Nursing home baked potatoes

I don't really remember baked potatoes at my previous nursing home. We may have had them but somehow I doubt it. Putting a baked potato on a dietary cart to go on a hall cart hoping it will stay warm would be doubtful. So, baked potatoes are more doable in a nursing home where all residents eat in the dining room.

I don't remember baked potatoes when I first came here. But in the last few years we have had many of them. I'm sure nutritional guidelines recommend eating potatoes over pasta and bread sides, like stuffing, so maybe that maybe why we get them. I also notice it's more of a summer menu item, and I have no idea why.

I used to like a good baked potato. But it's been a long time since I've had one baked in the oven. When I lived on my own, they were made in the microwave – which is not really baking – but more like boiling. But you get the same effect, a soft, warm, and, with margarine and sour cream, a yummy baked potato.

However, the baked potatoes here are different. They are hard, dense, and dry. But, when you cut one open, they do not look that way. They seem to harden after margarine and sour cream are put on them. That's why I wonder how they're prepared.

I've been told they are not baked but boiled. If they keep their potatoes in the refrigerator to prevent sprouting, they probably start cooking them cold from the fridge. Could that be the reason the end up being hard and dry? But, the steam table could dry them out too.

The dryness of the baked potato makes me want more margarine/butter to moisten it. They are better when dietary puts cheese and bacon on them. They are a bit trite, but the enhanced flavor makes them seem less so.

Maybe it's just the fact that the potatoes are bakers, which my mother seldom bought. Maybe she didn't like the texture and taste of Idaho potatoes..

Perhaps they should leave the skins on and cut the potatoes in fourths and boil them. Cutting them will make them cook faster. Perhaps cooking them that way might infuse more moisture. Then we could just adorn them with butter/margarine and sour cream and they might be more moist than the way they're made now.

Even in a nursing home, there must be a way to get a nice, soft baked potato.