whitbyjet
I'm on your side on this one...
I've not had dried mashed potato since the 70's when my mother brought it for out camping holiday, it was that disgusting the only way of making it palatable was adding Salad Cream into it! Ended up us doing a deal with mum, that we would sit and peel potatoes ourselves rather than face packet mash potato!
Me if I'm going to have mash potatoes for tea, not that often It's done with real butter, milk and a dash of cream, and if I'm doing a something like a shepherd pie, then I use a egg yolk....
A good way of thickening up sauces/casseroles if you don't want to use Bistol, without adding too much carbs, is cornflower!