I've gotten pretty good at making a hashbrown in about 7 minutes in the morning.

You grate the potato on a box grater, squeeze out whatever water you can, spread it over a plate, microwave it for 2 minutes with a paper towel over it, then pan fry for about 2 min on each side.

Preshredding does take out a part of that work, but it doesn't seem worth it for the amount of potato I eat. I'm not feeding a family, though.

I wonder if you could get a good crisp out of the bagged shreds by similarly microwaving them. This part removes moisture and par-cooking them brings out their starches, which is what you need for a crispy hash brown.