Fake Stuff

I love mashed potatoes, but for some reason, I don't enjoy making them. I don't know why. It isn't difficult, and the rewards are plenty!
Now that I have learned the secret to awesome mashed potatoes from my mother-in-law, I love to make them the way she does. However, I also like shortcuts. If you can cut down on cooking time, I'm in!
About a year ago, Country Crock (I think) started advertising that you could now buy mashed potatoes in a tub in the refrigerated aisle. So I did. And I salted them and put real butter in them and heavy whipping cream. Uh, not so yum.... You could tell they were real mashed potatoes and you could taste that I used quality additions (butter & heavy whipping cream), but there was some weird taste in there - chemical like. Was it preservatives or was the taste coming from the plastic tub?
I don't buy those potatoes anymore.
Recently, Ore'Ida started advertising mashed potatoes in a bag located in the freezer aisle. They are already cooked and cubed; you just heat and mash (and add salt, butter, and heavy whipping cream, of course!).
Now the label said to heat them in the bag, but I try not to be a slow learner so I heated them in a glass bowl. Trying to avoid the chemicals here, people!
But these potatoes were also a failure. There was still a weird taste - chemical like.
So tonight, I bit the bullet and made real homemade mashed potatoes - the kind where you start with a brown hard lump of vegetable - peel it - chop it - boil it - hand mash it - butter it up - salt it - add the heavy whipping cream. Super yum!