Even if you don't want to make it, I've never been in a supermarket that doesn't offer a fresher option. I've even been in gas stations that offer what they at least claim is fresh potato salad.
Maybe if you really, really wanted potato salad and you were in a food desert but the corner 7-11 has canned potato salad you might buy it, but I've never seen this before in my life.
I don't get it.
You may laugh now, but wait till the apocalypse and see how much you miss potato salad.
You make a convincing case.
I had a massive power outage that lasted a week. Canned anything is better than nothing
Why would you buy canned nothing in the first place? You know it's going to be disappointing before you even open it.
I just went sailing for a few days. On the small sailboat, we don’t have a fridge onboard. Stuff like this can be stored in room temperature, so I can definitely see the appeal for it.
I've actually tried this brand before and it's not bad! It's a much different type of potato salad than the fresh kind they sell in the deli aisle. I don't think they're meant to be direct competition for each other
You mean it doesn't taste like German potato salad? Because then it's not as advertised.
Also, if the potatoes are still firm in that can and not near-blended potato soup mush, they are using some weird-ass chemicals you probably don't want in your body.
Where I live the stuff in the deli aisle is all mayo based potato salad regardless of what type it's supposed to be. The stuff I had from the can has no mayo and is vinegar based and the potatoes are more firm. I have no idea which one would be considered more "authentic" as far as what "German potato salad" is supposed to be.
As far as chemicals that may be in the canned stuff, I honestly didn't check and I don't eat potato salad often enough for it to be a real concern to me personally.
If it seems that reprehensible to you then maybe just don't buy it? The fact that the store here keeps restocking it means someone must think it's good enough to keep buying it lol
Mayo vs vinegar is kind of an actual debate in germany. The civilised side and the vinegar people are mostly blissfully unaware of each other until they develop righteous hatred for the other salad as soon as they learn of it. I heard the vinegar version is eaten warm, which sounds even worse. I would say both are authentic, but vinegar potato salad is authentically horrible.
Storebought potato salad will also at best get people talking behind your back in germany, no matter which kind.
The civilised side and the vinegar people
I love how clearly this second sentence displays which of the two sides you are.
I've lived in both regions and both versions are strictly inferior to a potatoe salad based on mustard (+ oil and broth). The vinegar version uses a bit of mustard, but I'm speaking of mustard being the main ingredient. Naturally, I'm hated by both sides.
Naturally, I'm hated by both sides.
As you should be. Though a bit of mustard is also good in the mayo version.
This is the first I've heard of the Great German Potato Salad debate lol I will have to look into this further 🧐
It’s a thing. Legend has it there are some humans who like both, but it may be propaganda from the potato-industry ;)
Being canned it doesn't require any "weird chemicals". Op should learn basic chemistry-canning is a preservation process that requires no "weird chemicals", unless salt is considered a "weird chemical".
Fun fact: a small amount of vinegar in the cooking water helps to keep potatoes from getting mushy.
I have a very elderly relative. If you can only eat food that is not too firm, and you want easy-to-prepare stuff that you can keep on the shelf, and your tastes are kind of old fashioned, this sounds great.
I could definitely see something like that, although I think you'd probably get something that tasted better with a blended potato soup and there's a bunch of canned varieties. I suppose if someone like that is jonesing for some potato salad (I wouldn't blame them, potato salad is great), this is the best way to give it to them.
Portability and stability. Same as any canned good.
Hell, some things are better canned because once the process is done, it's essentially exactly where you want it and stays there. Cranberry jelly, tomatoes, pineapple for deserts (seriously, it can be much better than fresh for some applications), peaches for some uses, even corn can be better at some things because it's canned. There's others, but it would get silly.
Now, I tend to agree that this isn't something I would stock up on, what with fresh being relatively easy to get if I was unable to make my own. But, if I lived by myself? If it was decent, it might be a better choice just because it's a smaller batch size. Less chance of wasting resource.
Canned goods are great, they last, keep the nutritional values, packaging can be recycled, etc
The 'they last' means also less trips to the store, and less logistics is good for everyone and everything.
Unless canned food is acidic, then the cans are layered in plastics & are basically plastic bottles with extra steps.
Perhaps there is even an argument to be made how a large scale industrial processing can be (which doesn't man is, but in proper countries it should be) much better, not only precise, but clean, with in some cases inherently far better ingredient quality (at least because of timing the ingredients), and more efficient too. It just takes less to implement an extra precaution or control in such an environment vs a big kitchen (or just someone mixing the ingredients at the store).
Often canned goods use no or at least much less preservatives compared to 'fresh' counterparts, simply bcs they just aren't needed (and either way it's cheaper to perfect the mechanical preservation processes than adding extra stuff in).
Also I really wanna open that can now :).
It's about what's being canned, not the concept of canning.
Yes, I was saying that it seems (imho) a good food to can and have stock at home.
People live different lives, or perhaps even have cooking or mobility limitations.
Or for situations like sailing of the grid where you can't reasonably store potatoes.
I presume potato poisoning from badly made cans isn't a thing for at least a century ... If that's not the case, then I'll store my potatoes as vodka (I know, I know, most vodka isn't potato vodka).
As a German I would suggest to burn these stores down.
Why, are they owned by Jews?
Long term storage for emergencies, camping.
If society collapses and all we have left to eat is canned potato salad, I'm leaving the fallout shelter.
It may not be that bad, and it's probably just as healthy as all the other junk we eat. The only way to tell is if you... try it.
But I probably have no right to comment on this. I just ate dry ramen a few minutes ago.
Dry ramen is a whole thing. I can see the appeal of it as a weird form of crunchy snack, But you have stuff like this:
And I admit, I really don't get it.
I see you just trashing all kinds of tasty food here and then I realized who you are. lol. Makes sense now. Hope your doing better.
I’d only leave the Vault if I can become a Knight in the Brotherhood of Steel.
Bad news: you get to be one of the Khans.
(Fallout stopped with 2. I will fight you if you say otherwise.)
so, good news, we have enough canned potato salad for the next year. Um, I'm going to check to radiation levels outside. Don't you want a Geiger counter? Naw, I'm good
I would assume for increased shelf life. This is German style potato salad and I have seen the cans in stores for at least 30 years.
It's German potato salad which is even less salad like than American styled potato salad.
This would go great with canned dumplings. Just kidding. Or am I?
First of all .. ew. I don't know who this is for honestly. Maybe it's one of those things that was used during war times that's now sold in stores because why not? Second, we have lots of Krogers in the US and they are currently trying to merge with Albertsons which would essentially create a monopoly on grocery stores. Let's all hope that doesn't go through.
A couple friends and I would get together for drinks, we all love to cook, one topic that frequently came up was 'stuff you hated as a kid'. Then we would meet the next week and present a good version of that dish. German potato salad was the only thing no one could make edible, it just sucks as a dish.
So Kroger decided to make it worse I guess?
German potato salad is good, though. I’ve never had it inedible. Nothing mind blowing, but it’s fine as a side.
Skill issue?
I'm just waiting for canned bread.
Aw, you just reminded me of something. My grandma used to wash out soup cans, then use them to bake small raisin breads. She would make several at once and you could freeze them. I don't know where she got this idea but it was awesome always having these tiny raisin breads available :) especially if you don't want to commit to a whole full-sized loaf!
That does seem gross and weird.
I will note that this is German potato salad, which does not have mayo and instead has vinegar, so it's not quite as disgusting as I first thought.
Still, the only use cases I can think of would be camping and end of world prepping.
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