# Stove Top \[stuffing\] instead of potatoes! How common were potatoes?? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 8, 2011, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stove-top-stuffing-instead-of-potatoes-how-common-were-potatoes/605562 "2011-12-08T22:41:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![OpalCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8edcca/32.png) [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2011, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stove-top-stuffing-instead-of-potatoes-how-common-were-potatoes/605562/1 "2011-12-08T22:41:51Z")
I remember growing up there was a long lived campaign by Stove Top stuffing mix to replace the potatoes in your meal with stuffing. Mostly it was kids asking if they could stay at a friend’s house for dinner because they were having stove top instead of potatoes. To me this seemed very strange… because how often does one eat potatoes? I mean… when I was growing up we really only had potatoes at Thanskgiving and Christmas. I am very willing to admit that my family was far, far from normal in many things including what we ate. So my question is… growing up and also these days, how often do you eat potatoes at dinner? ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2011, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stove-top-stuffing-instead-of-potatoes-how-common-were-potatoes/605562/2 "2011-12-08T22:44:36Z")
Good Midwestern family that we were, I’d guess we had potatoes in some form at least several times a week when I was growing up. I’d hazard a guess that the stereotypical American dinner (especially a few decades ago) was a meat, a vegetable, and one or two starches (maybe potatoes as well as bread or rolls). If your family only had potatoes twice a year, I’d suspect your consumption was way below average. ---
**Author:** ![Skammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skammer/32/143_2.png) [@Skammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skammer)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2011, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stove-top-stuffing-instead-of-potatoes-how-common-were-potatoes/605562/3 "2011-12-08T22:45:17Z")
I think you’re in the minority. We have some kind of potato side dish at least once or twice a week. Baked, mashed, french fried, au gratin, hash browns, tater tots… tonight we’re having stew which has potatoes in it. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2011, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stove-top-stuffing-instead-of-potatoes-how-common-were-potatoes/605562/4 "2011-12-08T22:46:43Z")
Oh, wait, I forgot who the OP is. A typical American dinner meal might be: 1. Meat dish 2. Vegetable dish 3. A starch, such as potatoes 4. A second starch, such as rolls or bread 5. Hi, Opal! 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Icarus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/icarus/32/72_2.png) [@Icarus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icarus)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2011, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stove-top-stuffing-instead-of-potatoes-how-common-were-potatoes/605562/5 "2011-12-08T22:56:56Z")
Another vote for growing up in the mid-west USA in the '60s & '70s - potatoes at dinner in some form 90+% of the time. [ul] [li]Baked[/li][li]Boiled[/li][li]Mashed[/li][li]Krinkle Kut Fries[/li][li]Shoestring Fries[/li][li]Cottage Fries[/li][li]Tater-tots[/li][li]Twice baked[/li][li]Potato Salad[/li][li]Hash Browns[/li][li]Potato Chips[/li][li]Ingredient in stew, soup, or “hash”[/li][/ul] ---
**Author:** ![gwendee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/35a633/32.png) [@gwendee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gwendee)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2011, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stove-top-stuffing-instead-of-potatoes-how-common-were-potatoes/605562/6 "2011-12-08T23:03:53Z")
Not a midwesterner, but we ate a lot of potatoes. I think we may even have eaten more potatoes than most families because my mother cannot abide rice. I serve them a lot less frequently than my mother did, and serve a larger variety of vegetables. ---
**Author:** ![CrazyCatLady](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dfb087/32.png) [@CrazyCatLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CrazyCatLady)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2011, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stove-top-stuffing-instead-of-potatoes-how-common-were-potatoes/605562/7 "2011-12-08T23:14:25Z")
Growing up in the 80’s, we had some type of taters 4-6 times a week. As an adult we probably have them a couple times a week. ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2011, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stove-top-stuffing-instead-of-potatoes-how-common-were-potatoes/605562/8 "2011-12-08T23:22:44Z")
The idea that potatoes aren’t a regular - if not nearly daily - staple is mindboggling. ---
**Author:** ![OpalCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8edcca/32.png) [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2011, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stove-top-stuffing-instead-of-potatoes-how-common-were-potatoes/605562/9 "2011-12-08T23:35:07Z")
> [@Tengu](#): > > The idea that potatoes aren’t a regular - if not nearly daily - staple is mindboggling. Well I admitted that I knew my experience wasn’t normal in the OP. What I have no way of knowing without asking is how common they ARE/WERE. Which is why I started the thread. ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2011, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stove-top-stuffing-instead-of-potatoes-how-common-were-potatoes/605562/10 "2011-12-08T23:43:15Z")
California kid here; I’m sure we had potatoes with dinner more often than not in the '60s. Usually boiled and mashed up with a fork, and topped with margarine. ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2011, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stove-top-stuffing-instead-of-potatoes-how-common-were-potatoes/605562/11 "2011-12-08T23:48:59Z")
