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Onions are a useful ingredient in many dinner recipes, whether you are chopping them into a pasta sauce, stirring them into mashed potatoes, or topping a burger with them as the weather gets warmer. However, they are one of the most wasted foods in the UK, with households throwing away 170,000 onions every day because many people do not know how to store them properly.

If you ever buy onions and end up having to throw them in the bin after a few days, then it might be because you are storing all your vegetables in the same area of your kitchen. The supermarket giant Tescohas warned that onions should never be stored with potatoes, as they can soften and mould at an extremely rapid rate. They said: "Store onions in a dry, dark place away from potatoes (both release gases that make the other spoil). Store halved onions in an airtight container in the fridge, so they can't transfer their flavour."

Onions release small amounts of ethylene, a natural plant hormone that helps crops begin flowering or sprouting after they are done growing produce.

Certain fruits and vegetables continue to release ethylene after they have been harvested, which helps soften them and increases their flavour, making them more edible.

However, ethylene is also what causes fruits and vegetables to begin ripening, and when too much of this hormone is released into the air, it can cause nearby produce to spoil.

Potatoes are very sensitive to ethylene, so when stored next to onions, they will begin to rot and release a lot of moisture, which can also cause the onions to spoil quickly.

Onions can stay fresh for months in a kitchen as long as they are not stored near ethylene-sensitive vegetables such as potatoes, but also cannot be near carrots or leafy green vegetables.

Onions can be stored with garlic, shallots, ginger, pumpkins and other hardy root vegetables as long as their environment is as dry as possible.

They need to be kept out of the fridge as onions are very vulnerable to moisture, and the humid cold air will quickly cause them to rot or even become mouldy.

It is best to keep onions at room temperature in a kitchen, such as in a cupboard, pantry, or even a basket on the countertop.

Make sure to keep onions away from windows, as direct sunlight signals to plants that it is time to start growing again and begin sprouting, which can make them very bitter.

Onions can often last one to two months when stored in a cool, dark, dry place away from potatoes, helping you reduce food waste and save money on future food shopping.