Yes, you can. It is possible for you to keep your potatoes frozen in your fridge. Except for raw potatoes, you can freeze both cooked and partially cooked potatoes.
Are potatoes good for your health?
Potatoes are the number one vegetable crop in America, as announced by USDA (US Department of Agriculture). They are also ranked number 4 as the biggest consumption in the world after rice, wheat and corn.
They are not only nutritious to make delicious treat but also a good source of fiber that is beneficial to your health. Fiber can keep cholesterol and blood sugar in controlled levels, so it helps to prevent heart diseases.
Potatoes contain many antioxidants and vitamins that prevent diseases and make your body work efficiently.
In term of nutrition, an unskinned potato provides more than 40% of the recommended daily value of Vitamin C. It also covers about half amount of Vitamin B6 that the body needs in one day and it provides more potassium than a banana does.
Besides, potatoes are also rich in calcium, magnesium and folate.
For nutrients per serving, a medium potato contains:
- Calories: 265
- Protein: 6 grams
- Fat: 0 grams
- Carbohydrates: 61 grams
- Fiber: 4 grams
- Sugar: 5 grams
Eating potatoes – Who should pay attention?
Even though potatoes provide a good source of fiber, carbs as well as manganese, potassium and vitamins like vitamin C, vitamin B6, their nutritional values can change depending on the types of potato and the way they are cooked.
Therefore, when eating potatoes or processed potato products, the following people should be mindful.
People with diabetes: Diabetics are recommended to maintain caution when consume the portions of potato. They should eat potatoes as part of healthy meal. The balanced mount of potato may provide lean protein, fiber and fats that does not cause serious problem.
Those who don’t want to gain weight: After eating, potato is quickly digested to glucose which can increase the levels of insulin and blood sugar. This will lead to weight gain in people who are on diets.
However, when eating in moderation and cooked in a healthy method like boiling, steaming or baking, potato may not contribute to gaining weight.
Tips to choose potatoes
There are many types of potatoes for your options. Besides, they can be in different colors like yellow, white, red and blue.
For each purpose, you should select the most suitable type of potato to make your dish more delicious.
- For baking: You should use starchy potatoes, like russets
- When roasting or mashing: You can use multi-purpose potatoes, for example Yukon gold
- With potato salad: It is best to use waxy potatoes, such as red and new potatoes
Generally, it is advised to choose the firm, un-bruised potatoes that look smooth and round. You should not take the decayed potatoes such as wet rot, dry rot or having roots.
Unpackaged and unwashed potatoes are usually better than the washing ones. Because the protective coat on potatoes is removed when you wash them too early.
Which potatoes are the best for freezing?
Most types of potatoes can be frozen. However, to get the best result, you should use red or gold potatoes. It is even better if you can freeze your potatoes as soon as they are harvested.
Here’s some information about these kinds of potatoes:
- Red potatoes: They have a low level of starch but sweeter taste than white potatoes. Most red potatoes are medium-sized and round along with the rose to reddish-brown skin.
- Gold potatoes: These are medium to large-sized potatoes which have smooth and thin skin. They also have yellow to gold flesh and can bring a good taste when cooked.
How to freeze potatoes?
There are some differences in the way to freeze various kinds of potatoes. Here’s how:
For boiled potatoes
- Boil all peeled potatoes. Put these potatoes into the boiling water and add some salt. It does take about 3 minutes to blanch any small or cubed potatoes and 10 minutes for the whole ones. Then take all of them out and place them into the ice water.
- Arrange these potatoes on a tray or a colander so that they can drain easily. A kitchen or paper towel can be helpful to make them dry completely.
- Place all potatoes on a baking sheet for the first freeze within 4 hours minimum. Then, you should use different storage bags to keep them in your freezer for longer use.
For French Fries
It is not a good idea to freeze any raw potatoes in the fridge. So before freezing, you should cook or boil your French Fries a little bit.
- Divide your French Fries into different batches
- Boil them in clean water within 3 minutes for each batch
- Spread them in a cookie sheet and try not to let them stick to each other. Then, keep this sheet in your freezer overnight.
- Transfer the frozen French fries into food-safe zip bags together with a date label on each.
Note: Avoid defrosting any French Fries before cooking because it is much easier for them to turn into black color.
For hash brown potatoes
- Shred the number of potatoes you want to keep frozen
- Place these potatoes into cold water as soon as possible and soak them within 5 minutes
- Take all of them out and prepare a suitable towel to drain them
- Arrange the dried hash browns onto a baking sheet ready for the first freeze. You should not place a thick layer of potatoes because it might be harder to freeze all of them.
- Remove hash brown potatoes from the sheet and put them into many freezer-safe bags for convenience.
For mashed potatoes
Compared to other types, mashed potatoes are the best choice for freezing because they tend to keep their texture through the process. To freeze mashed potatoes, take the following steps:
- Cool all potatoes before freezing them
- Scoop your potatoes and put them into a cooking sheet
- Freeze potatoes for the first time within at least 4 hours
- Transfer these potatoes into safe storage bags and put a date label on them
Further reading: What Are the Best Containers for Freezing Food?
The pros and cons of freezing potatoes
Advantage
The purpose of freezing potatoes is to use them for a longer time. You can store boiled potatoes in the fridge for about a week. However, once frozen, boiled potatoes would last for 3 to 4 months.
Besides, freezing does not have any impact on the quality of potatoes in terms of nutritional value. Especially with the proper freezing, it is safe for you to use frozen potatoes like fresh potatoes.
Disadvantage
Freezing can cause some changes in taste and texture when they are thawed. If you freeze raw potatoes or you take the wrong steps, all of your potatoes would become much watery and grainy after freezing.
In addition, although potatoes do not turn black once frozen, black color would appear as they are defrosted. Therefore, this can make your dish less attractive.
What should you know before freezing potatoes?
Potatoes can be frozen easily. However, in fact, freezing does have some negative impacts on the quality of potatoes.
When you have your potatoes frozen, this can lead to changes in cell structure as well as taste. And frozen potatoes would turn black quickly if you cook them at high temperature.
Even though freezing does not harm their nutrition value, their flavor can become much worse than the fresh ones.
Besides, for raw potatoes, you should not freeze them in your fridge. That is due to their high content of water. It means that they would be mushy or even grainy once defrosted.
Issues to take note
Most potatoes can be frozen to use much longer than fresh ones. But red and gold potatoes would be the great options for freezing.
You can freeze different kinds of potato including whole or cubed, French fries, hash browns, and mashed potatoes. It is important to have them cooked or partially cooked in advance instead of freezing uncooked ones.
For potatoes, you should give them a short freeze in a baking sheet before transferring them into other freezer-safe containers for longer storage.
References:
- “How to Freeze Potatoes: A Step-by-Step Guide”, Corey Williams, May 04, 2021
- “Freeze Potatoes to Save Time and Money”, Lauren Salkeld, June 29, 2020
- “Freezing Potatoes”, Martha Zepp, July 10, 2018
