Discount supermarket giant Aldi has issued crucial advice to anyone buying potatoes to stop them from sprouting and going off.

The supermarket, once again beating its rivals like Lidl, Tesco and Asda to the cheapest supermarket title in April, previously put out information to try to help customers keep food fresh for longer. It teamed up with food waste storage expert Kate Hall to tell customers how to keep various staple foods fresh, including milk, bananas and potatoes.

It comes after research by the retail chain found that the average British person throws away a staggering £387 of food every year, and seven out of 10 admit they buy food knowing they’ll likely throw it in the bin. To customers buying potatoes, Kate says there’s a way to keep them lasting longer without sprouting – by cooking them first and then putting them in one kitchen appliance: the freezer.

Kate said: “Roughly 4.4 million potatoes are wasted every day in the UK! Advice around storing potatoes actually changed a couple of years ago and it has been found that keeping them in the fridge can help them last up to three times longer.

“If you’ve not got space in your fridge, it’s okay to keep them in a cool dark place, just store them away from your onions, as these encourage our spuds to sprout faster, and moisture released from spuds can actually make onions go mouldy too.

“If you know you won’t get through all your potatoes, why not consider freezing them. You can’t freeze them raw, but you can absolutely cook a batch of baked potatoes, prep your roasties, or some mash and pop into the freezer once cooled. You don’t even need to defrost them when you want them, just reheat straight from frozen until they’re piping hot!”

She added: “Using your freezer is such a simple way to press pause on your food so it doesn’t end up in the bin.

“Freezing food can help our budgets stretch further, and you can actually freeze a lot more than people realise. The trick is knowing the best way to freeze food and what to do with it after freezing.

“Using your freezer is such a simple way to press pause on your food so it doesn’t end up in the bin.

“Freezing food can help our budgets stretch further, and you can actually freeze a lot more than people realise. The trick is knowing the best way to freeze food and what to do with it after freezing.”

Luke Emery, National Sustainability Director at Aldi UK, said: “At Aldi, we’re committed to reducing food waste wherever we can across our supply chain, whether that be working with suppliers to cut down on waste, or marking down prices of items nearing their sell by date.

“Now we’re on a mission to help shoppers minimise their food waste too, while getting even more value from their Aldi groceries at the same time. It seems simple, but the research shows that freezing items still isn’t something many do – so we want to showcase just how easy that can be.”