Hungry Jack brand has a 8 oz carton size of these that can be found at many grocery stores. They run about a buck and a quarter a pop. Great for camping or for short to intermediate term storage!
Both plain and cheese flavored are common.

All of the above methods will work. At least the ones I read look fine. If you want to add a little gourmet flavor to them add some garlic powder and a tiny bit of tumeric. It will add more flavor to your browns.

I know, I'm bringing this one back from the dead.... but I'm confused. Why is this becoming so complicated? Water, sugar, drying, refrigerating....

Heat a cast iron griddle with oil.

Grate potato directly onto griddle.

Leave it alone.

When the bottom is nice and brown, flip it.

When both sides are brown, serve.

You can do the same thing with Russets, reds, Yukons, and even sweet potatos. The cook times are different, and I season them differently (try sweet potatos with a little onion grated in, some cheese on top with a side of duck eggs...) , but the technique is the same. You just need to play with your temperatures and make sure the cast iron is seasoned correctly. You don't have to cook them very hot, and they won't be done in microwave time, but it is worth it.

After my family got addicted to hash browns, "forcing" me to make them 2 or three times a week, I have lost any desire to ever again experience a dehydrated, frozen, tasteless white pile of shredded potato remains.

Remember the KISS method. Restaurants use the boxed and frozen stuff to be able to get it onto a customer's plate quickly without using too much grill space or labor time. It is about the bottom line. The good stuff is fresh, and the fresher the better. There isn't much in the world like eating hash browns made with a potato that was unearthed that morning, accompanied by homegrown garlic chives and a couple of eggs that were laid the night before.

I made a Spanish tortilla today from dehydrated potatoes because of this thread.  I tried with fresh potatoes (made a thread about it a month or so ago) but had trouble flipping it because of the portions, it was just too large to pull off.  This time I tried it with 1/2 cup fried hash browns and 2 eggs, and it was easy to flip and delicious.
 

now I want to have breakfast for dinner.

I feel your pain. Im forced to make bacon, eggs and hash browns at least once a weekend. Sometimes I get to skate when mom makes her hippy waffles instead.

I agree there isn't a lot of science to making hash browns, but one thing I have discovered is that once potatoes have been shredded in mass they come out in a liquidy pile. Lot of water in potatoes, remove it and they fry better. Kind of how a dry aged steak cooks better. My routine is pretty simple: shred 6-8 potatoes in the food processor, dump onto paper towels and soak all the water out. Transfer dry potatoes to a bowl and throw away soggy paper towels. Pre-butter pan on med and spread potatoes evenly and not to deep covering the whole bottom of the pan. Once the first side turns brown flip till the other side turns brown. Done.

The water being removed means they fry in the pan instead of boil.

The way I've figured to do them is thus....



Grate a potato at a time onto a plate. Lightly salt to start drawing the water out.



Transfer to a mesh strainer. Do some onion the same way.

I usually do 2 or 3 potatoes. lightly salting each one.



Allow them to drain in the strainer while you do other things. Like make biscuits. :)



Agitate the strainer once in awhile to get max water out.



Medium high heat in a cast iron skillet with olive oil, butter mix.



No complaints.

We use olive oil and some bacon grease. diced onions or shallots, & diced garlic, toss in chili of choice then cook away.

I've never had success with making raw potatoes into hash browns, but if I take left over baked potatoes a day or two later, and then grate them up and fry them up in the skillet with just some butter, salt, and pepper, they turn out delicious.

I tried the frozen hash browns from the store and cook them on a pizza stone.
Unfortunately most of the serving is still mushy.

Should they be cooked in a iron skillet or maybe should I be flattening them out on the stone?
Usually they are just dumped on.

The wife and kids like theirs with ketchup. I like a few fried eggs (medium/over easy) on top of mine.

Weirdest thing I've ever seen is a dude at work likes his with A1 steak sauce

Using baked potatoes have been the best way for me to make hash browned. That said the hungry jack box is a good product to have in the cabinet when you don't have time to mess around or the urge hits you. I stopped cutting potatoes into cubes to make fried tater & onions, I now cut length ways & they turn out browned & cooked more evenly. I have never had any luck using fresh & id bet its the starch in them & not the moisture that turns them ugly & not very tasty. Dehydrated gets a lot of water added back to them so the only thing different from fresh would not be the water.

Your doing it wrong then.

This

I like to take the potatoes left over from a mudbug boil and the next morning make hash browns with my mudbug omelets.
Chop up potatoes and cook in hot butter/oil cast iron pan. Or if you want cook about a good lb of small potatoes cut in half in 2 quarts
boiling water season with a teaspoon of liquid seafood boil with 1 tablespoon of koshler salt, plus a dash of cyanne pepper and a splash
of lemon juice. Boil till taters are about cooked then let soak for 1/2 hr.  Drain good and let sit over night. Then cook as above. Coonass
seasoning to  taste.