Store bought potatoes in plastic sacks question (re: storage)?

[nao57]

So... when I go to the store and get potatoes. I'm seeing them pretty damaged with a lot of moisture in the plastic sacks. You can see this. And often the potatoes are already starting to have a few of them rotted in the bags in the store. Its not all of them though, but maybe 2 or 3, or sometimes 4 in a bag. And the others aren't rotted but are WET and stressed already.

I wanted to ask about storing these? How much can you reverse that if you convert them to a soil or cellar storage method with dirt, straw, or other roughage that's dry if you convert them right away? And how much of that is permanent damage?

I guess this could vary. But it has to be asked. I suspect many of you may also be doing this kind of storage in the near future. We're seeing the day where stores aren't always reliable. Even when they are reliable to have the products, and materials their greed and lack of humanity towards the common people makes them unreliable in other ways.

Well. Thanks.

 

[HollowOfWisps]

Once they get exposed to that moisture particularly the goo from other rotted potatoes and any mold spores they start to decay. When I harvest my potatoes every fall I only store firm potatoes with no skin damage or signs of disease/decay in my long term storage crates. Any imperfect or suspicious potatoes get put in my pantry crate where they get consumed first. Potatoes are like apples one bad one will start to spoil the lot.

 

[Sally PB]

If I bought a bag of potatoes that had some "starting to go," (and I couldn't return them) I would open the bag and check all the potatoes.

1. Get another clean, dry bag.
2. Dry and sort the potatoes.
3. Good, unblemished potatoes go in the new bag.
4. Potatoes with slight blemishes get set aside.
5. Anything really icky gets tossed into the compost bin.
6. Anything with something salvageable gets the good part cut out and the rest tossed into the compost.
7. Potatoes from #6 are cooked and eaten that day.
8. Potatoes from #4 are put on the menu within the next couple of days.

 

[nao57]

If I bought a bag of potatoes that had some "starting to go," (and I couldn't return them) I would open the bag and check all the potatoes.

1. Get another clean, dry bag.
2. Dry and sort the potatoes.
3. Good, unblemished potatoes go in the new bag.
4. Potatoes with slight blemishes get set aside.
5. Anything really icky gets tossed into the compost bin.
6. Anything with something salvageable gets the good part cut out and the rest tossed into the compost.
7. Potatoes from #6 are cooked and eaten that day.
8. Potatoes from #4 are put on the menu within the next couple of days.

Thanks Sally and Hollow!

 

[BigBlueHen53]

I read recently that the best way to store potatoes is in a cool, dry place in a paper bag. What do you guys think of this? Definitely not plastic though!

 

[Chubbicthe2nd]

I read recently that the best way to store potatoes is in a cool, dry place in a paper bag. What do you guys think of this? Definitely not plastic though!

Yes, my grandmother always stored potatoes from the store in a paper bag.

The first thing we did when we got back from shopping was to open the bag take out all the potatoes, dry them with a paper towel, and then put them in a large paper bag and store them somewhere cool and dark.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

Yes, my grandmother always stored potatoes from the store in a paper bag.

The first thing we did when we got back from shopping was to open the bag take out all the potatoes, dry them with a paper towel, and then put them in a large paper bag and store them somewhere cool and dark.

Did they last longer? (Silly question, longer than what?)

 

[Chubbicthe2nd]

Did they last longer? (Silly question, longer than what?)

Definitely. I don't think we ever had one go bad this way, but we probably did eat them up in a month or so. Might have been closer to 2 months in the winter, but then it's drier then. Also we didn't keep our heat very high (68-72 F). One winter she stored them on the porch, she put the paper bag inside a box and then put it close to the house which was leaking a decent amount of heat. This was in Pennsylvania, but in the city where it doesn't get as cold. I was skeptical they would be okay with the temperature but they seemed to be. I don't know if we just got lucky though. I also don't know if she did this regularly, I only lived with her that one year

For what it's worth, she did the same thing with all the vegetables that go in the fridge too, just with smaller paper bags: as soon as we got back from the store she would take them out of their plastic bags, wash them and dry them thoroughly with cloth or paper towels, let them air dry a little more on the counter for another hour, and then put them in smaller paper bags and put them in the fridge.