Potatoes will stay fresh four weeks longer if stored in unexpected kitchen spot
Potatoes will keep much longer if stored in an unexpected kitchen place
When it comes to making dinner, there’s not much worse than opening up the cupboards at the end of a long day with an ideal dinner in mind and finding your bumper batch of potatoes have turned into a tuber root-ridden mess.
It’s often been said that potatoes can’t be put in the fridge. People will tell you things like ‘activating the starch’ and damaging the vitamin contents or that spuds might even release a harmful chemical if kept too cold.
But this week it’s been revealed by food waste experts at the Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP) that actually, the fridge is the best place for them and concerns about chemicals have been found to be untrue in studies.
Normally potatoes only keep for one to two weeks in cupboards but in the fridge, this is said to be three times longer, meaning two weeks turns into six weeks, four weeks longer.
Money saving and now produce saving expert Martin Lewis revealed the tip on his BBC Sounds The Martin Lewis Money podcast, where he took his listeners through a list of items that can and can’t go in the fridge.
Bananas are a no-no and shouldn’t be kept in the fridge, but eggs, oranges and potatoes should.
Martin Lewis said: “Stop food waste day. I often talk to you about best befores as just the shop’s view of when the optimum quality is, you can eat beyond the best before no problem at all, just smell it and look at it.
“Use bys though, you need to take care of. They are a health warning.
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“But interestingly the waste and resources action programme, WRAP, which knows its onions when it comes to food waste, gives this advice when it comes to storing different foods to keep them fresh as long as possible. So this I’m calling under the subtext: should you keep your bananas in the fridge?!
“What it says should go in the fridge: Eggs, oranges, potatoes and most other fruit and vegetables. What it says shouldn’t go in the fridge: bananas, they should be stored in a cool place in the cupboard or on the side.
“Onions, store in a cool, dark dry place ideally in a cloth bag. Only chopped onions and spring onions should be stored in the fridge.
“Pineapples: store in a cool dry place but move to the fridge once cut up. And bread: store in a fairly cool, dark dry place e.g. a breadbin or cupboard in the original packaging if possible.”
