Long before anyone kept a cold pack in the freezer or had a pharmacy on speed dial, households relied on a handful of plants and a fair bit of ancient knowledge to get through a turned ankle or a deep purple bruise. Grandmothers and farmhands alike knew how to crush arnica flowers, wrap a knee […]
from Survivopedia
Thursday, July 9, 2026
Wednesday, July 8, 2026
Why PPE Will Save Your Life in a Crisis
Go check your supplies right now. Food, water, ammo, maybe a generator. Now go find your respirator. Chances are you don’t have one, or you’ve got a single box of dust masks left over from a home improvement project.
That gap is bigger than people realize, and it’s the one that gets people hurt fastest when something actually goes wrong. You can survive weeks without the right food. You won’t survive twenty minutes in a toxic environment without the right mask.
What Is PPE?
PPE stands for personal protective equipment. In a prepping context, that means respirators, gloves, eye protection, and clothing built to keep contaminants off your skin and out of your lungs. It’s not flashy gear.
It’s worth saying that PPE isn’t a substitute for getting away from danger. It’s what keeps you functional while you do.
Anyone who’s been in a smoke-filled room or downwind of a chemical release knows how fast clear thinking goes out the window once your eyes are burning and you can’t get a full breath.
None of it works well on its own. Together, it covers the three ways your body actually gets exposed: breathing it in, touching it, or getting it on you.
What Your Kit Should Actually Include
Here’s the baseline. If you’re missing more than one or two of these, that’s your next shopping trip, not your next someday project.
- N95 or P100 respirators, enough for everyone in your household for two weeks
- A half-face or full-face respirator with swappable cartridges rated for organic vapors and particulates
- Multiple boxes of nitrile gloves, since they tear and get contaminated fast
- Sealed safety goggles, not open-sided glasses that leave gaps at the edges
- A disposable coverall or two, especially useful if you live near an industrial area or rail corridor
- Duct tape and plastic sheeting for sealing gaps if you end up sheltering in place
One thing worth knowing before you buy: N95s filter particles, not gases or vapors. If you’re picturing a chemical spill or fumes of any kind, you need a respirator with the correct cartridge attached, not just a paper mask.
People assume one respirator covers every threat, and that assumption is exactly what leaves them exposed when it matters. Read the packaging before you buy, not after you’re already relying on it.
You can find a full list of PPEs you need in your stockpile, along with where to buy it, on this website.
Optional PPE, but Still Worth Considering
These aren’t essential for everyone, but depending on where you live and what you’re planning for, they close real gaps.
A powered air-purifying respirator, or PAPR, is worth looking at if you have a beard or facial hair that breaks the seal on a standard mask. It pushes filtered air into a hood instead of depending on a tight fit against your skin, which makes it a solid option for anyone a standard respirator simply won’t seal for.
Potassium iodide tablets are worth having on hand if you’re near a nuclear facility, since they help block radioactive iodine absorption in a release scenario, though they don’t protect against other forms of radiation exposure or replace proper protective clothing.
A dedicated decontamination kit, including a change of clothes stored separately and heavy-duty trash bags for contaminated gear, makes a real difference if you ever need to strip off exposed PPE without spreading whatever it picked up onto your skin, your car, or the rest of your house.
Hearing protection is another one people overlook entirely. If you’re ever in a situation involving explosions, gunfire, or heavy machinery running for extended periods, basic foam earplugs stored in your kit cost almost nothing and prevent damage that’s permanent the moment it happens.
How Will PPE Save Your Life in a Crisis
It’s easy to file PPE away as a nice to have until you picture the actual moment you’d need it. Here’s what that looks like in a few realistic situations.
Wildfire Smoke
Smoke inhalation puts more people in the hospital during wildfires than the fire itself does. Fine particulate matter gets deep into your lungs, and a basic dust mask does almost nothing to stop it.
An N95 is your minimum here. If you’re anywhere near active burning, a full-face respirator with organic vapor cartridges handles the volatile compounds a simple filter can’t touch, and it protects your eyes from the constant irritation that makes it hard to see well enough to evacuate safely.
Civil Unrest or a Riot Situation
Tear gas and pepper spray show up more often than people expect, and they’re miserable even at a distance if the wind shifts unexpectedly. A bandana does close to nothing against CS gas, and neither does a basic dust mask.
