Food and Recipes Veggies Potatoes How To Store Potatoes So They Don't Go Bad You will never go hungry as long as there are potatoes in the pantry. By Patricia S York Patricia S York Patricia was the assistant food editor at Southern Living and worked with the Southern Living food team from 2006-2022. She contributed to articles about food, gardening, and pets. Southern Living's editorial guidelines Updated on January 6, 2023 Medically reviewed by Jerlyn Jones, MS, MPA, RDN, LD, CLT Fact checked by Jillian Dara Fact checked by Jillian Dara Jillian is a freelance writer, editor and fact-checker with 10 years of editorial experience in the lifestyle genre. In addition to fact-checking for Southern Living, Jillian works on multiple verticals across Dotdash-Meredith, including TripSavvy, The Spruce, and Travel + Leisure. brand's fact checking process Share Tweet Pin Email This seemingly bland and inexpensive starchy vegetable can be cooked any way you can imagine – boiled, broiled, baked, or fried, and served up in breakfast casseroles, side dishes, and even loaves of light and airy potato bread. Learn how to store potatoes correctly so you don't wind up tossing valuable food in the compost pile. Adam Gault/Getty Images Give Them Proper Air Flow If you buy a pre-packaged bag of potatoes, the plastic bag should already have air holes. You can keep the potatoes in this bag, just make sure not to seal it too tightly. If you purchased just a few loose potatoes, transfer them to a cardboard box, basket, mesh bag, paper bag, or another well-ventilated container. Potatoes release carbon dioxide and water in the form of a vapor, so a tightly sealed bag will get damp without proper ventilation. Before putting them away for storage, inspect all the potatoes for soft spots, sprouts, mold, or shovel damage. Cut away any damaged areas and use those potatoes immediately. Only perfect potatoes will keep well in long-term storage. Keep Them Out of Sunlight Potatoes should not be kept out in the open on your countertop. Potatoes are plants and, when exposed to sunlight, they begin to produce chlorophyll, turn green, and eventually wrinkle and rot. Keep Them Away from Moisture You do know how potatoes grow, don't you? In the dark, moist ground. So, if you store potatoes in a dark, moist environment, such as underneath your sink, they will continue to grow and sprout. Keep Potatoes in a Cool and Dry Environment As previously explained, potatoes should be placed in a cardboard box, mesh bag, or basket to ensure good ventilation. Store your potatoes in a cool, dark place (45 to 50 F is the ideal temperature range), such as your pantry or unheated basement. Do not store them on top of your refrigerator or next to your stove, as both spots emit heat. And never store potatoes in the refrigerator – the cold temperature turns the potato starch into sugar. Separate Fruits and Veggies Fruits and vegetables should not be stored together, adds Jerlyn Jones, a registered dietitian nutritionist based in Atlanta. "For example, she says, apples and potatoes stored together produce ethylene gas, which make both apples and potatoes rot." Was this page helpful? Thanks for your feedback! Tell us why! Other Submit Sources Southern Living is committed to using high-quality, reputable sources to support the facts in our articles. Read our editorial guidelines to learn more about how we fact check our content for accuracy. Wheeler RM, Fitzpatrick AH, Tibbitts TW. Potatoes as a crop for space life support: effect of CO2, irradiance, and photoperiod on leaf photosynthesis and stomatal conductance. Front Plant Sci. 2019;10:1632. doi:10.3389/fpls.2019.01632 Cornell Cooperative Extension of Chemung County. Storage Guidelines for Fruits & Vegetables. Accessed March 10, 2013.