Can I eat this: leftover baked potato insides

September 24, 2014 7:29 AM

About 7-10 days ago I made potato skins. I scooped out the insides, stuck them in the fridge, and forgot about them. Now I am making baked potato soup and just remembered them. It's just potatoes, no dairy or anything else. They look fine and smell fine. Has it been too long or can I add them to my soup?
posted by that's how you get ants to Food & Drink (19 answers total)

I would throw those right in the trash.
posted by something something at 7:35 AM on September 24, 2014 [7 favorites]

The texture may be off. Touch them, take a bite. The textural problems might be meaningless in a soup, though.
posted by kmennie at 7:35 AM on September 24, 2014

I would add them. But I'm crazy that way.
posted by harrietthespy at 7:37 AM on September 24, 2014 [4 favorites]

I'd toss them. They may be OK, especially since you're recooking them. But it's just not worth it when potatoes are cheap and easy.
posted by Kriesa at 7:42 AM on September 24, 2014 [1 favorite]

Recooking isn't going to undo decomposition, though.

I will eat a lot of things and I would not eat these.
posted by Lyn Never at 7:44 AM on September 24, 2014

StillTasty says no.
posted by divined by radio at 7:45 AM on September 24, 2014 [4 favorites]

Absolutely not.
posted by Admiral Haddock at 7:47 AM on September 24, 2014

In my experience, spoiled potatoes tend to both smell and taste very noticeably off. I have eaten very noticeably spoiled potatoes before (the wonders of the state juvenile justice system, folks) and I did get an upset stomach but I didn't die or anything.
posted by Juliet Banana at 7:47 AM on September 24, 2014 [2 favorites]

I would throw them out. I vaguely remember reading somewhere about the sugars in potatoes being used in petri dishes to grow cultures. Anything that encourages the growth of bacteria etc in a lab is not something I'd be comfortable eating 10 days later. Of course I could also have remembered wrong, but potatoes are cheap & easy to prepare so I wouldn't risk it.
posted by wwax at 7:49 AM on September 24, 2014 [1 favorite]

If it was 5 days later I would say yeah, go for it, but since you can't actually remember if it was 7 or 10? Into the bin they must go.
posted by poffin boffin at 7:53 AM on September 24, 2014

Response by poster: Okay, I'll toss them. I normally would have anyway, but step one of this recipe was "scoop out baked potatoes and save the skins for something else" and step one of the other recipe was just the opposite, so it made me wonder.

I do already have some other potatoes baking so I guess it will be slightly less soup today and more potato skins tomorrow!
posted by that's how you get ants at 7:54 AM on September 24, 2014

Good choice to toss 'em. Depending on how they are cooked and cooled, potatoes can provide a perfect environment for the growth of botulism, which you wouldn't detect by smell, taste or texture.
posted by gubenuj at 8:02 AM on September 24, 2014 [4 favorites]

but step one of this recipe was "scoop out baked potatoes and save the skins for something else

If you knew you were going to use them in soup, freeze the saved skins and they'll be good for soup, etc. for a long time.
posted by anastasiav at 8:13 AM on September 24, 2014

I'd toss them, food poisoning is not worth it.
posted by RichardHenryYarbo at 8:14 AM on September 24, 2014

If you have questions about them, those questions will transfer to the soup made with them and you'll feel weird about eating it.

Potatoes are cheap. Start anew.
posted by maryr at 8:26 AM on September 24, 2014

7-10 days? Oh hell no. Half that time and I'd still be iffy. Toss 'em.
posted by futureisunwritten at 9:48 AM on September 24, 2014

When in doubt, throw it out. That said, I might've used them, because that's the camp I generally fall in when making food for me. I wouldn't worry about botulism; these were not whole potatoes, and you seem to have stored them properly.
posted by rtha at 10:28 AM on September 24, 2014

i suspect that they are safe to eat, but also that they have deteriorated in certain ways over 7-10 days. when you make potato soup, the principle value element in that soup is the time you spent making it, and potatoes are so cheap that i would start over with uncooked ones, because i like the tastiest homemade food i can make.
posted by bruce at 10:46 AM on September 24, 2014

I would use, but apparently I am in the minority.
posted by lathrop at 3:18 PM on September 24, 2014