InCuisin: Time is Short, but Tastebuds Stay Demanding

Great new product to add to your kitchen, folks. I’ve recently had the pleasure of trying all varieties of InCuisin mashed potatoes. The website and the packaging both claim that that “our mashed potato is as good as home-made without the fuss and ready in 2 minutes.” In practice, it took me about 4 minutes to get the potatoes ready to serve, but, I admit, it is still faster than procuring, washing, peeling (optional), boiling, mashing and salting, peppering and spicing them to taste.

Let me tell you, I was skeptical to receive a brightly colored packages with frozen mashed potatoes. They looked like broken chocolate pieces (that’s the size of the pellets). Why? So you could control serving sizes. That’s a bonus!

There are 5 flavors:

• Cream and Butter mashed potatoes
• Peas and Carrots mashed potatoes (sneaky vegetable placements! Bonus with kids I bet)
• Garlic and Chives (MY favorite)
• Carrots and mashed potatoes
• Cauliflower mash (1/3 less calories than and 1/2 the carbs of the regular InCuisin mashed potatoes)

What is the process? Just throw a desired amount of pellets into the bowl, zap that in the microwave, fluff it about with fork (I add spices, salt and pepper if I want to), and voila! Mashed potatoes are ready.

The flavor is… surprisingly great. I was very skeptical at first. You know me, I’m into great food and I eat out + cook full meals at home (when the fancy strikes). When I was met with the prospect of serving originally frozen mashed potatoes for dinner, I was a little wary. But then I put a spoonful in my mouth, and

Oh my god, amazing flavor! I can’t emphasize this enough. For time-strapped people, this is the best alternative. Especially if you pick the cauliflower mash – healthy.

So here’s what I did. Besides eating these with my 100% grass-fed striploin or a grilled salmon steak, I did a Thanksgiving experiment on my friends. Had to. I prepared a package and a half for 5 people, and placed the potatoes in nice bowls. Look how weird it looks:

And then it turns into the mushy mass that we know as mashed potatoes. See for yourselves:

(Uh, Slava, thanks for the finger photo bomb!)

And then, the best thing! See, they were meant to be together with 8-hour slow-cooked organic Ontario carrots, beets, shallots, chantrelle mushrooms and the precious roast beef.

My Thanksgiving guests ate them like they were the usual potatoes. Good! Nobody noticed anything. I couldn’t help telling them, of course, that these potatoes were in fact frozen first, and that I prepared them in a microwave! Shocked faces all around… but also some signs of relief: they could replicate the flavors themselves!

The InCuisin mashed potatoes are available at Sobey’s and all Loblaws affiliates (except No Frills), and, I believe, Provigo. If you’re the busy person who enjoys comfort food once in a while, but doesn’t have the time nor energy to whip out mashed potatoes, this is your answer!