Betty Crocker Butter & Herb Mashed Potatoes Vs. Best yet Butter & Herb Mashed Potatoes

I admit it; I occasionally indulge in instant mashed potatoes, being a rather lazy cook who isn't inclined to make them from scratch. In spite of some of the rather dubious ingredients, they have always been too temptingly easy to make for me to consider homemade. I might consider real mashed potatoes for a very special occasion, but for everyday dinners, convenience and speed make a boxed mix an easy choice when it comes to mashed spuds. Recently we have tried two different brands of Butter and Herb flavor mashed potato mixes.

Betty Crocker's Butter and Herb Mashed Potatoes

This brand has been a consistent crowd pleaser at our house. It seems to be one of the most popular with other households as well, since it is often the only variety of which there is none left on the shelf at the grocery store. I like to use it rather than one of the other flavors since it is more compatible with the gravies and sauces I make. (Yes, I know it's ironic, I'll make gravy from scratch with bone broth but then go and pull a 180 and use a processed convenience food... hey, I'm not perfect!)

There are only two ingredients necessary to add to the mix, water and milk. The potato and seasoning blend comes in one pouch, and blends quickly and easily with the liquids with a whisk. The potatoes finish up in less than ten minutes and are thick and creamy. The quality and flavor is consistent and dependable.

The drawbacks to Betty Crocker's Butter and Herb potatoes are the partially hydrogenated fats used in the mix. I prefer not to serve my family these kinds of fats and generally avoid them. The mix does contain a small amount of real butter (hyped on the label with a colorful picture) but it is far below the hydrogenated oils on the ingredient list. I would also prefer to have less salt in a serving of food - a fifth of your daily allowance in one serving of a single food is far too much. They also use two preservatives I would rather not feed my family. In addition, the inclusion of artificial color and MSG to the product seems unnecessary.

Best Yet Butter & Herb Mashed Potatoes

This brand was offered at my local grocery store next to the Betty Crocker display. Best Yet Butter and Herb Mashed Potatoes offered a somewhat better price than Betty Crocker; so one night we gave them a try.

The cooking process is exactly the same as that required by the Betty Crocker potatoes. I found no difference whatsoever in the mixing and appearance of the potatoes.

In comparing the ingredients list, Best Yet's mix is somewhat different from Betty Crocker's mix. There are no partially hydrogenated fats. There is no artificial color. However, Best Yet, like Betty Crocker, includes MSG and preservatives in their recipe, as well as an inordinate amount of salt. They both added "artificial flavor" which is disturbing to me as I wonder what on earth does artificial potato, butter or herb flavor consist of and is it something I wish to consume?

The potatoes had a pleasing texture and color. I served them as usual with gravy. By all accounts so far, they seemed indistinguishable from the Betty Crocker potatoes my family was used to. Once the first bite was taken, however, the difference was clear. The Best Yet potatoes, in a word, weren't. The flavor was watery and weak, with no hint of the promised butter and herb seasoning. In fact, they really didn't taste like much of anything, not even potato. My family was disappointed and so was I. The rest of the box went unused and is destined for a return to the store.

My comparison of the two potato products, Betty Crocker Butter & Herb and Best Yet Butter & Herb, did not leave me with a clear winner. In fact, now I'm much more inclined to consider spending the money on a bag of fresh potatoes next time and feed my family the real thing instead of a highly processed convenience food.