make a side dish in a matter of minutes. But I wish these were just a bit more flavorful.
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| ladyconsumer's Full Review: Idahoan Mashed Potatoes, Butter & Herb, 4-Ounce Pa... |
Recently my local supermarket ran a sale on Idahoan instant potato packets. Whereas I'm not normally a huge fan of this item, for 50 cents a packet, I couldn't resist trying them. Last night I gave their Butter & Herb flavor a try.
Preparation could not possibly be easier with these packets. You don't have to go digging through your refrigerator for the butter and milk. All you need to add is water! You can either boil water on the stovetop, then add the flakes. Or, add the flakes to cold water, and microwave for a few minutes. In either case, you're no more than five minutes away from mashed potatoes.
Nutrition for this product isn't too bad, either. Each packet makes 2 cups of mashed potatoes, which they consider to be four servings. Perhaps, as a side dish for little kids. But for adults, I'd call it two, perhaps three, servings. So be sure to multiply if you're going have more than the 1/2 cup they specify. Each 1/2 cup serving provides 110 calories, 3g of fat, 520mg of sodium, and 1g of fiber. Not the worst, in terms of fat and calories, but that's an awful lot of sodium.
So, this product receives a high mark for being easy to prepare. And a reasonable mark for the nutrition. But how about taste?
Well, that depends on what you like. If you're looking for "plain old mashed potatoes" these fit the bill. They're smooth, creamy, and taste pretty good. But if you're looking for potatoes dripping with butter, and loaded with herb seasoning, this is not for you. Despite the name "Butter & Herb", these potatoes are quite plain. I didn't find it tasted like butter at all. And as far as "herbs" go, I could see green flecks of something (presumably parsley) in there, but from a taste point of view, I wouldn't know anything had been added to these potatoes except some salt.
Looking through the ingredients list, it seems they start with "Idaho potatoes", then add a bunch of stuff including oil, salt, nonfat dry milk, sugar, dehydrated onion, butter powder, "spice", natural and artificial flavors, and parsley. Of course there are a whole bunch of chemicals added, too, but that's it, as far as flavor-enhancers go. Whatever they added for flavor, they need to add twice as much, as far as I'm concerned.
So, buy these if you're looking for the easiest possible way to make mashed potatoes. But only if you're looking for plain old mashed potatoes, not if you want potatoes bursting with flavor.
Idahoan Loaded Baked Flavor
Happy to be Lean-n-Mean!
Recommended:
No
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Epinions.com ID:
ladyconsumer
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