Sweet potatoes beginning to rot.

I bought mine from Costco - they were in a box and are fine. I think when they’re sold in plastic bags they can sweat a bit - or maybe it’s condensation from the cold stores? I’ve noticed this can happen with bagged potatoes too.

I wonder if they got frozen at all in the very cold weather?

We bought two bags of potatoes from M&S not long ago and they were dreadful, squishy in parts and black when peeled. I took them back and they changed them, no problem, the replacement bags are fine.

What I’m sick of is normal potatoes that sprout within days. I usually plant them in the garden and harvest them later but there are so many now I cannot keep up.

Yes, I got a bag of Anya potatoes last week (not cheap) and they had sprouted by the next day. I was not amused.

Sweet potatoes have been ok, but I always remove veg from plastic bags as soon as I unpack them.

We remove all veg from plastic as soon as we get home. We buy paper sacks intended for the council issued waste food caddy. These are brilliant for storing any veg, especially outside in a shed or garage (no garage here, but plenty of shed space) Veg that is kept cool and dry seems to last well, as long as it's in tiptop condition to start with.
I sometimes buy sweet potatoes from M&S, the skins are always 'cleaner' for when I want a baked sweet potato in its skin. For ones that will be peeled any supermarket ones will do.
I think potatoes of any variety seem to be so varied. Some you buy last for ages, others are spoiling within days, and there's no rhyme nor reason for the difference!

Plastic bags and wrapping encourage potatoes to rot .

I used to buy my potatoes in strong paper sacks , which were great for storage .
Now they are all in plastic .

I think that if one goes off the others do too .

I store mine in clean dry newspaper .

Got some from co op end of last week they’re still lovely and firm
Must have been a bad batch you had

It’s quite natural to think that sweet potatoes are like normal potatoes and last for ages. In my experience they don’t, even if kept in the fridge.

Washed potatoes don’t keep well especially if they are in plastic bags, so buy them and use them quickly. They sprout in warm temperatures keep them in a cool frost free place, if I buy a small pack I use the bottom of the fridge.

Sprouting is more likely now because chemical sprout suppressants have been banned and refrigerated stores have to be used on farms which greatly increase cost and reduces shelf life.

I buy my sweet potatoes loose from Sainsburys and have always found they keep really well I generally don't use them straight away but haven't ever had any go off on me yet!

Thank you. Both my buys were in plastic bags and I always remove them as soon as I get them. I put them in the net bags sold for the purpose. They are then stored in a large wicker hamper in an unheated spare room. My problem this week has been that at least half were rotten when they were delivered. I then visited the local Co op and had the same experience. This led me to wonder if it was the time of the year. I haven’t had a problem before and they have kept in good condition until used. I buy them every week. This time I have ordered loose ones in the hope they will be back to normal. Sainsburys are really good if you receive things that are not right but I must admit to ignoring odd things as it is a pain to hang on the telephone and also don’t wish to be to keep complaining about all and everything. So I ignored the completely rotten avocado a couple of weeks ago (90p) but then when my dh took in the next delivery he said he hoped this week it would be better than last week. The delivery driver then took the price off the new one which we weren’t expecting. Thank you for your replies. I really just wanted to reassure myself it was a blip.

Ps Rosie I will look in M&S as I have wondered about baking sweet potatoes but the skins don’t usually look up to it !!!

We haven't had a bad sweet potato this year,

We eat SP 3-4 times a week, not much chance to go bad

I had delivery of sweet pots in plastic bag from Tesco last Wednesday. We had some last night and surprised how fresh and clean skins were. Our last batch a few weeks ago went squishy and had to be thrown out.

We keep all pots in unheated spare room, under cardboard.
They kept going off and sprouting in kitchen cupboard.
My husband is a devil for his potatoes! So boring....

Last two deliveries were loose sweet potatoes and were large and in very good condition.

I seem to have bought some that are the complete opposite. I bought some for my daughter months ago, while she visited and she didn't use them, they are still fine.
Normal potatoes sprout quickly though, but I just cut it off.

My house is fairly unheated 😂so all my stuff stays pretty fresh

Sweet potatoes (yams) do go squishy after a time. They don't last as long as potatoes in my experience.