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Using Expired Potato Flakes

Instant mashed potatoes – what are they anyways?

Packages like these, where you add boiling water and almost instantly have a bowl full of something that very closely resembles actual mashed potatoes, are almost like a magic trick. Some people hate them and some people love them, but most agree that they can very quickly complete a speedy dinner.

Oh, so back to what is actually contained inside of a package of instant mashed potatoes:
They are tiny bits of potatoes that have been dehydrated, which means that all the water has been sucked out during processing. Let’s see what happened when we prepared these “expired” instant potatoes according to the package directions.

Expired Instant Mashed Potatoes

Using This Package

Since these potato flakes are completely dry begin with, and if they remain completely dry and the package securely sealed, there is little chance of bacteria growth. The package was dry and sealed and the insides had no clumps, no mold and no off-putting smell. Further, boiling water will be added to them during preparation. For these reasons, we decided to try this package of the chipotle bacon flavored (which accounts for the colored flakes in the picture) mashed potatoes with a best-by date from more than two years ago.

Yes, that’s a best by date in 2015 and this is now 2018.
They were probably pushed to the back of the cupboard due to the interesting flavor combination.

Although this date range is beyond what we recommend, let’s give them a chance and see how they looked once we cooked them.

These potatoes absorbed moisture and looked just as they should. They also tasted just fine, although none of us could say that the chipotle bacon was our favorite flavor of these dried potato packages it wasn’t bad. The slit in the center of the bowl is where I removed the spatula – sorry, I should have slid a pad of butter in there to make it look more appetizing before snapping the picture!

Expired Instant Mashed Potatoes

Additional Information

Not all expired foods come out as well as todays potatoes. To see what happened to an old cornbread mix, see Mondays cornbread post.

To find out how long potatoes last, see our potato page.

To find out how long other foods are good for, please visit the Dairy, Drinks, Fruits, Grains, Proteins, Vegetables and Other sections of Eat By Date or use the search function below.