In an effort to feed my family more healthy foods, I was often frustrated by my lettuce going bad before we would eat it. I realized there were two reasons we weren't eating the lettuce.
1. It seemed like too much trouble to prep the lettuce before each meal.
2. The bagged lettuce I bought would go bad almost overnight (especially the red leaf variety).
I saw a solution to my problem last year on the Food Network. I've been using this idea for over a year now, and it is great. We have salad more often because it is easy to grab the prepared lettuce out of the fridge and also my family is more likely to put lettuce on their sandwiches because it is "user friendly".
Here's what you do. First, cut the end off of the head of lettuce. Wash the lettuce in a strainer, sorting through the leaves while the water runs over them.
My salad spinner comes with a strainer in it. I just pop the strainer into the spinner and give it a few spins.
Next, lay the lettuce on a cotton dishtowel. The towels I have are pretty large and I can fit a good amount of lettuce on them. The lettuce should not be perfectly dry.
Now, roll the towel up like a jelly roll.
Place the rolled up lettuce into a plastic bag. Don't worry about closing the bag up. The bag just helps to keep some of the moisture in the towel which keeps the greens crisp.
This solution will keep your greens fresh for a week and possibly longer. Just remember, the greens are more nutritious the sooner you eat them. Also, this does work for iceberg lettuce, but iceberg lettuce has practically no nutritional value so I never bother with it.
Umm. . . I think I'll eat a salad for lunch!
1. It seemed like too much trouble to prep the lettuce before each meal.
2. The bagged lettuce I bought would go bad almost overnight (especially the red leaf variety).
I saw a solution to my problem last year on the Food Network. I've been using this idea for over a year now, and it is great. We have salad more often because it is easy to grab the prepared lettuce out of the fridge and also my family is more likely to put lettuce on their sandwiches because it is "user friendly".
Here's what you do. First, cut the end off of the head of lettuce. Wash the lettuce in a strainer, sorting through the leaves while the water runs over them.
My salad spinner comes with a strainer in it. I just pop the strainer into the spinner and give it a few spins.
Next, lay the lettuce on a cotton dishtowel. The towels I have are pretty large and I can fit a good amount of lettuce on them. The lettuce should not be perfectly dry.
Now, roll the towel up like a jelly roll.
Place the rolled up lettuce into a plastic bag. Don't worry about closing the bag up. The bag just helps to keep some of the moisture in the towel which keeps the greens crisp.
This solution will keep your greens fresh for a week and possibly longer. Just remember, the greens are more nutritious the sooner you eat them. Also, this does work for iceberg lettuce, but iceberg lettuce has practically no nutritional value so I never bother with it.
Umm. . . I think I'll eat a salad for lunch!
Thank you ever so much! I enjoy preparing salad fixins ahead of time, but got so tired of having brown salad. I can't wait to use this tip!
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