INSTANT mashed spud is back in favour – after 20 years.
It is now back in the annual shopping basket monitored by the Office for National Statistics.
But are modern microwave versions of Smash – the instant, dried mash from the Seventies – any good?
NICK PRITCHARD puts supermarket offerings to the test to find which were a s-mash hit – or spuddy awful.
THIS actually tastes close to a homemade mash. What’s more, it’s cheap enough to justify the laziness involved in picking the microwave alternative to making your own.
SCORE: 3/5
PACKED with so much butter and milk it bubbles and oozes through the holes while microwaving. Creamy and delicious, but at that price home-made would be cheaper.
SCORE: 4/5
SO creamy I expected it to start playing Sunshine of Your Love. Held its shape yet packed with enough butter you could suck it through a thick straw like a milkshake.
SCORE: 4/5
A BIT like Donald Trump – thick and rich. Peppery and well seasoned, but won’t set the world alight. Nice addition to bangers but won’t hold its own as a comfort food snack.
SCORE: 3/5
CREAM of the crop. There aren’t many things which can’t be improved by adding cheese and this is drowned in a wonderful mature cheddar – gorgeous.
SCORE: 5/5
A HEALTHIER alternative to carb-heavy white spuds. Vibrant, nutty and sweet but these taters turn into mush if cooked long enough. This is ultimate in lazy cooking.
SCORE: 3/5
AGAIN, too pricey for what it is – home-made mash will always taste better. Flecked with cracked black pepper and pimped up with cream and butter but still tastes plain.
SCORE: 2/5
SOMEHOW Lidl has produced a mashed spud which contains... lumps! The ratio of potato to butter is off, so it ends up tasting chalky, dry and powdery.
SCORE: 1/5
MOST READ IN FABULOUS
SO wet I could pour it on to a plate. Reminded me of the mash which was flung around on ’90s kids TV show Bodger & Badger. I wouldn’t recommend eating it.
SCORE: 1/5
A GREY and sludgy lump in a plastic packet that looks like an unappetising potato puck. Stiff and boring. I’d rather use this as grouting in the tiles.
SCORE: 1/5
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