Instant potatoes are a common product being used in our ever changing, fast paced lives. We seem to never have enough time to do anything let alone try and sit down to have a good/real meal. So we get to have potatoes in a box (yay) but we know they don’t taste as good, we know they are more expensive than real potatoes and of course they are less healthy than real potatoes. These boxes of potatoes also have less protein, fiber and vitamins than the real ones.

These boxed potatoes are another commonly donated item and is easily accessible everywhere. They usually require butter and milk to be added so the cost of them are mostly more expensive than the real taters. Pound for pound or box to bag of dried vs fresh potatoes will be more than the fresh former self.

Additives like, citric acid, sodium acid, pyrophosphate, sodium bisulfite and antioxidants are added to the potatoes before they are dehydrated to preserve color and flavor. Dried potatoes are used in many potato chips products and other starchy foods. Boxed products like these are gaining popularity in households and in many other companies ingredients, but not all of these boxed instant potatoes are healthy for you or contain natural ingredients.

So i have four boxes and a small bag of instant mashed potatoes. There are two large brands and three off brands and guess which ones are the worst for you?

The first two are from the largest brands and are the worst of all five. One contains BHT and the other contains BHA both preservatives are alike and also a close relative to TBHQ. These two also contain many of the same food additives as the next two (explained more in the next two). These two brands are the most consumed/sold of all five bands and are the least healthiest of all.

These next two do not contain as many preservatives as the more popular brands and most importantly do not say that they contain BHT or BHA but they do still contain many food additives. Monoglycerides and Diglycerides are very close to trans fats and come from vegetable oil which are know to contain TBHQ and other preservatives.

This next one is the best of all five and should be idolized by the rest, it contains no chemical preservatives or additives as you can see in the ingredients list. “Russet Potatoes, Butter, Salt. Period.” Explains it the best. It seems easy enough for this small company to have simple non additives ingredients why can’t the big companies do the same?