I don't know about the bags of mixed greans, sometimes they last quite awhile and other times it gets nasty pretty quick. With ice burg and romaine, I've found that if I wash it and leave it in pretty big pieces and then dry it really well, like with a salad spinner and then several sheets of really absorbant paper towels, place it into a ziplock type bag with another clean, dry paper towel it lasts for awhile longer. I think the thing is to keep it dry.

The red and green leaf lettuces seem to have more water content or something, I've not had good luck with them at all. I have to use them with in a day or two

I suppose it would work with the bags of mixed salad but I'm too busy (lazy ) to try it. I check the expiration dates on the bags and try to find the one with the longest.

Hopefully others will give you ideas also.
Sarah

Sarah,

Thanks! I never thought about drying it off! I keep my salad in a tupperware like salad bowl. It was my moms years ago... maybe it is old or something lol. The plastic bags with a towel in there sound like it would do a much better job! I think I am going to try that!!! Something has to work! I do notice like condensation on the leaves... so that is probably the problem! I think I am going to try this today! That way the rest of my salad mix lasts instead of dies to fast.

I second the salad spinner idea. I think I paid about $5 for mine. It gets the lettuce really clean and spins it dry.

I recently bought special produce bags called Evert Fresh that keep produce fresh a lot longer. I usually buy bagged salad greens (LOVE the Riviera blend) but can't stock up because they start to wilt on me within a few days. I bought two bags and put them in the Evert fresh bag and it stayed fresh about two weeks. The bags aren't cheap, but you can reuse them over and over, and I save money in the end because I don't waste anything.

Hi Suzanne! Glad to see you back. I hope your feeling better.

What exactly is a salad spinner? I don't think I have ever seen or heard of this before. I am going to have to check this out. I am going to have to go to Walmart again soon lol.

The "Evert Fresh" bags sound neat too! I might have to check those out too! Do you find those in the produce section at the grocery store or some where else?

Thanks for the heads up! I do appreciate it.

a salad spinner example

I got mine at the dollar store or Walmart I don't remember which, it cost about $5.00 or so. Mine's the cheaper version. I don't like mine so much because it's so big, I don't have that much space in my cabinets. It's always in the way.

I've also just washed the leaves and shook them off really good and then dried them with the paper towels if you don't want to splurge on a salad spinner.

Sarah

Sarah,

Thanks for that link so I could see that. I went to walmart.com and it said item not found. I am going to have to check out the dollar store. I like getting some stuff from there. That store really helps spread your pennies lol.

I think I am going to try everything listed here. I want to make sure my lettuce lasts because so much of it goes to waste that it gets costly.

Thanks again everyone.

There is another discussion of this topic here: http://www.3fatchicks.com/forum/showthread.php?t=65461

Alton Brown (from Good Eats on FoodTV) put his salad greens in a cotton bag (maybe a pillowcase) which he tied at the end, and put the bag in the spin cyle of the washing machine! (extreme version of a salad spinner, lol)

Before salad spinners were invented, I would wash the lettuce, shake off most of the water, and wrap it in a tea-towel. Then I'd go outside and whirl it round and round for a bit. Good exercise for arms too!

I can imagine your arms hurting but being having good tone to them!

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I am trying the air tight baggy with a paper towel in it. But everytime I look at it there appears to be air in the bag. Weird lol. I leaned on it on the table when I sealed it up and it looked like a vacume bag! But I guess not lol.

I wash my lettuce and then stick it in the salad globe. I love it. It has fins to keep the water from pooling on the lettuce. I've successfully kept lettuce in there for almost a month at one point.

Coring the lettuce helps too (whack the stem on the counter, then twist the stem out). That way you can just peel off a leaf or two at a time. It's great if you do wraps or lettuce bowls.