To expect around half of the onions in a pack to be bad

[Curiosity101]

Just that really... I remember a time when I bought a pack of onions and unless you left them for a silly amount of time they'd basically all be good. But for a few years now (and despite purchasing them from different places), I feel like I expect anything up to 50% to be 'bad' or a bit 'off'. Often slimy and a bit mouldy etc. Not even just on the outside, the outside can sometimes look fine and then a few layers in it's soft and yellow and squishy. Maybe I'm storing them wrong? Although I'm sure freshly purchased onions have the same issue.

YABU - I must be doing something weird or buying them from a bad source
YANBU - You've noticed this too

Bonus points for anyone who can explain what the issue is and how I can avoid it! I hate food waste and find myself throwing away loads of onions.

I do my weekly shopping at Waitrose because the next closest store is M&S. I find the onions the same in there. I have noticed that alot of the fruit and veg is frozen of late. So butternut slices are frozen and have ice on them yet in the fresh food section. The other week I bought strawberries that looked grate. The same day I opened the tray and every single one of them was mushy to the touch. I sliced one and it was sort of frozen inside.

this is lots of random onion musings sorry:

Shallots last longer than onions, we are still using shallots we picked at the end of July last year (from the garden not the supermarket)

Depends on the variety of onions too, white onions don't last as long as long as yellow or red onions in my experience, so if you are buying white onions that might be why they are going off so quick.

Also milder onions don't store as well as pungent onions, so if you are tending towards onions marketed as milder they are more likely to have gone off/go off quickly

But given our yellow and red onions last several months after picking then no shop bought ones shouldn't be going off straight away

However, after we pick our onions we 'cure' them by leaving them in a warm dry place with plenty of air circulating for up to a month to allow them to dry off, this allows the stem to dry and close up preventing disease.

They need to be harvested at the right time, too soon and they wont store well, too late and they are more prone to disease.

I am not sure if commercial onion farmers cure their onions and I am guessing its more a case of pulling all the onions at once when they have to rather than waiting for them to be exactly ready.

And this is why I now buy frozen chopped onion, not fresh.

@Covidagainandagain I appreciate your onion musings thank you. I've noticed this issue in red and white onions. Definitely not going for milder ones, if anything I'd say that I've also noticed onions getting stronger over the past few years.

I was cutting some up the other day and I swear they could've been used as bio weapons.

@VeronicaBeccabunga Definitely an idea for me to consider!

I used to get fed up with bad onions and also the tears when cutting but now I just use frozen. I keep a bag of finely diced and a bag of sliced red onion in the freezer

And does it always happen all year round? Because right now for example we are right at the start of onion season, so a month ago say, you were technically buying onions out of the UK season. So if its only happening for 6 months of the year that might be why?

(If I sound totally clueless about supermarket onions its because we have grown all of our own onions, shallots and garlic for the last 7 years, so its one of those things I never have to buy from the supermarket)

We buy them in packs of 3 - and you can guarantee one is always bad.
Always wondered if i should take them back - never do of course - but the cost must add up.

I agree about the onions.
Im also finding that when I peel potatoes they have brown patches inside which I have to cut out. I’m regularly getting to use only half to three quarters of the bag.

Are you keeping them in the fridge? I open the plastic (or put them in a paper bag) in a cool dark place with a newspaper under them, rather than in the fridge. It's not perfect but generally minimises the losses

I think you’re exaggerating, maybe the odd one or two in every 5-10 bags are off, in my experience anyway. Also you can usually tell if a bags got a wrong un by the smell so try giving them a sniff first.

They last far longer stored in old (clean!) tight legs with a knot between each one. That way they don't all sit together in the same gases that turn them mouldy.

@Covidagainandagain I feel like it's a year-round issue. But looking at the votes a decent minority don't have this issue...🤔

Onions used to stay in storage for shorter periods before distribution and had stricter guidelines on what the sale cut off was. Due to lower supply levels they can now be sold much longer in their shelf life - which means by the time we get them now, they're half rotten.

@jetadore I wish I was exaggerating - I often buy them in packs of 3 and like @Felix125 says, I can pretty much guarantee at least one of them is off. And it's not unusual that I have to discard quite a few layers so overall I'm probably using around 50% of the onions I've bought.

@Swedesareneeps (Great username) - No, not stored in the fridge. I store them in the cupboard, normally in netting.

I’ve noticed this too. I actually stopped buying onions in Lidl because there were more bad than good in the bag. I often get deliveries and recently asked for a refund from Sainsburys @Felix125 !

Onions should be ready around now - fresh ones from the field. So supermarkets will likely be trying to get rid of any old ones.

I never buy a bag - always choose firm loose ones. If you have a local farmers market nearby, worth seeing if they have any.

Keep them in the fridge.

Or maybe the supermarket is having a bad batch. I've had 2 bad batches of Maris Piper potatoes at Lidl recently whilst normally they're fine from Morrisons.

I’ve noticed the same and I’m in the US. Every September one of our stores carry huge 30 lb bags of onions. I open it and take any (maybe 5 out of over 100) out. It lasts until the end of May (we love onions and use at least one most days).
But then June-August I buy the regular 5 lb ones and 1/3 of them either are bad or go bad very quickly. Such a waste!

*5 bad ones

Fair enough, I haven’t noticed any problems but longer storage times due to the supply change problems sounds plausible. Still if they’re off as soon as you buy them I’m surprised you don’t notice the smell. Like if the pack smells oniony then it’s bad. Fresh onions don’t smell until you peel/slice them.

I always select my own for this reason. I must look deranged inspecting and feeling every single veg or fruit I buy though.

Supermarket veg quality has been declining for a couple of years. Very noticeable with potatoes and onions.

It’s due to the shipping delays caused by Brexit. Over 65% of our fruit and veg come from the EU. So that’s why you’re especially seeing it in red and white onions, but not so much the local brown onions.

It’s also due to the lack of farm workers in the U.K., again due to Brexit. There is produce sitting in the fields until it is past due to be picked and so it’s already lost a lot of freshness by the time it gets to the grocer. So less likely to be bad, but also now going off sooner than it used to.

I have this problem too OP. I can’t always tell by feeling the onions because sometimes the top couple of layers might be ok and then inner layers are mushy and brown. And yy to the potatoes also; DH bought a bag of baby potatoes last week and literally the next day when I went to use them, 2/3 were going rotten. So frustrating, I hate food waste.