Keeping salad fresh....

blue_monkey_2

I don't know if this is the right place to post but I got a great tip about keeping potatoes fresh on this board (thanks).

I buy the ready-bagged salads but the bags tend to condensate and then it goes mushy before I get a chance to eat it. Have you any tips on how to keep it fresh and maybe crispy. We do not live near a supermarket so would perfer to buy enough for a good 5 days if I can but there seems little point if it goes off. I prefer the bagged salads as you get a lot more choice of leaves, all my local shop sells is round lettuce (boring) any advice??

Thanks

Quasar

Ohhh bagged salads are not exactly OS, as you have to pay for the "service" provided, ie. the sorting of the leaves and their packing. Amyway...

I find that storing spinach, lettuce and other salad leaves in a paper bag, but loosely packed so that air can circulate, keeps them moist but not too much, so avoiding the mushiness. However I tend to eat my salads within a day or two as they lose much of their vitamin content during even short storage periods.

cmjohnson_86

You could try keeping it in tubs in the fridge covered in water, that extends its shelf life by atleast another 3-5 days. We do this if we need to have back up prep'd salad leaf where I work. HTH

lynzpower

basically every salad leaf will deteriorate from the moment its picked, as with all veg of course, but as salad is predominantly water, thats how you get that manky brown slime.

If you bought bagged salad today chances are its been picked well over a week ago, usually more like 2 weeks. it will have been sprayed with an assortment of chemicals to try to "preserve it", although its fair to say that the nutritional value is compromised massively its more the presentation that will be "preserved"

the best- and cheapest way is to grow your own lettuce from seed on a window sill, and use what you need daily. Its very cheap & easy to grow ( mixed leaves, rocket, lambs lettuce etc)

Failing that, buy british. it will have had less tme in transit.

blue_monkey_2

Thanks for the replies, I know it is not very OS and MSE but I do only buy the bags on offer. I have tried buying it from the farm shop but that deteriorates even quicker and the one I bought lasted less and 2 days and it cost me around £1.20. While we want to eat it quite quickly I don't want to pop off and get more every other day, that is why I thought I would try and get more to keep - the supermarket is an 15 mile round trip so that is even less MSE!!

Thanks for the tip about the water, the brown bags I am not sure where to get them from - but do I put it in a tub and then put water in with it or put the water in another pot on top (thought this might stop the condensation - I am feeling a bit dim today, LOL) so I think the first bit might be the case - basically to store the salad in water. I'll give that a try. I know it will not last long but I'll give it a try and see what happens as it is on offer at the moment.

Thanks for your help.

cmjohnson_86

Well wash your salad before putting it into the containers then sover this with fresh cold water and cover either with a lid or cling film. But try to make sure there are no holes in, to stop air getting to it. Hope this works for you.

apprentice_tycoon

If I have some salad left from one of these bags I put it into a larger freezer bag and get lots of air into it by whirrling it around (hard to describe!) I make it as big as a balloon then use a klippit, I think that all that air keeps it fresh - make sure that you checked for leaves that are starting to spoil and binned them first

thriftlady_2

I've managed to keep fresh herbs really fresh for a week or so by doing this.

Take a length of kitchen roll about 6 squares long. Fold in half or thirds. Wet your hands and shake them over the kitchen roll to dampen it. Wrap leaves in the damp paper, wrap again in a sheet of newspaper and refrigerate

cmjohnson_86

The better sealed and air tight you keep salads/herbs the longer and fresher they stay.

tanith

I find its better to buy the whole lettuce and just take off leaves as I need them it lasts much longer this way..........

ET03

tupperware used to have some great salad tubs with a kind of grid in the bottom