The Trash Can Trick That'll Keep Your Potatoes Fresh

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Potatoes are one of the most versatile foods on earth and they can be grown just about anywhere. Because of their eagerness to grow in such a variety of climates, they're also quite willing to sprout in your pantry or refrigerator. While it's okay to cook with sprouted spuds, that doesn't mean they'll taste good, so avoiding growthy potatoes should be your goal. They can also rot if left sitting too long and the smell is absolutely unbearable. So, what's a potato-lover to do? Why, store those potatoes in a trash can, of course.

Now, before you go tossing out all your potatoes day one, let's clarify something; you should be storing potatoes in a wire mesh trash can, the kind you can get at an office supply store. Simply place your tubers in the mesh basket in a cool, dark area. If you store potatoes this way, they'll stay fresh much longer than inside the bag you purchased them in or when placed on the counter. Best case scenario, the potatoes will last for six months. Just keep an eye open for any signs of mold, softening, or wrinkling and quickly remove any bad ones from the wire trash can.

Best of all, wire mesh trash cans tend to be inexpensive. When it comes to storage tips that will help you keep your taters longer, heed this advice and take a trip to your local home supply store. You may even be able to find smaller mesh trash cans at dollar stores if you are short on storage space.

If you're thinking this might be a way to end up with a smelly trash can that's a problem for your whole kitchen, that couldn't be farther from the truth. This trick allows two things to happen that are absolutely vital to potato longevity. For one thing, the mesh allows constant airflow. A breathable storage option has been shown to allow potatoes to respire, which means they can release carbon dioxide. If they don't respire, they go bad quickly, getting mushy and reeking of rot. You want the respiring process to be slow, though, so keeping potatoes in dark, chilly environments such as a cellar is ideal.

Secondly, potatoes prefer things dry. The open design of the trash can stops moisture from building up around the tubers. Damp potatoes spoil more easily, as do most root vegetables. This is the same reason why you shouldn't wash your potatoes before storage and why you shouldn't store your spuds in a humid area.

On another scientific front, although this storage method works with numerous root vegetables, you absolutely should not store onions and potatoes together in the mesh bin. If you put potatoes near onions (or fruit), they are likely to sprout much earlier than desired. This happens because fruits and onions produce ethylene gas, which triggers the potato's ability to mature. Even if you eat the potatoes before they sprout, they are still likely to taste off if stored with onions, so keep them separate. Darkness, coldness, isolation, and a wire trash bin are a potato's best friends and the perfect recipe for long-lasting spuds.