Storing food can be more challenging than you might think. Some food items do not get along well with others, and there can be issues related to smell or taste being impacted negatively when you store the wrong items together, even in the fridge or the freezer.
You might have been wondering if you can store potatoes and onions in the same container and keep them both fresh and tasty. These are common ingredients in many recipes, and you might need both for your next cooking adventure.
Potatoes and onions should actually be stored away from one another. There are various reasons for this, but first and foremost, you should separate them because they can make each other go bad more quickly.
This is even true of raw potatoes and onions, and you will need to keep your onion and potatoes away from each other, even in your pantry.
If you want to learn more about whether or not you can store onions and potatoes together, you need to keep reading.
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Can I Store Onions and Potatoes in the Same Space?
The short answer to this is no. You should not store potatoes and onions, even when whole, in the same space. This is because the onions emit ethylene gas as they age, which can cause vegetables near them to spoil rapidly.
This is also true of garlic, and it can cause the same poor outcomes for other items that are stored near it in a pantry or cupboard.
Potatoes should be stored in cool and dark places in the right kind of bag or loose on a shelf. You want to keep them from sprouting, so heat and moisture are a no-go for this storage need.
Crates and cardboard boxes also work just fine for potato storage if you are trying to figure out a better option than just having them loose on the shelf or wrapped up in a bag.
Onions need to be stored in a well-ventilated space in the right kind of container as well. You will want to keep them on the countertop away from the light and heat if you cannot store them far away from your other vegetables.
If you have a dark and cool cupboard or storage space that is not used for other vegetable storage, this can be the right choice for your onion storage needs.
Onions that are stored correctly can last for up to six months with ease. Potatoes will not keep as long and will likely only last for about a month when stored correctly.
Can I Store Cooked Onions and Potatoes Together?
When you cook these two vegetables, the texture and condition of each of them can change. You might find that you can store these two items together for a couple of days in the fridge, but that will be the limit of your storage time for cooked onions under any circumstances.
You might find that storing onion and potato together even when cooked is only a good idea for about a day.
Onion can still break down your potatoes, even when they have been cooked and stored correctly in the fridge or freezer.
You will always need to be aware that combining these two vegetables will lead to reduced shelf life for both of them.
Potatoes and onions just do not mix well when storage is your goal. You will need to keep this in mind no matter whether you are storing them both raw or cooked.
How Can I Tell if My Onions and Potatoes Have Gone Bad?
The easiest way to tell if your raw onion has gone bad is to test its texture of it. Squishy spots, browning to the skin, mold, or a lack of flavor can mean that your onion is not good to use anymore.
Potatoes will grow eyes, get soft, or even look bruised and brown when they have gone bad before being cooked.
If you have cooked these vegetables and think they might have gone bad, you will want to smell them to see if they still smell all right.
You should check texture as well. Softening of the vegetable and a discolored appearance can indicate that your cooked vegetables have gone bad.
Even if you have placed your onion and potatoes in the fridge, they can still go bad, and you need to be prepared to pass on eating an either vegetable that has been in storage in your fridge for more than a couple of days.
At best, these two vegetables will not taste good anymore, and at worst, they can make you sick when they have spoiled in the fridge.
Making sure that you test your onion and potatoes that have been stored together before eating them is always a good idea. You should consider carefully where to place your raw onion and potatoes in your kitchen so that they do not go bad.
Having the right storage solutions in place will prevent food waste and vegetables that are not ready to be cooked when you need them.
Storing Onions and Potatoes Together is a Bad Idea
If you are storing raw onions and potatoes near one another, you will find that neither of them will last as long as they should.
Onion can be the reason that all of your vegetables are breaking down too rapidly, and you will want to consider using a proper onion storage container and keeping these vegetables away from other vegetables that you are keeping to cook with later.
Potatoes can get along with other vegetables in your pantry with ease, but they are particularly susceptible to the effects of an onion.
Make sure that you are not wasting all of the potatoes that you have in storage because you have placed them too close to the onions that you are saving for other recipes.
Onions are easy to store long-term, but they can be hard on your other vegetables when they are stored too close to them.
I am Brianna, a self-published author with a passion for sharing my knowledge and expertise on various topics with people looking to find the perfect items for their needs. I love ensuring that the right informative content is available to people looking for the right information. I am an avid horseback rider and reader when I am not writing.
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