A full-face respirator with the correct cartridge blocks these irritants far better, and sealed goggles protect your eyes, which take the worst of it in these situations. If you live anywhere near an area with a history of unrest, this is the kind of gear you want ready before you need it, not something you’re trying to track down while it’s already happening.
What I’ll add here is that when civil unrest happens, there are a few things that can genuinely help you. For example, there’s this list of 20 things you need to do if you get caught in a civil unrest situation. Make sure you know them before it happens.
A Chemical Spill or Rail Accident
Rail lines carrying hazardous chemicals run through or near a huge number of towns, and when something derails, the evacuation order often comes after the plume has already started moving.
Nitrile gloves, chemical-resistant clothing, and a respirator with the right cartridge, whether that’s organic vapor or acid gas depending on what’s involved, buy you the time to get clear before you’ve absorbed something you can’t undo.
An Outbreak in Your Own Home
You already saw how fast masks and gloves vanished from shelves during the last outbreak. That happens every time demand spikes. If you’re caring for someone sick, you need more than a mask. You need gloves for anything they’ve touched, eye protection if you’re in close contact, and a way to dispose of contaminated items without spreading exposure to the rest of your household.
I used to think outbreak prep was something you’d figure out on the fly. Then I watched how fast a stomach bug tore through my kid’s school last fall, three teachers out sick in one week, and realized most households have zero plan beyond “wash your hands more.” I sat down and worked through THIS PROTOCOL before anything serious ever hit my area, and now it’s just sitting there ready if it does.
Don’t Let Your Kit Rot in a Box
Buying the gear is only half the job. PPE that sits untouched in a box for years can fail you when you actually reach for it.
Elastic straps on masks degrade, cartridge seals dry out, and gloves left in a hot garage can crack the moment you try to stretch them on.
Check your kit every few months the same way you’d check expiration dates on canned food.
Replace anything that looks worn, and if you’ve never actually tried your respirator on, do it now while there’s no pressure. A perfect seal on paper means nothing if it doesn’t match the shape of your face.
Ask Yourself This…
You’ve probably spent more time picking your bug-out bag than thinking about what’s protecting your lungs and skin. Go look at what you actually have sitting in storage right now. If it’s a few loose dust masks and a bottle of hand sanitizer, that’s not a kit.
Nobody thinks about PPE until they’re already breathing something they shouldn’t. Chemical spills, riots, disasters, the air itself can turn on you in seconds, and by then it’s too late to start learning. The military doesn’t wait for that moment, they build their kit long before it’s needed, and you should want the same edge.
Whether you bug in or bug out, that kind of preparation only comes from people who’ve actually lived through it. That’s why The Final Survival Plan is worth your time, it’s built by people who’ve been in these exact scenarios and know what actually keeps you breathing. Check it out here.
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The post Why PPE Will Save Your Life in a Crisis appeared first on Ask a Prepper.
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How to Homestead on Less Than an Acre
Estimated reading time: 17 minutes
Sustainable survival homesteading is possible on less than an acre. While you can't raise a herd of beef cattle in your backyard, you can still raise your own meat and eggs and grow your own groceries. The space you have to work with of course matters, but how you use that space matters more.
The first thing you have to do is set priorities. Differentiating between wants and needs and creating a list of priorities is a vital part of the homestead planning process, regardless of your budget or number of acres – but it is especially more important when you live on a small plot.
While your priorities will basically be the same as a prepper living on 50 acres, you will have to scale down your projects and use your space very wisely to accomplish your sustainable survival homesteading goals.
Small Homestead Priorities
Maximizing Small Spaces
When you don’t have a lot of land, the key is to use every square foot wisely. Look at your homestead in layers: the ground for garden beds and livestock pens, vertical space for trellises and wall planters, and even rooftops for container gardens or solar panels.
Don’t overlook “dead zones” like side yards, alleys, and fence lines which can all be turned into productive growing areas with the right planning.
Legal Woes
Where you live matters. Preppers living under stringent homeowners association rules will find it more difficult, but still not impossible, to homestead. The rural county where I live doesn't have a zoning office or any type of permits required to do anything but put in a septic system or well. If you live in a small town with similar county laws, backyard homesteading will be far easier process from a legal standpoint.
