Potatoes store best somewhere cool, dark, dry, frost-free and well ventilated.
For home-grown potatoes, let them dry for a few hours after lifting, brush off loose soil rather than washing them, and remove any damaged or rotten tubers. Store the sound potatoes in paper or hessian sacks, cardboard boxes or ventilated trays.
How to Store Potatoes from the Allotment or Garden
If possible, lift potatoes on a reasonably dry day and handle them carefully to avoid cuts and bruising.
In dry weather, leave them on the surface for a few hours so the skins can dry, then brush away loose soil. Don’t wash potatoes before putting them into storage — wash them when you’re ready to use them instead.
Before storing your crop:
- Remove any rotten or mouldy potatoes
- Set aside badly cut or bruised tubers
- Remove potatoes with serious pest damage
- Don’t store extensively green potatoes
Keep the best, undamaged potatoes for long-term storage and use any slightly marked ones first.
Maincrop varieties are the better choice for storing through winter. First and second earlies generally don’t keep as well and are best eaten sooner.
Where Is the Best Place to Store Potatoes?
The conditions matter more than the room itself.
Good options in a UK home can include:
- A garage
- A brick outhouse
- A cellar
- A cool cupboard
- A suitable shed
Whichever you use, the potatoes need to stay cool, dark, dry and protected from frost.
A shed that becomes very hot in late summer isn’t suitable, while an unprotected garage can become too cold during a hard frost.
Light is particularly important to avoid because it causes potatoes to turn green. If you’re using a shed or garage, remember that mice and other rodents may also find stored potatoes.
What Should You Store Potatoes In?
You don’t need specialist potato-storage equipment.
Good options include:
- Paper sacks – breathable and good at excluding light
- Hessian sacks – well ventilated, but still need to be kept somewhere dark
- Cardboard boxes – cheap, simple and perfectly suitable
- Ventilated trays or crates – useful because the potatoes are easy to inspect
Avoid sealed plastic bags and airtight tubs, which can trap moisture. Ventilated crates are fine as long as the potatoes are also kept dark.
For a larger allotment harvest, shallow boxes or trays have one advantage: it’s easier to spot a potato beginning to rot before it affects others around it.
How Long Can You Store Potatoes?
Sound maincrop potatoes can usually be stored for several months under suitable conditions.
There isn’t a useful exact storage life because variety, maturity, damage and storage conditions all make a difference.
Check stored potatoes every few weeks and remove anything beginning to rot or break down.
As winter progresses towards spring, it is normal for stored potatoes to start shrivelling and producing shoots.
Can You Store Potatoes in the Fridge?
Yes.
Older UK advice warned against refrigerating raw potatoes because of acrylamide concerns, but current Food Standards Agency guidance no longer advises avoiding domestic fridge storage for this reason.
A fridge can therefore be useful for storing a relatively small quantity of potatoes.
For a large allotment harvest, however, a suitable garage, outhouse or other cool storage area is usually much more practical.
Sprouting, Green or Rotten Potatoes
Stored potatoes naturally change as they age, and a few sprouts don’t automatically mean they need throwing away.
- Sprouting: Small sprouts can be removed before cooking if the potato is otherwise firm and sound.
- Green potatoes: Small isolated green areas can be cut away generously. If a potato is extensively green, discard it.
- Rot or mould: Throw affected potatoes away and remove them from the storage container promptly.
- Shrivelling: Some wrinkling is normal as potatoes lose moisture during storage. If the potato is otherwise sound, this is mainly a quality issue rather than automatically meaning it is spoiled.
FAQs
No. Let home-grown potatoes dry after lifting and brush away loose soil. Washing adds unnecessary moisture, so it is better to wash them when you’re ready to cook them.
Yes. Cardboard boxes work well as long as the potatoes are dry, have some ventilation and are kept somewhere dark.
You don’t need to buy purpose-made potato sacks.
Yes, provided the shed stays cool, dry, dark and frost-free.
Be careful with sheds that become very hot during sunny weather or very cold during winter.
Potatoes can sometimes be left in well-drained soil for a while after they mature, but I wouldn’t rely on this for long-term winter storage.
Wet ground, slugs, wireworms, and frost can all damage potatoes left in the soil. For dependable storage, lift the crop and keep it somewhere protected.
