Potatoes

Information

to store potatoes, take them out of the plastic bag and put them into a cloth or natural fibre bag
store them away from strong smelling foods such as onions
choose somewhere cool, dark and airy, but not the fridge
for storing cooked potatoes, the Food Standards Agency advise that once cooked they should be cooled as quickly as possible, ideally within 1 to 2 hours and then stored in the fridge for up to two days
a useful tip is to freeze the potatoes on a baking tray so they're not touching each other and when they're solid pop them together in a plastic bag. This stops them sticking together so you don't have to defrost all of them at once
when potatoes are exposed to either artificial or natural light they can develop a green colour due to chemical changes, this may make the green bits unsuitable to eat, but this can be avoided by simply cutting them out
it's safe to cook potatoes that have sprouted, but they do not keep well and are more likely to go black when cooked
always remove the sprouts before using
keep hold of potato peelings, sprinkle with salt, pepper, chilli or whatever flavour takes you like and put them in the oven for free crisps
thinly slice leftover potatoes and add to omelettes
use leftover potatoes to thicken soups
if you have a few potatoes that you need to use, boil them and make mashed potato and freeze in portions so next time you're in a rush you have them
they're guaranteed to be crispy and golden if you parboil and freeze potatoes for later and you can cook directly from frozen
freeze leftover mashed potato in bags and use it for bubble and squeak or shepherd's pie topping