Although living in a “Right to Farm” state offers some benefit and protection of your rights to grow your own food and keep small survival livestock, some restrictions almost always still apply. Before rushing off to Tractor Supply or Rural King to buy chicks and seeds, make sure you review local laws that pertain to anything homesteading related.
OPSEC
Once you know what you can and cannot do legally on your small homestead, it is time to consider how your self-reliance efforts will look to neighbors and road traffic. If you don't care if your set up effectively shouts, “A Prepper Lives Here”, feel free to skip this section. But if you are a wise prepper, please read on.
If you don't have a privacy fence and can install one around all but the front of your yard, that should be your first step. A commonplace wood privacy fence should not raise any eyebrows or alert neighbors and strangers that your home is the one they should raid for food when the SHTF.
Stockpiling additional fencing in ready-to-install sections, preferably with barbed wire attached to put across the front of the house during a long-term disaster, is highly recommended.
Beyond fencing, think carefully about what your property communicates to people passing by. A large, obvious garden in your front yard, livestock visible from the street, or a generator running loudly during a power outage are all signals that your home has resources worth taking. Wherever possible, keep your most valuable preps out of sight from the road and from neighboring properties.
Inside the house, practice light and smell discipline. Blackout curtains are inexpensive and widely available, and they keep the glow of lights from advertising that your home has power when no one else on the block does. Be mindful of cooking smells as well, particularly if you're grilling or smoking meat. These are small details that can make a big difference in a prolonged crisis.
Water
Creating a secondary water source so you aren't relying on a public utility can be accomplished on a small amount of land with operational security protocols followed as well. Digging decorative garden ponds in both your front and backyard or on a small parcel of land should give you a decent amount of emergency water.
Rainwater collection barrels creatively disguised as typical lawn decorations should also be attached to your home, garage, and any outbuilding on your property.
Wastewater Reuse
On a small homestead, conserving every drop of water matters. Greywater from sinks, showers, and washing machines can often be diverted to irrigate fruit trees or ornamental plants.
Even if local laws limit greywater use, you can still practice water efficiency by using low-flow fixtures and capturing dishwater or laundry rinse water in buckets to reuse on your garden beds.
Water Purification
Having water stored or collected is only half the battle. You also need to be able to make it safe to drink. Every small homestead should have multiple water purification methods on hand, because no single method is foolproof and equipment can fail.
At a minimum, stockpile water purification tablets and have a quality gravity-fed filter like a Berkey or a comparable system that doesn't require electricity or running water to operate. Learning to purify water by boiling is essential, but boiling requires fuel, which is a finite resource. A UV purification pen is a good backup for clear water and requires only battery power.
If you have the space and the means, a hand-pump well is one of the best long-term water security investments a small homesteader can make. Even a shallow well that produces modest amounts of water gives you a grid-independent supply that doesn't depend on stored containers, rainfall, or batteries.
LP/OP (Listening Post/Observation Post)
If you live in the suburbs or even in some small towns, you will be limited in the types of outdoor construction and landscaping projects you can do by law – limiting but not eliminating – your ability to create listening and observation posts.
Building a tower that can double as a deer tree stand and an LP/OP will only be an option if you live in a rural area and on enough land that a passerby could reasonably think you are using it for hunting. Otherwise, you will lose your covert prepper status.
If you live in a two-story home, consider adding an upstairs porch or balcony to use as both an observation post and a vertical growing space.
Adding on a half or second story to a garage or storage shed can also open up opportunities to create a disguised, but not hidden, LP/OP. You can build the railings on the observation decks out of typical wood materials, but you should back them with concrete-filled cinder blocks and/or thick metal to help defray at least small caliber bullets and increase protection from the elements.
Use metal roofing on any new addition and when feasible, replace existing roofing with the same material to increase longevity and decrease vulnerability to fire.
An even better option is a hidden earth-berm LP/OP, but only if you have the terrain for it. If such a secluded spot is not an option, put in a root cellar with an entrance as obscure as possible by landscaping, after adding some viewing portals on the walls, roof, and door.
Growing Your Own Groceries And Medicine
Depending upon the amount of land you own, putting in a traditional gardening plot may be possible. But a small plot will not be enough to create a steady flow of produce during a long-term disaster.
It is possible to grow enough food and natural remedy ingredients to feed a family of four on only a quarter acre (or even less) if you use your space wisely. Remember, calling 911 will not be an option during an SHTF scenario, so learn how to grow, identify, and use medicinal herbs, roots, bark, and weeds as part of your backyard apothecary survival plan.
