Mashed Potato - Buy It or Make It?

I am not a lover of vegetables, to be honest. I know they are good for me, I know that will make me thinner, fitter and taller (well, maybe ,if I'd eaten them as a child, instead of pushing them around my plate and hoarding them, hamster-style, in my cheeks until I could sneak off and spit them down the loo).

But, I am not thin, fit or tall, and I still don't like veg. I consider Pringles to be one of my 5-a-Day. They count as two if you choose the Cheese & Chive flavour and three if you eat them with a glass of wine (grapes, you see).

I am also quite easily tempted to be lazy, which is why, wandering around Sainsbury's, I nearly picked up a pot of ready-made mash. It was £1.00 for 400g, so not expensive in the grand scheme of things, but at Carrot Towers, a pound saved is a pound earned. I would have bought one pot to serve two of us.

I had all the ingredients in the cupboards and fridge already; this is what you need to make enough for four:

• 900g potatoes
• 25g butter or cooking margarine
• 2tbsp milk
• 1tbsp crème fraiche (I used half-fat)
• Salt & pepper
• Optional - Pesto

My recipe comes from the Delia's Winter Collection. My rather knackered and splattered copy is below. It's a good book if you are a fan of casseroles and nice, filling, slightly stodgy winter food.



 

 This is how you make it:

1. Peel & chop potatoes and steam or boil for about 20-25 minutes. I prefer to steam them, as they don't get bashed about and absorb lots of excess water.
2. Drain when tender and return to the pan. Cover with a tea towel and leave for 5 minutes
3. Add the butter, milk & crème fraiche and whisk together with an electric whisk. Add seasoning
4. Add pesto, if you like it (which I do! I eat it straight from the jar with a teaspoon!)

So, how does the price stack up?

• Potatoes - 90p
• Margarine - 4p
• Milk - 5p
• Crème fraiche - 10p
• Salt & pepper - 1p
• Pesto - 15p
• TOTAL:  £1.25

Some of my prices are a bit estimated (I have used the Sainsbury's website to try and price stuff) and my maths is usually a bit wrong, but, on this occasion I was right not to be lazy: £1.00 to buy a pot to feed two or £1.25 to feed four. Result!

Now, what shall I splash my saving of 75p on?