Onions - when to use by?

the_other_mce

If I have any onions that have been hanging around a while (I mean beginning to sprout!) I chop them and freeze them like olliebeak said. I find if you freeze them in portions in bags and then put them into a tupperware container (or old ice cream tub in my case) the smell isn't a problem. I often do this with fresh onions - buy a big sack from the market for about £3, chop and freeze. It saves loads of faffing around.
I also like to chop loads of onions and roast a big tray full of onions, garlic and peppers when I am cooking a roast and then portion and freeze. Much more economical than roasting enough for one meal a couple of nights a week.

Magentasue

happytails wrote: »

how hard is it to 'try' and grow my own? just out of interest?

We have a flagged yard so i may have some hurdles to get over but i do love my onions (carrots and spuds too)

xxx

Very easy if you buy sets (little bulbs) rather than seeds. You just put them in and leave them. They don't need a lot of room and they grow well in flower beds. Also, you can grow them all year round. We start pulling them small and leave them in the ground as long as we can so that they're cooked straight from the garden a lot of the year.

the_other_mce

I tried growing onions this year - they were ok but were quite small - in fact hubby used most of them for his latest fad - pickling!!! I pulled them up about a month ago - does any one know if I could have left them in the ground for longer or was it just a bad spot/ year??? I want to try again next year... any tips would really be appreciated.
MODS - if you want to move this to the gardening/greenfingered section I'll understand!!!

amanda40

In an older thread someone mentioned something about storing onions in your tihts not when you have them on of course , but in the old legs. Tie them uo and they will keep for ages - Not tried it myself , but sure someone will come along soon and comment on it.

flubdub

I dont think weve ever thrown onions out tbh, although we do use loads of them. However, if theyre not mouldy, or squashy or anything, theyll be fine. same goes or all veg really, although the vitamin content wont be so high .

thriftlady_2

If you buy fruit and veg loose or from a farmshop or farmer's market they don't have sell/use buy dates on. Then you can decide when they are not fit to eat;) Generally speaking onions are absolutely fine to eat unless they have gone soft, mouldy or completely rotten

happytails

Thanks guys going to use my onions today in a hotpot Im not wasting my precious food!

evie451

yeah its good as one of our friendly deep discount supermarkets is doing a kilo of onions for 39p.......

OrkneyStar

I don't tend to bother with use by dates for onions, carrots etc- every so often I check for dodgy ones, if any I try to use them up in a soup or stew or something, or freeze as a last resort. I keep most root veg in my black bag in a cupboard, I only tend to put courgettes, peppers, toms in the fridge, or root veg if it has been peeled. It is def. a good idea to check over them every few days though, that way any dodgyness can be caught in time!

Kataratarina

keep onions that have been in ur fridge for?