Choosing the Right Crops for Limited Land
When space is tight, you want the biggest return on every plant. Focus on high-calorie, nutrient-dense crops like potatoes, beans, squash, corn, and other foods that can actually sustain you in a crisis.
Herbs and salad greens are great, but they won’t fill you up. Plant calorie-dense staples first, then use leftover space for flavor and variety. Perennial plants like berry bushes, rhubarb, and asparagus are also smart investments since they come back year after year with little maintenance.
Best Ways To Grow Food In Small Spaces
- Containers – Growing fruits and vegetables on decks, porches, and along the sidewalk as edible landscaping, in conventional hanging planters and baskets, will substantially increase how much food you can produce.
- Barrels – Purchase some food grade plastic barrels (that can be decoratively covered) to grow potatoes, onions, carrots, strawberries, through holes drilled in the sides.
- Water Crop – Grow rice on a small scale in planters nestled in with your decorative garden ponds.
- Vertical Gardening – Buy or build vertical gardening containers and attach them to the house, garage, outbuildings, and privacy fence to cultivate shallow root and flowering crops. You can also grow vertically inside your home near windows with quality light or by purchasing hanging grow lights.
- Raise Beds – Turn your raised beds into edible landscaping areas and build additional growing beds (that can have glass frames placed over them to use for seed cultivation – mini greenhouses) in an open space on your property.
- Enclosed Porch – Enclose a porch and use it as a greenhouse as Rick Austin, the Survivalist Gardener, promotes. You can also grow both native and non-native dwarf fruit trees inside the covert survival greenhouse.
Seed Saving
No matter how productive your small garden is, it only stays productive if you can replant it. Make sure you are growing open-pollinated or heirloom varieties rather than hybrid seeds, because hybrid seeds either won't reproduce true to the parent plant or won't germinate at all from saved seed. Open-pollinated varieties can be saved year after year at no cost, giving you a renewable seed supply that makes you independent from the seed supply chain.
Learn to save seeds from your best-performing plants each season. The largest tomatoes, the most productive bean plants, the squash that survived when others didn't. Store them in a cool, dark, dry location in sealed glass jars with a moisture-absorbing desiccant packet, and label everything clearly with the variety name and the year saved.
Raising Your Own Groceries
Depending upon laws, you can cultivate a sustainable chicken flock and rabbit colony in a small space. Rabbits are far quieter than chickens (alright, than roosters) so you can likely get by with keeping even large amounts of rabbits without attracting unwanted attention or neighbor complaints.
In many small towns and suburbs where keeping chickens is allowed, there are often limits on how many can be kept, and sometimes having even a single rooster is prohibited. Without a rooster, your flock will eventually die off, taking your meat and egg supply with it. Keep as many chickens as allowed by law and preserve the meat and eggs they provide to grow your shelf-stable stockpile of long-term storage food.
Realistically, a typical suburban or small town backyard could house ten chicken and rabbit hutches with three breeding pairs. Because it takes little space and only manual tools to slaughter and butcher either of these types of small survival livestock, you could learn how to do it yourself and process your own meat without attracting unwanted attention.
To keep chicken and rabbits you must have storage space to stockpile a large amount of feed and straw. Consider putting a storage loft in the garage to avoid taking up any ground real estate. Make sure your fencing will keep the small livestock in so they can free range during the SHTF disaster to reduce reliance on your stockpiled grain.
Pygmy goats and Dwarf goats can also be maintained on only a couple of acres or in a well-situated backyard. The goat can be a used for their meat but are best kept, from a survival standpoint, for the milk. They are about as big as a German shepherd and are a lot quieter than a dog.
The goats can eat the grass in your yard to supplement their grain and hay intake. They are browsers and can even find their own food in the winter on low-quality brushland. The goats WILL get into every growing plot accessible to them. Typically both goat breeds are very docile and can even be worked by young children.
A single pair of breeding goats is all you could logically keep in a backyard. You must have a plan for the kids that will be produced, either to butcher them or barter them – unless you can afford to stockpile a tractor-trailer load of hay and grain…and have space to store it.
Small-Space Beekeeping
If your local laws allow, keeping bees is one of the best ways to increase both your food security and your income on a small homestead. A single healthy hive can produce gallons of honey each year along with beeswax for candles and barter.
