Best place to store potatoes

Last Updated on October 9, 2020 by cmoarz

In this article you are going to learn the best place to store potatoes, no matter what kind of potato you might have, from sweet potato to..ugh.. any other kind of potato (i mean they are all balls of starch, some more than others).

Like tomatoes? Check out our article on growing cherry tomatoes in your house

I know you’ve been looking for an excuse to expand your home potato garden, It’s only natural. Potatoes grow fast and reliably, and if planted correctly take very little space for the amount of calories they yield.

But the thing that’s always stopped you from doing so is storage right? There’s just no space!

It’s true, potatoes do take up a lot of room, But that’s not necessarily a bad thing, it just means you’re well fed! Another issue that might stop you from expanding is you just don’t use that many potatoes every day. They build up and rot because they aren’t being used fast enough. That’s also another common problem, Luckily bad potatoes don’t need to go in the trash, they just get tossed in the ground for next years harvest!

Well, Here are some storage tips for the best place to store potatoes and the best methods to store potatoes.

Potatoes should be stored in a dark, dry and cold place.

Generally this goes with out saying and I think most people already know this. Most gardeners will have a little closet in their basement they keep as dry as possible to store their potatoes, which can last for a full year in such conditions.

It’s vital that the area has direct ventilation to the outside world as when potatoes start to go bad they produce gas that will kill anyone in seconds if there is enough of them. We’ve all heard the story of the russian family that died right?

one after another they went to the basement to see what was taking the other so long to return with the potatoes. Very tragic. Let their death be a stark warning about how important ventilation for potato cellars are.

Also, The best temperature to store most potatoes is about 45f to 55f so try and stay in those ranges.

Storing potatoes in bags

If you don’t got a basement, You can store your potatoes in bags. Don’t use plastic tho, Just like you and me potatoes need to BREATHHHH, well they need air circulation anyway and plastic prohibits that.

Water tends to pool in plastic as well since it’s pours are so tiny. That will obviously destroy the potato!

Any other bag or even a bowl will do, Such as a wicker basket, paper bag etc. But the best bags are ones specifically made for, get this, Potato. Who knew.

Wait there are bags FOR vegetables??

Yes! If you’ve ever purchased potatoes in bulk directly from a farm you may notice they come in gigantic sacks made of burlap or a special kind of plastic canvas (don’t worry its deigned to breath).

I haven’t been able to find the plastic canvas bags for sale, So I assume they aren’t really for consumer purchase. However their is no shortage of burlap sacks that are perfect for potato and other vegetable storage.

Here’s one for example

Don’t store potatoes with other veggies and fruits

Specifically, (for potatoes), bananas, onions or apples. These fruits put off a chemical/gas when they ripen that causes everything around them to ripen very quickly, which in a potatoes case just means turns to sugar and rots.

For that matter, You shouldn’t store them in a fridge either, As the coolness will just cause them to convert to sugar and go bad faster. I know, it sounds wrong but it’s not. Potatoes hate the cold, and they hate the heat. It’s either too cold or too hot! Just like my wife huehue.

Don’t tell her I said that.

Canning potatoes without a pressure cooker

I did say in the intro one of the reasons people don’t want to expand their potato garden is because of lack of space and waste right? Well hopefully this will help you out a little bit with that.

Unfortunately potatoes require a pressure canner. I’m sorry to say they just aren’t acidic enough. However, there are certain methods you may be able to use a normal water bath on potatoes if you are ok with not having “just potato” such as pickling them which increases it’s acidic levels a lot.

If not, please don’t do this with out a pressure cooker. You will get sick.

As an alternative, potatoes freeze very well and you should consider that as well. Unfortunately that doesn’t really help with the space constraints.

Dehydrating potatoes and turning them into powder

This is a great option too, and requires fairly little work compared to canning. You don’t have to powder them either, You can dehydrate them in slices and add them to soups and strews later.

I do like powdered potatoes tho because they are easy easier to store. Simply grab some Mylar bags and seal them up. Toss them into your “Oh shit apocalypse end of the world” storage closet.

Also, if you powder them you can use it as a nice potato flavored thickener for stews and soups instead of flower or other starches which need to be cooked to “not taste like newspaper” as a friend of mine put it.

I hope my article has shown you the Best place to store potatoes and to help increase the amount you grow with out worrying about storage. Good luck gardeners. Enjoy your harvest.

Check out this video made by The Homesteading Housewife on how to dehydrated potatoes