I just picked up a 20Lb. bag of potatoes for the amazing price of $2.00! Great deal, but that’s a lot o’ taters! So:
1. How do I keep them from going bad before I use them up?
and
2. I rarely peel potatoes so, of course, I must scrub them well before cooking. When cooking more than just a few it becomes quite a chore to scrub them all. Any tips/hints/tricks/secrets to getting them ready for cooking?
How many people live in your household?
I know they say you’re not supposed to refrigerate potatoes, but I do because they keep MUCH longer that way. I’ve also heard way too many horror stories about a rogue potato that got shoved to the back of the cabinet, and decayed, and I also understand there are very few things that smell worse.
Invite the neighbours around to peel and mash them, and have a damn good potato-eating party !
You need a root cellar. Potatoes like to be stored in a space that is cool, dark and humid (although not wet). You can improvise a root cellar pretty simply by taking a bottom drawer, lining it with butcher’s paper/newspaper and putting the potatoes in there. Stored properly, they should last for months. You can also store turnips, onions, carrots and parsnips in the same space.
Yes indeed, I know about rotten potatoes! Eeeyeeeww! Nasty! It’s the main reason I asked. Just me n Mrs. P in the household, and she’s Filipino so rice consumption beats spuds around here.
I don’t have a root cellar but I do have a cool basement so I guess my best bet would be to store them downstairs and grab a few as needed.
Probably obvious, but if they’re in a plastic bag, move them into a paper or cloth one. Nothing makes a spud go bad faster than sitting wet, and they ‘sweat’ badly in plastic.
I don’t know about everything else, but I’ve always been taught that you shouldn’t store potatoes and onions together because both will go bad more quickly.
I use a brush similar to this one for cleaning potatoes. It works faster and does a better job than other brushes (or washcloths) that I have used.
If you really start to worry about spoilage, you can make up some potato casseroles ahead of time, and freeze them.
Assuming that you like potato casseroles. Shepherd’s pie, moussaka, scalloped potatoes, etc, tolerate freezing pretty well.
Oh, gosh, now I want moussaka,
Do not store onions and potatoes next to each other. They both give off gasses that promote rot and decay in the others.
I’ve heard freezing cooked potatoes at home is not successful. CAN you freeze au gratin, scalloped, or any other prepared cooked potatoes successfully, without them becoming watery and foul-tasting? I know there are french fries everywhere, but those are commercially made and frozen.
I have read you can successfully freeze mashed potatoes if you beat in some cream cheese with them.
The last time I made potato pancakes, I made a lot and froze some (after cooking). I was curious to see how well they kept in the freezer, but they were so good they were eaten before a week went by.
Make a big pot of potato soup.
You don’t need to go crazy cleaning taters, I just rinse 'em in running water with a bit of a massage, a little dirt lightly spiced with some bacteria is good for you. I’m in my 60’s and I’m healthier than you are.
My mom keeps all of her roots in a room in her cellar, and they last for a year or more.
And an onion that’s gone bad is far, far worse than a potato gone bad.
Oh, as for freezing, I know for an absolute fact that homemade pierogis freeze well, so I would also expect other foods based on mashed potatoes to work just as well.
Okay I’ve removed them from the plastic bag, placed them in a canvas sack and moved them to the basement where it’s much cooler. Didn’t know that about the contact with onions. Thanks for the advice.
Boiling the potatoes and mashing uses up a lot of spuds.
Mashed potatoes reheat well in the microwave. Add more butter if they are too thick. I wouldn’t keep them in the fridge longer than 2 days.
French Fries use up spuds. I’ve never had any luck reheating the left overs.
A bit of Google-fu revealed that moussaka is a Greek dish usually made with eggplant and lamb, whereas musaka is a Serbian dish made with potatoes and beef. The spices are different, too.
I printed off a recipe for musaka because it sounded really good. OTOH, I’ve never found an eggplant dish that I liked. 
I know all about musaka, lol. It’s ok, bland, nothing special. Try adding roasted garlic and some feta and Greek oregano to the bechamel-type sauce, and now you are honing in on something good.
BTW, I agree with you re: eggplant. My husband is half Sicilian and always picks up eggplant if he runs to the store. And I’m like, WTF do I do with this…it tastes of nothing. 
I can’t make fried eggplant all the time.