OK... I've gotten lazy in my... ahem... more advanced age.
I buy the prewashed salad from Sam's Club or Costco. However, it's a lot of salad and it goes bad within 3 days or so. Very frustrating. It's seems there's always moisture in the container which rots a lot of the leaves.
What if I stick a sheet of paper towel in there. Would it absorb the moisture?
It did. We've been able to eat the entire container before it rotted. The paper towel did absorb quite a bit of the moisture and kept the salad from going bad.
I'm so excited about this that I just had to let you know. 😃
POSTSCRIPT: Darn!
Granted yesterday was the 6th day since we bought the salad, and there must have been too much moisture at the bottom of the salad. There were some greens that I had to throw out. Shucks!
A helpful hint
ReplyDeleteI also carefully take it out of that container - make sure there aren't any "unwanted" pieces AND in putting them in a clean, dry plastic bag I also add a paper towel - it stays good for a much longer time that way. You came up with a good idea!
ReplyDeleteI like your idea too! I'm sure your way would keep it fresh much, much longer.
DeleteGood idea. It is the moisture that causes the produce to go bad. A friend who spent decades in food purchasing and service, told me to never buy prepared produce where you could see condensation inside the container, whether a bag or hard plastic. She said it's already deteriorating. I usually buy "bare" produce for that reason, or I buy very small containers. Another reason we don't do Costco.
ReplyDeleteThe same thing happens to me. I have a salad keeper and it helps but the good salad like your picture still won’t last long. Plain lettuce keeps better but it’s not nutritious. I’ve tried a paper towel too. It lasts a little longer. Everything is so expensive that you hate to see it go to waste. Of course, I give it to my chickens. I have 12.
ReplyDeleteOh wow! Your chickens eat lettuce? They must be healthy chickens. :-)
DeleteThis makes so much sense! My current salad craze is Cole slaw which lasts a bit longer due to the vinegar, I suspect but I will be trying this out when I go back to "spring mix"!
ReplyDeleteCeci
I like cold slaw too. But we used mayonnaise for ours. Now I'm thinking about how I'd love to have some cole slaw now.
DeleteI've gone to mostly buying those salad bowls; they're one serving. The paper towel idea is great! When I buy a bigger salad, I'll try that out.
ReplyDeleteGreat tip, mahalo!
ReplyDeleteI put a paper towel in my salads too it helps
ReplyDeleteI buy bunches of kale at the grocery store and chop them up at home. I thought the process would be harder than it actually is.
ReplyDeleteWe have had too many cases of e coli in the pre-washed bags of lettuce so we never buy them. Maybe yours is better in Hawaii! Haha, I had to correct this. Auto correct changed "pre washed" to "preached".
ReplyDeleteI've stuffed a paper towel into the bags. Helped a little. For a head of romaine or iceburg, I'm using the Green Bags by Debbie Meyer, available on Amazon. I'm surprised how well they help the lettuce stay nice for a week or so, even longer if I don't tear it up before using. Produce is supposed to be dry and the bag top is just folded over. Reuseable too. My little bit of cut up lettuce for tacos stayed good for 3 days but was just starting brown the edges. Years ago, I washed my lettuce in a stainless steel salad spinner. After dumping the water, I stored the torn lettuce in the salad spinner in the fridge. Lasted really long, but that spinner takes up a lot of space. Linda in Kansas
ReplyDeleteSigh... I used to wash my lettuce and put them in a salad spinner too. But I've gotten lazy in my old age.
DeleteI don't like extra moisture in the bags of lettuce I do up for myself.
ReplyDeleteA simple solution! Thanks, I have the same problem with Aldi salad. Great idea and I will try it!
ReplyDeleteThe few times I've bought salad in a bag (usually baby spinach), I also put a paper towel in it every time we use it to absorb any moisture. It does help it last longer. But... I don't buy the bag stuff much because once when eating in a restaurant where they also used the bagged salad... I found a sliver of glass in the salad. It turned me off... and I've never forgotten that.
ReplyDeleteA useful tip. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteOur nearest Costco is 30 minutes away(depending on traffic), grocery store 5 minutes. Our financial advisor says we're not going to run out of money by not going to Costco so now we value our time. There's just the two of us so we also had wastage. Now we have less large items to move around and less waste! DJ
ReplyDeleteWe always do that to our home grown lettuce and many other fragile veggies we grow. If we buy lettuce we buy it in head form so we can wash and discard the outer leaves. There seems to be too many cases of sicknesses from the bagged loose lettuce around here that we shy away from it as much as possible.
ReplyDeleteBrilliant! Thank you for the tip.
ReplyDeleteYep, a paper towel in any bag of washed vegetables.
ReplyDeleteGood idea! Thanks, Heloise!
ReplyDeleteI'd done that too it sure works!
ReplyDeleteA good idea!
ReplyDelete