Safe to eat?

I have a food phobia... if I think something isn't safe to eat, I won't eat it. I go hungry a lot because of it. I'd rather be safe than sorry.

Well, we have some potatoes here and I was going to put it in the microwave to have a baked potato for dinner last night. But when I opened the bag, there was a very strong smell. I scrubbed and rinsed the potato and it still had the strong smell afterwards. So I didn't eat it. It was still firm and didn't have anything growing from it.

Anyone know if potatoes are supposed to have a strong kinda musty smell? I feel stupid for even asking but normally if we have baked potatoes, John's grandpa makes them and I have never really smelled the potato before it's cooked before.

There was probably just a bad potato in the bag, happens all the time. It wouldn't mean that the potato you pulled out has anything wrong with it.

I am the same way you are. It's a pain in the butt sometimes. I'd take some of the skin off the potato and see what color it is underneath. If it's not discolored then it should be OK.

Sometimes, depending on the type of potato, they do get an "earthy" smell about them. If they are kept in the bag the smell can sometimes get stronger. It doesn't mean it was bad, it had just been enclosed. As long as it was still firm it was probably fine. Do you know what kind of potato it was? I normally use red potatoes because they don't have as strong a flavor and they cook faster.

If it was firm and not rotting, it was fine to eat.

If I take a potato out of the bag and it has a soft spot on it, I just cut away that part and still use the potato.

Food is too expensive to waste, and there are so many people in this world that go hungry because they don't have any food to eat, never mind to throw away.

And by the way, "Best Before" dates are just that. It's freshest if used by the date on the package. It doesn't mean that it "expires" and that it ceases to be consumable after that date. Even eggs! So long as you have had them in your fridge at a constant temperature and not laying around at room temperature, you can eat eggs that are months past the "Best Before" date.

The plain yogurt I have in my fridge has a Best Before date of mid April. It still smells ok, there is no mould and it looks perfectly fine. So it's safe to consume despite having a best before date that was weeks ago.

also depends on where you kept the bag of potatoes if it was under the sink that might of made the musty smell stronger but it sounds like it should be ok to eat as long as it isnt squishy and discolored like others are saying