Vile smelling spuds

Oh Babs03 that sounds horrible. Where they in a plastic bag? I take mine out and put them in a mesh bag in a box in a cool place. Also lucky to have a great local Greengrocer who does home deliveries, all his fruit and veg are far superior than those I can get in a supermarket. Worth having a look online to see if there are any greengrocers who deliver in your area.

Yes best to remove potatoes and put them in a mesh bag sold often in the supermarket or a paper bag. Yes the smell is awful.

When my daughter and her family were on holiday last year I went round to check that everything was fine. I spent ages trying to find out where the awful smell was coming from in her kitchen. Turned out is was a rogue potato in a cloth bag. I agree with you, the smell is dreadful. I put the spuds in the outside food caddy and took the bag home for washing.

I find that potatoes keep well when covered with either brown paper or newspaper .

I’ve had rotten smelly spuds in the past and they do stink really badly!

That stench is a symptom of potato blight., a disease of potatoes.

When potatoes are breaking down the bacteria that causes rotting releases foul smelling gases.

As others have said, don’t store them in polythene bags but in a paper bag in a cool, dark place.

Probably potato blight this time of year buy potatoes as you need them and keep them cool, most are washed and packed in plastic the worst environment for keeping. I keep mine loose in the bottom of the fridge alongside the other veg

Yes will do this in future, usually unpack my spuds and put them in an open container in the bottom of the fridge, much like you David.

I keep mine in a bowl in a cupboard. I only buy small bags these days as I find they don't keep long regardless of where bought.

The ones from my local greengrocer are rubbish and go soft after a day- more expensive too!

It’s not a good idea to keep potatoes in the fridge as it converts the starch into sugars which spoils the flavour and colour e.g., overly brown chips which are floppy and taste sweet.

If you look on the packet it now often says store in fridge ( at least the small ones,as that's all we've been buying ) I was very surprised to read it .

It does sound as though they've been blighted. They shouldn't have been sold like that - take them back.
Its what happened in Ireland yonks ago that caused so many Irish to flee to America or face starvation. (Irish potato famine). Makes you think how devastating it must have been, and appreciate how lucky we are that we have money enough to cope.

We buy backs of 4kg from the farm shop, they keep for ages, stored in netting indoors.

If you Google it, it says it's fine to keep spuds in an ordinary domestic fridge. The risk of sugar or acrylamide formation is minimal. However you shouldn't wash them until you are going to use them.

I'm lucky to have a local greengrocer where I can buy my potatoes loose. I just buy what I need as there is only 2 of us. I also keep mine in an open tub in the drawer of my fridge.

Simple, because if one is rotten the bacteria will be all over the probably plastic bag causing the smell. Try opening the bag on purchasing, enough to get your hand in, stick in a couple of sheets of kitchen paper to help absorb moisture and slow down deterioration.

A rotten potato is the worst smell ever. 🤮

Yes, they do smell awful! I transfer mine to a paper bag for storage. I read the other day that if kept near onions they go off sooner. I do keep them in the same container in a dark cupboard, so will separate in future.

Got them in my online shop from ASDA and have complained, got a ten pound voucher which is nice but won’t be buying spuds from them in future.
No local green grocers deliver near me but a kindly neighbour has promised to pick us up a few loose spuds when she is next at the greengrocers in town.

I discoverd how bad they smell when I plunged my hand into a sack, and my fingers went into a rotting potato. I was almost sick as the stench was revolting and, as you can imagine, I did wonder what on earth I had put my hand in. Not nice.

A rotting potato is an awful smell. If I have to buy them from a supermarket I always get them out of the bag immediately. I like to store mine in the fridge as I find they stay fresher for longer. If I don't have enough room in the fridge they go into a hemp type bag in the coolest cupboard I can find.

This has turned into a thread of how to keep potatoes rather than what makes them smell so dreadful, far worse than any other vegetable. While we’re on the subject of how to keep potatoes, I always put them in the fridge and haven’t had a bad one since.

They used to advise against storing potatoes in the fridge, so I bought a hessian potato bag but the potatoes sprouted quickly.

I think the advice has changed now anyway. I line the fridge drawer with J cloth material.
Those net bags are good, but often end up in the knitting bag instead, very useful for storing wool.