When I cook potatos in a receipe & try to freeze the leftovers?

Question

They change texture & get "mealy". Is there a method of freezing/preserving which will eliminate this? Right now I have a fairly large amount of New Potatoes & peas in cream sauce. I know from experience that the peas & sauce will be fine but the spuds will get mealy & fall apart. Not "Good Eats"

Answer 1

First poster is dead-on, for the reasons given: only commercial processors seem to be able to really freeze potatoes without major changes in texture.

Her suggestions sound pretty workable, if "non-falling-apart" potatoes really matter to you.  (For me, it's a bonus: in soups, stews, and the like, potatoes are a DIVIDEND---they add bulk and fiber, and if they fall apart, heyyy! no need to thicken the end product!)  

Answer 2

How are you re-heating?  If I have potatoes or pasta in leftovers, I have to re-heat at a slower rate using the over rather than a microwave or the stove-top.

Answer 3

Not sure if this will help but my grandma said to always add cream cheese to my mashed potatoes and it will re-heat up great.  I do that when I make my twice baked potatoes.  I can even freeze them and they re-heat great and they do not separate and are delicious!  I just don't add as much milk and add some cream cheese.

Answer 4

can them

Answer 5

The mealy texture is caused by the loss of water in the freezing process, which is particularly hard on potatoes because they are quite starchy to being with.  Increasing the surface area of the potatoes can sometimes work - so try slicing or mashing the potatoes before freezing.  

Or separate the peas and sauce from the potatoes and freeze them separately so that the potatoes don't make the sauce mushy; and then  when you want to eat them, microwave the potatoes to defrost them before cooking.

But the bottom line is that potatoes don't freeze very well, and whatever you do will be a compromise and not as good as fresh potatoes.