Smart Pantry · Guides
How long do potatoes last?
Sprouts, green patches, the fridge and the freezer: a plain UK guide to using up the bag before it turns.
The short answer
Sprouted or a bit green? Cut the sprouts and the green bits off, and the rest is fine to cook.
Soft, wrinkly, but no rot or mould? Still safe, just past its best. Good for mash or soup.
Want them to last? Keep them somewhere cool and dark, or in the fridge, and freeze them once they're parboiled.
Can you eat sprouted potatoes?
Yes. Sprouting just means the potato is getting older. Snap or cut the sprouts off, trim away any green, damaged or rotten parts, and cook the rest as normal.
Are green potatoes safe?
Cut the green bits off first. Green, damaged and sprouted parts of a potato can hold higher levels of natural toxins called glycoalkaloids. Potatoes always contain a little, but in larger amounts they can cause stomach pain, vomiting and diarrhoea.
That said, glycoalkaloid poisoning is extremely rare. Trim the green and sprouted parts and you've dealt with it. If a potato is mostly green, it's simpler to throw that one away.
To stop those toxins building up in the first place, store potatoes somewhere cool, dark and dry.
Can you keep potatoes in the fridge?
Yes. This is one of those rules that changed. You might have heard that potatoes shouldn't go in the fridge because cold storage raises the sugars that turn into acrylamide when you roast or fry them. A study reviewed by the government's food toxicity committee found that storing potatoes in a home fridge doesn't make a meaningful difference compared with a cool, dark cupboard.
So the Food Standards Agency now says you can choose either: the fridge, or a cool, dark, dry place. It mentions the fridge as an option specifically to help people waste less food.
How long do potatoes last after the best before date?
The best before date on a bag of potatoes is about quality, not safety. Past it, potatoes may go soft or wrinkly but are still safe to eat as long as there's no visible rot or mould. How long they stay good depends on how you keep them, so go by what you see rather than the date alone.
Throw away any potato that's rotting or mouldy.
Can you freeze potatoes?
Yes, once they're cooked or parboiled:
- Parboiled potatoes. Boil them for 5 minutes, drain, cool and freeze. They're ready-made roasties: put them straight in the oven from frozen with a little oil until they're crisp and steaming hot all the way through.
- Leftover cooked potatoes. Roast, boiled or mashed potatoes can all go in the freezer.
Freezing a batch of parboiled potatoes is the easiest way to save the end of a big bag before it sprouts.
Why potatoes get binned anyway
Potatoes come in big bags and get used a few at a time. The bag goes in a cupboard, out of sight, and by the time anyone looks, half of it has sprouted. Knowing what's in there, and how long it's been there, is most of the battle.
Smart Pantry remembers the bag at the back of the cupboard
Snap your supermarket receipt and your potatoes go in with a date, along with the rest of the shop. Your kitchen is sorted by what needs eating first, and one reminder at 8am tells you when something is close, while there's still time to cook it or freeze it.
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More guides: Is tinned food OK after the date? · Is milk OK after the date? · Can you eat brown bananas? · How long does bread last? · How long does cooked rice last? · Eggs after the best before date · Best before vs use-by
Source: Food Standards Agency, Home food fact checker (Vegetables section). If you're unsure whether food is safe, don't eat it.