Bees also improve pollination across your garden, increasing your overall yields. Even one or two hives tucked into a corner of your yard can make a big difference.
Aquaponics and Small-Scale Fish Raising
If you have even a modest outdoor space or a spare room or garage, a small aquaponics system is worth serious consideration. Aquaponics combines fish raising with hydroponic plant growing in a closed-loop system: the fish waste fertilizes the plants, and the plants filter the water for the fish. It is one of the most space-efficient food production methods available, producing both protein and vegetables in a fraction of the footprint a traditional garden requires.
Tilapia are the most common fish for backyard aquaponics systems because they are hardy, grow quickly, and tolerate a wide range of water conditions. Catfish and bluegill are also good options, particularly in warmer climates. A modest system in a 275-gallon IBC tote can produce a meaningful amount of fish protein alongside a continuous supply of leafy greens, herbs, and other vegetables.
Even if you aren't ready to commit to a full aquaponics setup, a simple stock tank or decorative pond stocked with edible fish is a low-maintenance way to add a protein source to a small homestead that doesn't require feed runs to the farm store.
Food Preservation
Although you could build a smokehouse to help preserve the food you are growing and the livestock you are raising, you could also invest in a charcoal smoker and achieve the same results.
You should also invest in a quality home electrical dehydrator, make or buy a solar dehydrator, and stockpile both water bath and pressure canning supplies to ensure you can preserve all the produce, eggs, and meat you are producing.
Beyond smoking and dehydrating, canning is the cornerstone of any serious food preservation plan. A pressure canner is the single most important piece of preservation equipment you can own on a small homestead, because it allows you to safely preserve low-acid foods like meat, beans, broth, and vegetables at shelf-stable temperatures without refrigeration. A water bath canner handles high-acid foods like tomatoes, pickles, and fruit preserves and costs very little.
Fermentation is another preservation method that deserves a place in your plan, particularly because it requires no electricity, no special equipment, and no fuel. A crock of sauerkraut, a jar of fermented pickles, or a batch of homemade vinegar can be produced with nothing more than salt, water, and time. Fermented foods also tend to be more nutritious than their fresh counterparts and can last for months without any refrigeration at all.
Whatever preservation methods you invest in, make sure you have the supplies to actually use them. Stockpile canning jars, lids, and rings well beyond what you think you'll need. Mason jar lids, in particular, are single-use items that disappear from store shelves quickly during any kind of supply disruption.
Alternative Energy
The power grid cannot be counted upon during a long-term disaster of any type. Invest in solar gadgets camping gear to help power your SHTF existence. If you live on rural small acreage, investigate the feasibility of harnessing hydropower from a flowing creek and small-scale wind turbine use, as well.
You can hide many of your solar preps in plain sight. Solar landscaping lights and solar camping fans attach to your porch and will not look out of place even in an upscale suburban environment.
Fireplaces can provide warmth, but not as efficiently as a woodstove. A cast iron wood stove top surface can be used for cooking and can also be retrofitted with a copper coil system that connects to a hot water tank to warm water. This is helpful if you have a well that is not powered by electricity.
An old-fashioned wood cook stove can look attractive in any kitchen and provide not only additional warmth and a top cook surface, but baking and warming space as well.
A compact wood burning stove and oven combo like this one allows you to cook indoors, a huge plus from an OPSEC point of view to help you maintain smell discipline and prevent the smell of a yummy meal from wafting out onto the street.
Purchase a whole-house generator that is multi-fuel based so it can run on diesel and propane in addition to gasoline to enhance fuel stability and longevity. Consider investing in at least one solar generator because they never run out of fuel and run silently. Remember to stockpile repair and replacement parts for the generators and solar panels and consider storing them in a Faraday cage to protect them from an EMP.
Invest in an inexpensive and portable camping style composting commode or convert your existing toilets into residential composting commode systems to create a sanitary way to dispose of disease-spreading human waste.
Tribe Creation
Developing some prepping friends in your neighborhood will help keep your family safe. The fewer people you have to defend your survival homestead against, the better. If you do not live in a rural area, the percentage of neighbors who own guns, hunt, fish, and garden, is likely low.
