I bought the Costco Twice Baked Potatoes, from Reser’s Main St Bistro, because I was being lazy. My wife loves my homemade twice backed potatoes but it takes a lot of effort to make them.
I saw these pre-made potatoes and figured they could save me a LOT of time in the kitchen 🙂
Heating Instructions
The packaging provides heating instructions for the microwave and oven.
I followed the microwave instructions and the potatoes came out fine.
Microwave Heating Instructions
- Remove the plastic wrap and cardboard sleeve.
- Place the plastic tray in the microwave.
- Heat on High for eight minutes.
- Let stand for one minute and serve.
Oven Heating Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325F.
- Remove outer plastic wrap and cardboard sleeve.
- Place plastic tray on a baking sheet.
- Bake at 325F for 20-25 minutes
Taste
We all agreed that the potatoes were good but not great.
We eat with our eyes first and I have to say that the potatoes did not look particularly appetizing when they came out of the microwave. There were pools of grease in the plastic tray that came from either the cheddar cheese or bacon and the potatoes just looked like a bit of a mess.
I forgave the dish for its mediocre looks as I was the one looking for an easy dinner hack so I needed to set my expectations accordingly.
The twice backed potatoes got served along with some bratwurst for a bit of a decadent meal as we watched the football game.
Everything about the potatoes was acceptable and absolutely nothing was great.
The flavors were okay. I mean, it was potatoes with cheese and bacon so it pretty much had the bases covered 🙂
I would have liked a little more firmness, or even a bit of crispiness on the skin but I can’t complain since I heated these in the microwave instead of the oven.
The biggest issue I had was that the potatoes were a bit dry. I added some moisture and flavor by shaking on some Cholula hot sauce and that did improve things somewhat.
In the end I ate about two-thirds of my potatoes, split the rest between my pups, and got myself a second brat to finish the meal.
The next time I need an easy potato dish from Costco I will probably get Reser’s Scalloped Potatoes instead.
Calories and Nutrition
A single potato (actually half of a potato) is a single serving and has the following calories and nutritional information:
- Calories: 340
- Fat: 17g (22% DV)
- Cholesterol: 50mg (17% DV)
- Sodium: 820mg (36% DV)
- Carbohydrates: 38g (14% DV)
- Protein: 10g
The calories and fat reflect that these are big potatoes stuffed with milk, butter, cheese and bacon. As the kids say these days, “It is what it is.”
My wife and I both agreed that, while the potatoes were fine, they were not worth the work required to burn off the calories.
Costco Value
I bought the four pack of twice baked potatoes at Costco for $9.99 which works out to a cost of about $2.50 per serving.
I could probably make a batch of these from scratch for a little less than the cost of the prepared versions but not by a lot. By the time you purchase the potatoes, butter, milk, cheese, etc the costs really add up unless you are really optimized to make economic large batches.
Overall the price is fair but not amazing….king of like the potatoes themselves.
The potatoes were the best I ever tastef
We had the twice baked potatoes and they were excellent! I baked them instead of using the microwave. I think that makes a lot of difference in the appearance factor, and definitely the crispness texture. I would get them again except now I can’t find them anywhere. BTW….we tried the scalloped potatoes last night and they are delicious. Again, I used the oven and baked them until there was a slight crispness all around the edges of the pan. I should add that I transferred both dishes to our own glass baking dish.
You are being VERY generous. They don’t taste good at all!
For me to leave food on the plate is VERY RARE. I took one bite of one potato and thought “maybe the other one is better”. I was wrong.
Yuck. JUST YUCK!.