Potatoes will keep fresh ‘for three times as long’ if stored in correct place

TikTok user asks viewers if potatoes belong in the fridge

Potatoes are a much-loved food, especially at this time of the year when people will be making hearty and rich comfort food to warm themselves up this winter.

As the holiday season approaches, many people will be looking to save some money wherever they can, and one easy way to save on your food shopping is to know the correct place to store their root vegetables. 

It was previously thought that storing potatoes in a dark, dry and cool spot, such as a cupboard, was the best place to keep spuds to keep them lasting longer, but experts have now claimed otherwise.

Love Food Hate Waste, an environmental organisation campaigning against food waste has revealed that the updated guidance from the Food Standards Agency (FSA) has changed to say that potatoes should always be stored in the fridge at below five celsius degrees.

They wrote: “Doing so keeps them fresh for three times as long, so you’ll have lots more time to cook up something delicious with them.”

How should you store potatoes? 

According to Love Food Hare Wate, the old guidance laid out concerns over the possible formation of more sugars when potatoes were kept in the fridge and were concerned about acrylamide levels of potatoes, which can rise when starchy food is stored in cold temperatures and then cooked at high temperatures.

On their government’s food hygiene website , they wrote: “Laboratory tests show that acrylamide in the diet causes cancer in animals. Scientists agree that acrylamide in food has the potential to cause cancer in humans as well.”

However, it has been reported that storing potatoes in the fridge does not raise acrylamide levels.

Love Food Hate Waste wrote: “Extensive, peer-reviewed scientific research has now shown that storing your spuds in the fridge doesn’t actually increase acrylamide potential compared with storing them in a cupboard at room temperature.

“The research has been overseen by the Committee on the Toxicity of Chemicals in Food, Consumer Products and the Environment (COT) and reviewed by the FSA, so you can be confident in its findings.”

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Other tips for keeping potatoes lasting longer

You can store potatoes in the fridge with no issue and will in fact help them last much longer than keeping them stored at room temperature.

However, if you wish to save more money this winter, then Love Food Hate Waste has said you should always consider buying loose individual potatoes at the supermarket rather than prepacked ones so that you are only buying what you need.

Once potatoes have come to grow sprouts, Love Food Hate Waste also recommends simply rubbing the beginner shoots off as they will still be fine to cook with. They wrote: “They’re still good to eat if they’ve started sprouting, as long as you remove the shoots first!”

Leaving the skin on potatoes, which is their protective layer, will also help make them last longer while also being more nutritious. Love Food Hate Waste wrote: “Everything you can make with peeled potatoes you can make with skin-on potatoes – even mash! – providing you clean them thoroughly first.”

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