I’ve used them occasionally in mixed dishes. The texture is a little different than that of cooked fresh potatoes, but they’re still recognizably potatoes, and they’re already cooked and can be heated up very quickly. I suspect that if I often had to stretch meals to feed more people than I originally planned for, I would buy them regularly. Adding a can of potatoes to a stew or vegetable mixture could stretch it to feed one or two more people, and it’s something you can do at almost the last minute.
If you live on a ranch in the west, and go to town infrequently, or have a cabin, canned potatoes could be a useful staple.
I can understand it saves time but a 5 lb bag of fresh potatoes is pretty cheap and stores well. Potatoes can be stored from harvest time through to the following year if you don’t have ready access to a store and want to “pioneer”. I’ll admit, though, that I rarely use canned products.
I feel the same way about canned sweet potatoes and yams but lots of people use them. What’s easier than sticking a sweet potato in the oven? I’m lazy and that’s a lot easier than opening a can.
I had not thought of using canned potatoes to stretch a main dish as that’s not the way I cook, so thank you, Marian.
I have a friend who grew up in a family that used mostly canned vegetables. His wife grew up in a family that used mostly frozen vegetables. Each of them thinks that the vegetables the other person cooks taste funny, and they both think that cooked fresh vegetables taste funny.
We all have different habits.
Yeah, I was thinking about that @Marian with @nottelling’s comment about sweet potatoes. I never grew up eating canned sweet potatoes. My mom always used fresh as she did with most veggies with some occasional Green Giant pouches in the winter. Absent canned tomatoes and the occasional canned corn, its not something I grew up with and honestly haven’t tried for decades. I still have scary memories of the grey peas served in the elementary school cafeteria.
A lot of what we eat and like is based on what we’ve been exposed to.
Some people don’t have reliable access to stoves and ovens, or may need to conserve their gas and electric usage. These people might welcome pre-cooked, canned potatoes.
I am certainly learning a lot about the importance of canned vegetables, even potatoes. All things I take for granted. My feelings toward canned potatoes are clearly colored by the law firm donation and the intent behind it.
There are times where giving money is the best thing to do. Our church has a kids weekend food backpack program for some of the schools here. Its for the kids who wouldn’t have much if anything to eat over the weekend. I think they have to be on the free lunch program. While donations are accepted the local stores sell the food needed at a price that is better than an individual could get because they know what its for. I think it’s at cost but I’m not sure about that part. Anyway when making up those backpacks you have to have all the items, so donating money works better.
re: canned potatoes
Shish kebabs. It’s pretty much the only potato that will go on the skewer without breaking and come off again heated through and tasting good.
That said, please remember that those in poverty may or may not have access to a stove or microwave, to refrigeration, or to clean running water. This will drastically change what types of food a person or family is able to prepare.
Yeah I totally agree that our tastes are shaped in part by what we grew up with. It is like when a restaurant gives you homemade artisanal ketchup for your french fries. I prefer Heinz!
My husband loves potatoes. If we were to use a food bank, he’d bypass just about anything for canned potatoes. He slices them and fries them in butter. They make a quick side for breakfast or a plain meat dinner.
He does cook fresh potatoes - boiled, roasted, baked, mashed, fried - but canned are also a staple in our house.
When the girls’ school would have a food bank event, we’d get a list of what not to donate along side the donation list. Enough with the ramen and go for nutrient-rich food. Canned veggies, which can be microwaved, are great as not everyone has access to a working stove.
The FB buys in huge bulk quantities and groups go in to repackage the goods in ziplock bags.
We collect food at church to take to the food pantry, and the pastors also keep a supply to help walk-ins. Turns out people will go from church to church looking for food, because the pantry limits visits/month. The pastors like to keep a supply of cooked canned food with pull-off lids. Some of the people needing help are living in their cars and have no place cook food. Sometimes the staff will follow a person to the gas station and fill up their tank. We don’t give out gas station gift cards because those can be used to buy alcohol.
The author of the article seemed resentful of the donors to food banks and thrift stores, and to the taxpayers who make SNAP and section 8 funds available. He felt certain that “others,”, specifically naming Fox News viewers, were judging him. Well, it’s hard to be on CC very long without realizing that humans do a lot of judging. It’s a characteristic of the species. We’ll get that cured just as soon as we take care of greed and sloth and lust and all the other vices.
People also do a lot of caring and giving, though. You see that a lot on CC as well.
Canned food can be eaten unheated, too (although a lover of fried canned potatoes, like @zeebamom’s husband, would probably consider that appalling).
We have lots of power failures where I live. I get tired of peanut butter sandwiches really quickly. So I start in on the canned stuff, without heating it. It tastes OK to me.
Hit me on the head with a can, but I have never heard of canned potatoes!! Sweet potatoes, yes, but the regular spuds? Oy. We did eat a lot of canned peas and corn… so I am quite familiar with canned veggies. 
We bought a lot of potatoes, just never canned. And I made rice puddings for a treat.
I donate mostly canned proteins, because it is what the food banks lack the most: tuna, beans, chiles with meat, chicken, beef. Get it at Costco and rotate the cupboard stock making sure nothing expires prior to several months past the donation date.
Since the title of this was ketchup sandwiches, I noted that my FB feed has an article from the AV Club on ketchup sandwiches made with a special Indian ketchup which is a delicacy. Can’t link for some reason but maybe someone else can.
This piece is just all over the place to me.
She implies that it’s impossible that “everything they have today is a direct result from the sweat of their own brow.” Well, I suppose she’s technically right. My parents both came from extreme poverty and were ridiculously frugal and worked their butts off in order to “get ahead” but they were just lucky right? i.e. no chronic illnesses, no disasters, etc. It wasn’t only because they worked hard, something else came into play. But that something else is also something that not a darned one of us has any control over. She’s bitter, it seems.
That said, yeah, minimum wage needs to be raised, it really is ridiculous as expensive as everything is nowadays.
Where I am from dark bread with mustard was a food staple. It was also called “restaurant appetizer” because the service was invariably poor but at least they would give you bread and the mustard was always on the table.
This women has some way to go literary. No wonder she does not have an agent.
I personally know hundreds of people who fall under “everything they have today is a direct result from the sweat of their own brow.”
However the life on food stamps/WIC really sucks unless you work under the table, live with “undocumented” boyfriend or have some other arrangement like that. Even worse when your income only slightly crosses the threshold of eligibility for government benefits.