Do you buy ready to cook french fries? When our nephew and nieces were vacationing here, they would always order french fries for delivery. They are voracious eaters of fries so you can imagine the expense. I would pick up 2 large packs of frozen fries and have the our housemaid cook it for them. Surely there was big savings on that. Another plus is the quicker readiness since it is cooked here and no delivery required.
We do buy frozen fries that we cook in the oven because my husband, like your nephews and nieces loves them. I love them too, but since before Christmas when I realised that my waistline was expanding at an alarming rate, I decided to ditch carbs, fries being top of the list What I find interesting is the fact that it's not been all that difficult to opt for steamed veg or salad in place of fries! -and I'm reaping the rewards because it's made a big difference; my clothes are fitting better now
Perhaps an even cheaper method and healthier less process option would be to make your own fries. I recently bought a TFal Actifry and it makes the best french fries. You only use a teaspoon of oil and fries come out nice and crispy. It's easy to do and the fries are by far superior in taste and texture to frozen fries out of the oven. Also much healthier than french fries out of a deep fryer. You could do sweet potato fries the same way. I like to vary the size of my fries so sometimes I'll cut up the fries like wedge fries or if I want uniform fries I use my potato chipper. The kids love pressing down on the chipper and peeling the potatoes so the it's fun for the whole family.
I buy frozen french fries once in a while. I do not like them as well as what you get from a restaurant though. My children love them so I will buy them as a treat. I would rather cut potatoes up to roast in the oven. They are so good that way and you can put a lot of different seasonings on them. I have made zucchini fries as well and they taste so good.
French fries are delicous, but I think even better and cheaper is to make home made fries or potato chips. They are easy to fry up and taste delicious. If you are making them at home using your own potatoes..you can save money, and probably have better nutrtion as well, especially if you use sweet potatoes.
I do tend to buy my own fries if I need a large quantity because I just don't want to spend the time chopping up a lot of potatoes, and it tends to hurt my hands a lot too after a while. If I'm just cooking for one or two though then I prefer to make my own. I like to add my own seasonings too, in order to make them tastier. Chili is a favorite here, or barbecue can go down well too depending on what you're having with them. Of course I have them plain too though!
Ready-to-cook fries, as long as bought fresh, aren't that much different from McDonald's fries in terms of taste. What's remarkable and advantageous about purchasing them is that you can add the flavor that you want - barbecue, cheese or sour cream. You pay half the amount you usually pay when buying large fries at fast foods.
We used to buy those frozen fries when we were younger. But of course, it cannot compare to the taste of fast food fries, lol. Plus, we don't let them sit in so much salt which McDonald's fries' do and that's why they're quite addictive. Haha. But I remember it's a fun way to enjoy fries at home whenever we're watching movies or just television. My sister and I always did that when we were younger and have summer vacation. Now, we don't usually buy those frozen fries since we attempt to make our son eat healthier. I certainly like the air fryer that I've seen in television. I'm still wondering where I can buy that locally. So that we can make healthier fries for our son.
You are right on that, potatoes are much cheaper than ready-to-cook fries. However, preparing the potatoes require an effort and I don't have that much time for that. As I said, I delegate the cooking to our housemaid and the potatoes would definitely add more work to her. Maybe if we have 2 housemaids again then I can ask them to cook fries from potatoes. By the way, the frozen fries I buy are the plain because we do the flavoring ourselves.
Frozen fries are so much cheaper these days and I do prefer them, because you can cook a small portion. When you order them for delivery you have a small time frame when they are nice and crispy. Cold fries are not that nice, and also you can't really reheat them.
Much as oven baked french fries or rather french fries in general are a very popular food item in my household - I never ever buy them from the store. As apart from ready prepared fries - being easily made at home for literally half the cost of store bought ones - just by blanching the potatoes and adding a tbsp of olive - prior to storing in the freezer ( for which storage time is anything up to 6 months ) - but as homemade fries are made out real food - meaning real potatoes - unlike store bought fries - which are generally made out of reconstituted potato flakes bulked out with various fillers - such as tapioca flour along with many other dubious additives - not only are they very much cheaper - but way, way healthier too.
I've never bought ready to cook fries and don't think I ever will either because it's a lot cheaper to make your own fries, For someone who wants to save money making your own fries is the better cheaper option as others have mentioned. They are also tastier and healthier.
I always keep frozen fries on hand in addition to fresh potatoes - since I eat a lot of potatoes in general. I almost never deep fry anything, so most of the time when I am making fries I simply bake frozen fries instead of trying to make them from scratch. I've never really been pleased with the results from making baked oven fries from fresh potatoes - they often come out too starchy and chewy in the oven. I believe with the frozen variety, the potatoes are par-cooked to some extent, as well as coated with a lite amount of oil.
I don't because I think the amount of oil I'd have to use combined with the sweat and effort I'd have to put into cooking them Is not worth it, not to mention there is also risk involved when dealing with large amounts of hot oil. I'd much rather just buy them from fast food restaurants but I agree that if you are going to be eating them with any regularity then it really is much cheaper to just make them home yourself. I only eat them once in a while though so it's much more practical for me to just buy a bit here and there from fast food restaurants.
My folks are big fans of the microwavable french fries (and tater tots) that come in individual serving boxes. The boxes are lined with a couple sheets of that microwave safe material that browns food - so you get crispy fries right out of your microwave. The quality isn't identical to true deep fried french fries, it's more comparable to what you would get out of your oven, but they cook up in less than 5 minutes, vs. waiting like 30 min in a conventional oven. I buy them from time to time as well, but for the most part I try to stick to the bags of frozen fries as well, since they're more cost friendly and don't take up as much space in my freezer as all those individual single serving microwave fries do.
