without breaking the bank!!  Who doesn’t love potato skins?  Hubby and I used to order them when we went out all the time and occasionally picked up the frozen Fridays ones because well they are good.  But they aren’t cheap.

All you really need is a package of bacon, a bag of shredded cheddar cheese and a big bag of potatoes.  I picked up a 10lb bag of potatoes for about $3 the cheese and the bacon I picked up on sale a while ago but we’ll just say they were each $2.  First I scrubbed all the potatoes rubbed them with oil and salt and baked them, since the oven was on I put every single potato in that bag in the oven at once (which filled both shelves) while they are baking cook up your bacon.  After they bake for about an hour take them out and let them cool, once cool cut each potato in half and scoop out most of the insides save all of the insides in a big bowl.  Fill half of the shells with cheese and bacon for me that was 22 shells I froze half of them on a cookie sheet and then put them in bags in the freezer for the next time we entertain and we ate the rest for dinner while watching a hockey game.  That left me with 24 shells, a bowl of potato insides, about half the bacon and the cheese and with that I made twice baked potatoes.  I mashed the insides with some milk and butter stirred in the crumbled bacon and cheese and stuffed the shells.  I again froze them on a cookie sheet and bagged them in 3’s for dinners. 

So for $7 (the approx cost of one of the bigger boxes of potato skins) I made 2 big servings of potato skins and 8 nights of sides.  Now it wasn’t nearly as easy as opening that bag and tossing those frozen skins on a cookie sheet but my skins were much more filling without all the processed crap and a whole lot cheaper.  Plus there is the added benefit of having several easy frozen sides in my freezer that microwave or bake easily.  So next time you want a premade treat take a minute and think if you can make it cheaper.