Dried Potatoes: Sources & storage tips

We buy potato flakes from the supermarket any time they’re discounted or buy-one-get-one-free, stocking up on a dozen large boxes at a time.

If you’d rather purchase dried potatoes in bulk, ready to be placed in storage with no further tinkering on your part, Emergency Essentials offers potato flakes, dices, and hash browns, all in both #10 cans and 5-gallon buckets.

Club stores are also good sources, but we do recommend buying and trying a package before stocking up, as the quality varies greatly from brand to brand. For instance, Sam’s Club carries the Idahoan brand, which are delicious. Some Costco locations, on the other hand, have mashed potato mixes that we find barely edible. Your mileage may vary, and as always, caveat emptor.

Storage Tips

Moisture and oxygen are particularly damaging to dried potatoes, so they are an ideal candidate for vacuum packing. Add an oxygen absorber before vacuuming, and store the whole package inside a rigid plastic container to deter vermin.

If a vacuum sealer is unavailable, you can seal dried potatoes in mylar bags with an oxygen absorber, and store the bags in rigid plastic buckets.

We keep some flakes in a sealable plastic container in our everyday pantry to avoid frequent refill visits to the top-secret underground bunker. Digging out the entrance to the bunker during daylight is terrible OPSEC, not to mention a lot of work.