Learned the hard way not to store onions and potatoes together

I kept my onions and potatoes in the same bin under the sink for years. Last month I pulled out a bag of Yukon Golds and they were all soft and sprouting eyes everywhere. Lost like $8 worth of potatoes and had to toss half a dozen onions too. Turns out onions give off gas that makes potatoes go bad faster. Anyone else make this mistake or have a better storage setup they swear by?

2 comments

2 Comments

mark_smith591mo ago

Oh man, that's a bummer... I did the exact same thing a couple years back. It's funny how we just assume all root veggies can hang out together. But this whole thing made me realize how many little rules like that we just never get told. It's like learning that you can't store tomatoes in the fridge or that apples make carrots taste bitter. There's this whole hidden science to keeping food fresh that nobody bothers to explain until you ruin a batch of something.

alex_taylor101mo ago

That whole "hidden science" thing you mentioned really hits on something bigger. I've noticed the same pattern with all sorts of household stuff, not just food. Like how nobody tells you that mixing bleach and vinegar makes toxic gas, or that you're supposed to let cast iron pans cool down slowly instead of running them under cold water. There are just so many random life rules that feel like secret knowledge until you mess up. Makes you wonder what else we're all doing wrong without realizing it.