Begin networking with the folks around you to encourage them to garden, show off your cute goats so maybe they will fall in love with them and begin raising their own milk, too. If there is not a neighborhood watch, start one. Connecting with people around you who are also motivated to protect the area could lead to the development of a civil defense emergency plan.
Skills Are Resources, Too
When you live on a small homestead with limited land and storage space, your most valuable resource isn't what you've stockpiled, it's what you know how to do. Medical knowledge, mechanical skills, the ability to sew and mend, basic veterinary care for your livestock, carpentry, electrical repair and other skills make you an asset to your community and reduce your dependence on outside systems at the same time.
Take stock of the skills your household already has and identify the gaps. Then fill them deliberately, through books, courses, YouTube, and hands-on practice. A bookshelf stocked with reference materials on first aid, edible plants, home repair, and animal husbandry is cheap insurance and takes up very little space. The knowledge those books contain could be worth more than anything else on your property when the grid goes down.
Storage
Finding space to store livestock feed, gardening supplies, and all of your preps can be tough in a municipal setting or even on small acreage. Putting in a basement under both the house and garage, building loft storage in garages and sheds, and using floor-to-ceiling wall cabinets will help you take advantage of every possible inch of usable space on your small scale survival homestead.
Resourcefulness
Homesteading isn’t just about what you can produce on your own property. It’s also about building resilience through your local network. In a suburban or town setting, you might trade eggs for fresh bread with a neighbor, swap rabbit meat for firewood, or join a local food co-op.
Don’t underestimate the resources around you. Scavenging materials from construction sites, repurposing pallets, and joining community seed swaps can stretch your budget and make your small homestead more productive.
Final Thoughts
Homesteading in a small space has its challenges, but the rewards make all the work worth the effort. Getting started can feel overwhelming, but take the time to develop a solid plan that works within your budget and set short-term goals that are feasible to accomplish – starting with water and food security.
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The post How to Homestead on Less Than an Acre appeared first on Homestead Survival Site.
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Funeral Potatoes aka The Best Cheesy Potato Casserole
This is truly the best cheesy potato casserole in the world. It’s at least 50 years old and going strong. In Utah, this recipe is also known as “funeral potatoes.” When we have a funeral in Utah, we typically serve lunch to the deceased’s family. It’s a time to remember the good times with family and friends, with a meal being served to those in attendance.
Funeral Potatoes
I’m usually asked to make my infamous chocolate cake as dessert for those special lunches. In case you missed this post, try this Best Chocolate Cake Ever. Okay, back to the cheesy potatoes. This dish has frozen hash browns, sour cream, butter, shredded cheese, and cream of chicken soup and is topped off with your favorite version of Frosted Flakes.
UPDATE: I tried using Augason Farms Dehydrated Potatoes
This is a great brand; keep in mind these are dehydrated, so they take a very long time to cook. Augason Farms. They say it’s simple: add water and use. It’s not that simple. I had to cook them in my pan for two hours to soften them without making them mushy. Then I tried another batch in my slow cooker, 6 hours on low. They take a LOT of water and a LOT of time to cook them. Please remember they are dehydrated. There is a difference. They worked well for my cheesy potatoes, but be prepared to cook them longer than normal. This is exactly why we need to practice with our food storage. My friend, Lisa, had asked me if I had trouble cooking them. I told her I would test them. She was right; they take forever to cook. So please be prepared.
Funeral potatoes are a beloved comfort food with deep roots in Utah and the Mountain West, closely tied to Latter-day Saint culture and community traditions. The dish earned its name because it was so often prepared by neighbors and church groups to bring to families after a loved one passed away, offering an easy-to-make, hearty meal that could feed a crowd in times of grief. Made with humble pantry staples like potatoes, cheese, and cream of chicken soup, it became a symbol of community support and togetherness, showing up not only at funerals but also at potlucks, holiday dinners, and family gatherings across generations. Today it remains a nostalgic favorite, often called the best cheesy potato casserole for its rich, creamy texture and crispy topping, and it continues to represent the spirit of neighbors caring for neighbors during life’s hardest moments.
I’d be surprised if we all didn’t have our family recipe for cheesy potatoes. Where I live (Utah), we serve these cheesy potatoes not only at funeral lunches but also at church activities, neighborhood parties, family reunions, and regular family meals. They really are yummy and so easy to make, so I decided to show you how to make them today using frozen hash browns and dehydrated potatoes.
