Simply Potatoes are always fresh, never frozen. Northern Star does not recommend or guarantee the quality when freezing finished products. If you do choose to freeze and thaw the product, moisture or collecting water and possible sloughing of the product is expected. Our mashed potato texture will possibly change and have a grainy texture. In addition, if the product is prepared on a grill or deep fried, then the final fry color will be darker or the product may burn. Red potatoes are almost always adversely affected by freezing, and the final product attributes will be unacceptable in appearance, texture, and flavor. It is strongly recommended not to freeze red skin products.

Northern Star does not guarantee the shelf life of an open bag that has been stored for an extended period of time. If the product has been kept refrigerated at less than 40°F and the package was re-sealed well, the product will be good up to 3 days after initially opening.

If a package is opened prior to the "Use By" date, but quality seems questionable (i.e. sour odor, gray product, mold growth) - DO NOT USE THE PRODUCT. The old adage, "when in doubt, throw it out" holds true on almost all refrigerated food products. Northern Star refrigerated potato products are produced under tight food safety and quality controls; however product can be abused unintentionally once it reaches the store level. This can contribute to product not meeting its "Use By" date guarantee. If you have purchased product that did not meet your expectations, please call or write Customer Service to receive a coupon for replacement product.

The mashed tray is number seven recyclable. The cardboard sleeve is also recyclable.

Michael Foods would like all stores to carry all of our products. Unfortunately, this isn't always the case. We recommend you express your interest to your local grocery store manager. You can also visit our Where to Buy section here

Unlike other refrigerated mashed potatoes, Simply Potatoes uses only the best ingredients like real butter, whole milk, and half and half, rather than margarine and water. These high-quality ingredients provide a convenient solution to made-from-scratch mashed potatoes that taste just like homemade.

Red potatoes tend to have a lower specific gravity, which means they contain a higher ratio of water to solids than a Russet (brown) potato which has lower ratio of water to solids. The Red potatoes contain more sugar than the overall make-up of a Russet potato, giving red potatoes a sweeter flavor.

There are two likely explanations for this phenomenon. Red potatoes that have been recently harvested have a very thin skin set. As the product moves through our processing facility, some of this thin "red" skin can slough off, leaving the layer underneath exposed which has a browner appearance. Secondly, the red color of the potatoes can vary based upon what variety of Reds is grown and also the soil conditions where the potatoes were grown. Potatoes grown in sandy soil conditions tend to have a lighter color, sometimes mistaken for a pale brown color.

Milk Protein: All of the Simply Potatoes mashed products contain one or more dairy components. These ingredients are clearly marked on the label. Sulfites: To maintain freshness, Northern Star retail products contain bisulfites that can elicit an allergic reaction in hypersensitive individuals. All retail packages are carefully labeled on the ingredient deck indicating that the product contains sulfites. Gluten: All Simply Potatoes varieties have been confirmed to be gluten free.

This is due to rounding rules. The food labeling regulations require that all food manufacturers round to the nearest gram for sugar. If there is less than 0.5g of sugar, standard practice is to label this as 0g. However, the % Daily Value is typically rounded to the nearest whole number.

The Nutritional Facts panel on the Shredded Hash Brown packages lists the nutrient content of the unprepared Hash Browns. Since there are numerous ways to prepare the Hash Browns (i.e. Margarine, Butter, Oils, Cooking Spray), we leave it to our customers to choose the preparation aid that they are most comfortable with in their diet.

The ingredients are potassium sorbate, disodium pyrophosphate and sodium bisulfite. Potassium sorbate is used as a mold and yeast inhibitor. This ingredient is also in yogurts, cheese, meats and other potatoes. Disodium pyrophosphate prevents discoloration of the cooked potatoes and is used in almost all refrigerated potato products. Sodium bisulfite is used to maintain freshness. All of these ingredients are used to ensure you have a high quality and safe product.

Yes

It is on a rare occasion that the skins or the “eyes” of potatoes manage to get through during the cutting and sorting process in our plants. There are both machine and visual inspections to filter them out, however, errors may occur. Neither skins nor “eyes” are harmful to your health; though we do understand discovering them may be surprising.