How many potatoes does it take...

[Porthos]

I have a confession to make here. For all of the things I get right I can never seem to get the right amount of potatoes into my "roasts with veggies."

When we travel we use lists. When we went to Germany in 1980 I (who have OCD) actually made a list of all of our lists to make sure we didn't miss anything. My wife and I normally plan out our vacation menus months in advance, make up a list of dishes we're preparing for each meal and then a list to shop from. This gives us a chnace to research recipes, locate any not-so-common ingredients and such. We were rushed this year because of scheduling issues and only verbally agreed on the menus. For one dinner we decided we were going to make a pot roast in the crock pot. We brought the meat, the carrots, the celery, the pota --- oh no - we forgot the potatoes. So I drove over to the store at the head of the lake and found to my delight they had red potatoes. I bought about 3 pounds by putting a few in the bag, thinking that it didn't look like enough, put in some more, still wasn't confident, so put in a couple more. Mind you, we're cooking this meal for a grand total of 3 people. So I get back to the cabin, wash the potatoes, slice them in half and put them into the already-going crock pot. They barely fit. This is not the first, or the second, etc. time I have done this. I got some good-natured ribbing from my wife and my father-in-law.

So what is a reasonable amount of potato per person for a starch dish like this? I obviously still don't know.

[tino27]

For 3 people with no leftovers, I would've gone with about 1 pound of potatoes.

[Badiane]

Sounds like you suffer from the same disease I do...my husband calls it overstufferhea. For instance, I did a tea party for my parents anniversary - I was preparing for 80 people. 120 people showed up and I still had leftovers. Overstufferhea indeed.

For potatoes, one per person, one for the pot for mashers. Medium sized red ones, one and a half per person. For small new ones, six each.

Trust me, it's enough.