Kitchen Items You May Need
My mouth is watering just thinking about these! First, let’s talk about how to prepare your dehydrated potatoes for the recipe.
Ingredients
- Shredded Potatoes: Potatoes are a nightshade vegetable grown for their starchy edible tubers.
- Sour Cream: This 20% fat product adds more flavor to the cheesy potatoes. It is mixed with lactic acid, which creates the sour taste we all love. The acid also helps to thicken the cream.
- Cream of Chicken Soup: This savory, smooth soup is made with chicken stock, seasonings, small pieces of chicken, celery, and cream.
- Butter helps to keep the potatoes from crumbling and prevents the water from evaporating, creating moist, soft, cheesy potatoes.
- Grated Colby Jack Cheese: This is a very smooth, moist, and mild cheese. It is the perfect choice for this cheesy potato casserole because of its melting properties, which help combine all the ingredients.
- Frosted Flakes or Corn Flakes: These are the perfect toppings! Use Frosted Flakes for a sweeter crunch and Corn Flakes for a milder yet savory crunch. You are also welcome to use a cracker of choice or other topping.
The Best Cheesy Potato Casserole Recipe
Step One: Gather the Ingredients – Preheat Oven
Preheat the oven to 350°F (176°C). Gather all of the ingredients and prepare to make the recipe.
Step Two: Crush the Frosted Flakes
Crush the Frosted Flakes in a bag. Note that you can use another cereal or even your favorite cracker you feel would be a good fit flavor-wise. You may be wondering why I use Frosted Flakes. I get it. One day, many years ago, we were out of cornflakes and crackers. The only cereal we had was Frosted Flakes. So we crushed the yummy cereal, and now we only use them. I’ve heard from readers that they like crushed potato chips, too. The topping you add could be made from dozens of crunchy things you like.
Step Three: Combine the Ingredients
Combine all ingredients in a large bowl and sprinkle with salt and pepper.
Step Four: Stir Until Smooth
Stir the ingredients until smooth.
Step Five: Scoop the Mixture Into The Pan
Grease a nine by 13-inch pan with cooking spray and scoop the mixture into the pan or baking dish.
Stir Six: Bake as Directed
I crush the Frosted Flakes and sprinkle them over the casserole. Bake at 350°F (176°C), covered with foil, for 1 hour or until bubbly.
Finished Product
Whether you use frozen hash browns or dehydrated potatoes from your pantry or the store, this recipe will prove you’ll grow to love and serve it. When our extended family visits, there are two recipes I always have to make: these cheesy potatoes and cream-chipped beef on toast. I used to think they came to see their grandma, but now I wonder if it isn’t so they can enjoy my meals!
The Best Cheesy Potato Casserole Recipe
The Best Cheesy Potato Casserole Recipe
Servings 8 people
Ingredients
- 12 cooked and shredded potatoes or 30 or 32-ounce bag of frozen hash browns
- 1 pint Sour Cream
- 2 cans Cream of Chicken Soup
- 1/4 cup Butter, melted
- 2-3 cups Cheese-shredded
- 1 cup crushed Frosted Flakes type cereal or plain corn flakes
Instructions
- Gather all of your ingredients. Preheat your oven to 350°F (176°C).
- Crush the Frosted Flakes in a bag. Note: You are welcome to use another cereal or favorite cracker, if desired, in place of the Frosted Flakes. The Frosted Flakes give the casserole a sweet flavored topping that is delicious and pairs well with the other ingredients.
- Combine all of the ingredients in a large bowl, and sprinkle with salt and pepper. (Except for the Frosted Flakes and butter, set them aside).
- Stir the ingredients until smooth.
- Grease a 9 by 13-inch pan with cooking spray and scoop the mixture into the pan or casserole dish.
- Bake at 350°F (176°C), covered with aluminum foil, for 1 hour, or until bubbly.
Frosted Flakes Topping
- Combine the melted butter and crushed Frosted Flakes, you will sprinkle these on the casserole before baking or add them to the baked casserole, for the last 15 minutes of baking.
How do I store the leftovers after baking them?
In the refrigerator, I store them in an airtight Tupperware-type container for 2-3 days.
Can I freeze the leftovers?
