How far ahead can you mash potatoes and store themtoes?

Answer 1

Unfortunately, the smaller food pieces are, the faster they can go bad. This is especially true of mashed potatoes, which because they are mashed, have a lot of surface area to accelerate the aging process, and which don't freeze well. As long as you have a decently cold refrigerator, and you are good about putting the potatoes away right after they've cooled, they should be pretty good for a couple of days, but after that, its a race against time. If you use salted butter and add salt to the potatoes, that should help preserve them a little bit, but the minute you see them changing colors, a slightly grey or brown appearance, or any off smell, they should be thrown out.

If I were serving them to guests, I wouldn't make them more than a day in advance, personally.