Another vote. Back in the days of the Stove Top Stuffing rebellion I’d say potatoes in one form or another were at least on the menu twice a week. I just thank Og that those fracking nasty instant Potatoes Au Rotten didn’t take the lead. ---
**Author:** ![Lacunae\_Matata](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8491ac/32.png) [@Lacunae\_Matata](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lacunae_Matata)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2011, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stove-top-stuffing-instead-of-potatoes-how-common-were-potatoes/605562/12 "2011-12-09T00:24:14Z")
My whole family, from generations back, are from coastal southern Georgia. We ate rice and grits at most meals, and potatoes were far less common (born 1969, for reference.) My stepdad is from West Virginia, and even though he has lived in SE Georgia for 40 years now, he doesn’t think it’s a proper meal unless potatoes are on the table. Back in the day, though, when everyone was a “locavore,” you’d have served and eaten what was cheap and available. Potatoes are hard to store in areas like this, with lots of hot humid weather and no root cellars. Back when my food mostly came straight from the farm, potatoes were very seasonal: late spring and autumn. (And Stove Top? Ick. That’s what people eat when they’re improvident enough not to save their stale bread to make homemade dressing /stuffing!) ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2011, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stove-top-stuffing-instead-of-potatoes-how-common-were-potatoes/605562/13 "2011-12-09T00:27:25Z")
Currently, I have potatoes maybe once a week on average. Growing up, it was probably five days a week on average. But I grew up/live in a very “meat & potatoes” neighborhood. ---
**Author:** ![devilsknew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4da419/32.png) [@devilsknew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/devilsknew)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2011, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stove-top-stuffing-instead-of-potatoes-how-common-were-potatoes/605562/14 "2011-12-09T00:27:48Z")
Potatoes were so common, sometimes we even ate store boughten cans of the boiled, heated, Irish new potatoes with butter, chives, and salt with dinner. It was Usually a meat, potatoes, veg, bread, butter and fruit dinner- Always cottage cheese and applesauce on the table. as well. They were really not too bad, quite an interesting “essence” of potato, actually. And [canning potatoes](http://jordansfarm.wordpress.com/2008/08/23/canning-potatoes/) is really nothing new. ---
**Author:** ![notfrommensa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/f14d63/32.png) [@notfrommensa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/notfrommensa)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2011, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stove-top-stuffing-instead-of-potatoes-how-common-were-potatoes/605562/15 "2011-12-09T00:38:51Z")
Mom’s menu usually had potatoes. Main Course; Roast, meatloaf Potatoes (or Rice) Veggie: Peas, carrots, corn Cole Slaw (mom would cole slaw every week) Apple Sauce (Mom made her own apple sauce, and we had it most nights) sliced bread was never on the table for dinner. ---
**Author:** ![Mrs.Cake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/2acd7d/32.png) [@Mrs.Cake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mrs.Cake)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2011, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stove-top-stuffing-instead-of-potatoes-how-common-were-potatoes/605562/16 "2011-12-09T00:44:29Z")
Growing up in the '60’s & '70’s in a family with many kids & not much money, potatoes were on the dinner menu more often than not, either as a side dish or in the various stews my mother attempted. Stuffing was an exotic food only eaten at Thanksgiving when my grandmother made it. ---
**Author:** ![devilsknew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4da419/32.png) [@devilsknew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/devilsknew)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2011, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stove-top-stuffing-instead-of-potatoes-how-common-were-potatoes/605562/17 "2011-12-09T00:53:58Z")
> [@Mrs.Cake](#): > > Stuffing was an exotic food only eaten at Thanksgiving when my grandmother made it. Stuffing was not so much exotic in our case, as much as a special “Holiday Food” and well, reserved for stuffing large birds. I and many of my family members cannot abide stove top stuffing, as it is a pale, and frankly, artificially overpowering substitute for the real thing. It’s donkey dung. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2011, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stove-top-stuffing-instead-of-potatoes-how-common-were-potatoes/605562/18 "2011-12-09T00:58:07Z")
Hiijack: > [@devilsknew](#): > > store boughten That’s an interestingly archaic form. How common is this usage? Is it regional? ---
**Author:** ![devilsknew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4da419/32.png) [@devilsknew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/devilsknew)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2011, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stove-top-stuffing-instead-of-potatoes-how-common-were-potatoes/605562/19 "2011-12-09T01:10:17Z")
I hear it quite often… I think it is midwestern. ---
**Author:** ![johnpost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2011, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stove-top-stuffing-instead-of-potatoes-how-common-were-potatoes/605562/20 "2011-12-09T01:21:32Z")
spuds a couple times a week. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stove-top-stuffing-instead-of-potatoes-how-common-were-potatoes/605562.md?page=2)