The nice thing about this recipe is that it does make a lot. Our family usually finishes the recipe, but if you have leftovers, place them in an airtight container for freezer storage. They will be suitable for 2-3 months. Thaw them in the refrigerator, and bake them covered as directed to heat them through.
Can I use a different cheese?
Yes, I have used plain cheddar cheese, Mozzarella cheese, Monterey Jack cheese, and even spicy Jack cheese once. For the spicy Jack cheese, I had to grate it by hand. It was delicious! I know people who use Swiss cheese in this recipe. You could also sprinkle Parmesan cheese over the top for a cheesy crust.
For a bolder flavor, you could add different types of cheese, such as smoked Gouda or sharp cheddar. This recipe is so versatile.
Can I use a different shape of potatoes?
I have also used the small 1/2-inch frozen potatoes. Any shape works. Most people in Utah use shredded hash browns. When I was younger, I boiled potatoes; now, I buy them frozen and shredded.
What type of potatoes should I use for this recipe?
You can use any potato you prefer, but russet potatoes work best because they are fluffy when cooked.
Are there any variations that could be made to this recipe?
I love the recipe as is! But if you want to add additional ingredients or make variations, I recommend one of the following.
- Substitute the traditional potatoes for sweet potatoes for a sweeter taste.
- Top with crushed Cornflakes, Ritz crackers, or breadcrumbs.
- Use cream of mushroom soup or celery soup instead of chicken soup.
- Add diced jalapeños for a spicy kick.
- Add cooked bacon or ham for added flavor and protein.
- Top the casserole with crispy bacon pieces for an added crunch.
- Add a pinch of nutmeg, paprika, or thyme for an added depth of flavor.
- You could add some minced garlic to the melted butter.
- Melt some Velveta cheese to make a creamy sauce instead of the shredded cheese.
The options are endless!
Is this cheesy potato casserole gluten-free?
This recipe’s Frosted Flakes or Cornflake topping is most likely NOT gluten-free. If this is a concern in your family, I recommend eliminating the cereal topping or using a cereal or cracker that is certified gluten-free. As with any food allergy, I highly recommend reviewing the ingredients on any product you use in this recipe, or on any other packaging, if you decide to add or substitute any additional ingredients.
What can I serve with these cheesy potatoes?
- Chicken
- Roast Beef
- Sloppy Joes
- Hot Dogs
- BBQ Hamburgers
- Chicken Nuggets
How To Use Dehydrated Potatoes For Cheesy Potatoes:
All you do is open a container or package of dehydrated potatoes, no slicing or peeling, and let them sit in water, covered, for about 45 minutes. Then drain them; they are ready to use. Just reconstitute the dehydrated ones as directed on the container, and you’re ready to go.
I promise your cheesy potato casserole will be consumed at your next get-together! Although not listed as an ingredient, you can sprinkle a little green onion on top for extra flavor. This is a tasty recipe with the potatoes, soup, Frosted Flakes, and other ingredients listed below. Sometimes, I’m tempted to serve it on its own, without any meat, especially when I’m serving it to friends who lean toward vegetarian meals.
Potatoes tend to make you feel full, and with the cheese and other ingredients included, you have a meal that most family members will ask for again and again. We’ve also made these in a series of pans and frozen some for future meals.
You can take them out of the freezer the night before serving them. Let the ingredients defrost, then place the covered pan in the oven. Be ready to pass out the recipe.
You’ll note that the recipe for frozen hash browns is the same as the dehydrated version, with no rehydration steps, so it’s just a matter of thawing the frozen potatoes.
Final Word
Let me know if you decide to make this the best cheesy potato casserole recipe! It is the perfect side dish for family gatherings or special occasions. We love to serve it for Easter or Christmas dinner. It is always a hit with any crowd!
It’s funny how certain foods can be associated with an ethnic group or location, to the point that they are called “signature foods.” Examples might include Chicago or New York pizza, Philly cheesesteak sandwiches, and San Francisco’s famous sourdough bread. I’m unaware of another place where people will likely make this cheesy potato recipe, like Utah. Utah also became renowned for its green jello with carrots during the 2002 Olympics.
Let’s serve this at your next company party, neighborhood dinner, or family reunion. You’ll get rave reviews and have a new “family favorite” you can serve anytime. Let me know how your hungry guests received it. May God bless this world. Linda
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How to Use Dehydrated Eggs: Reconstituting, Cooking, and Baking with Powdered Eggs
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