What is the size of standard onion that you buy? 2" or bigger?
Generally bigger, maybe 3 inches at the regular grocery, a bit smaller at the natural foods co-op
Has the size of onion in big stores changed over time? If yes, how?
I think they’re getting bigger
After cutting the onion, do you throw away unused half?
No, I wrap it in plastic wrap and put it in a ziploc bag and put it in the fridge until I need it. But usually I use a whole onion.
Raley’s has yellow onions 3 pounds for $1.79 prebagged. Other than that it seems all onions, white, red or yellow are $1.39 per pound.
I am a big consumer of onions, so maybe my experience is not the norm. I fucking LOVE onions. I normally buy 4-7 at a time. Several Vidalia for cooking and a red one for sandwichs/salads.
Bigger. Baseball-sized sounds about right.
I’m not sure. I’m not very old (early 20s). They’re been the same size for as long as I can remember. I’ve heard, however, from older people throughout my life that most produce in the U.S. has gotten larger over the years, so I assume that would include onions. But that’s just hearsay.
Never! I put it in a plastic baggie and suck out the air. It almost always gets used before it goes bad, unless I simply forget about it and the baggie gets hidden behind something else in the fridge. Usually what happens though is that I will find that baggie after I think I’m out of onions and be pleasantly surprised to see that it is still good. Often I use a whole yellow onion at a time, but sometimes I only use half and put the other half away. But with the red ones, I will only use a very small amount at a time. It would be ridiculous to throw away most of the unused onion!
I live in NY, so that it’s possible I’ve eaten onions from the farm in that article, or farms like it. The yellow ones are about $1.50/lb, and the red are slightly more. If I buy them in a bag they are cheaper, but usually a smaller and more varied in size.
An average onion around my area is softball sized, not baseball. You can easily get bigger if you wish. Heck, if I want I can go gather up 6" onions on the side of the road during harvest time. This area grows a lot of yellow onions. In fact, the story goes that our valley is the reason your Outback has Bloomin’ Onions. Don’t know if it’s true, but it’s a fun story.
They are also pretty cheap at the store and I get about half the onions I use in the year for free just from friends and neighbors giving them too me. The onions are ones they grew or field gleanings usually. I don’t use a lot of onions, however, I’m not a big fan.
Half an onion gets wrapped and put in the fridge for later in the week. I only use a whole onion when I’m making a pot of turkey broth or a pot roast.
From working at a grocery store, I’ve notice the standard yellow onions seem to vary in size from about 1/4 to 1/2 lb each to over a pound each depending on the time of year among other factors. I think we get most of our onions from Mexico. If I think about it, I’ll have to check the bag next time.
Big bag o’yeller onions. They find their way into almost everything. Mostly 2.5".
I save the lil’ ones for roasting whole with tater quarters and Chicken.
I buy them big individual white ones for fine chopped uncooked and them red ones ringed for salads.
I do remember the bagged yellow onions being bigger at one point. They are perfect size for me at the moment, with a few sizes to choose from. So, I’m not complaining. No waste.
I’d be huffed if I was needing and expecting a bag of 3" and getting one outta twenty that size.
I supposed that’s why they have the big ones free range, pick what you want.
I usually buy one or two onions at a time, mostly the 2" size. I cook only for myself and two picky eaters, so I don’t use much.
Not that I’ve noticed. If anything, there’s a little more variety in that they sometime have small white onions in addition to the usual white and yellow larger ones.
I save the unused half in a plastic baggie to use later in the week. If my mother were alive and saw me throwing away a perfectly good onion half, she’d chew me out for being so wasteful.
Up to recently, I’ve always bought however much I needed for the recipe I was cooking, so the size varied and I never had left over. I also try to buy the kind they specify in the recipe, but default to yellow onions.
Interestingly, the local Indian market where I buy all my spices only carries red onions. Are those the standard type of onions used in Indian cooking, and should I be using those instead?
The difference I see is that bagged onions are smaller, whereas individual sale onions are universally large. I understand the article about what the stores want to stock. All produce has to be picture perfect and large, there is no room in their stores for the full variety of what nature actually produces.
I cook infrequently, and my usage of onions does not call for a large onion. I would rather purchase a smaller one, but it doesn’t make sense to purchase a bag of onions, just to get a smaller one. So, instead I buy a single large one and use what I need. Typically I keep the remainder around but often end up tossing it after a few weeks.
Put me in with other folks in the thread:
-I buy 'em 3 lbs at a time; that usually lasts 2 weeks.
-I think they’re baseball sized.
-When I chop half an onion and put it in the dish, what do I do with the other half? Why, I chop it up and put it in the dish, too. Once in a long while I’ll then chop a second onion up to put in the dish, but for almost everything, the minimum unit of onion is 1; they don’t fractionize.