Keeping salad fresh....

angelavdavis

Plant up a couple of pots of mixed lettuce. You can then keep it on the window sill (keep away from cold drafts this time of year but somewhere bright). Once it starts sprouting, you can cut the leaves as you need it. Keep it watered and spray regularly with a water spray to stop red spider mite attacking it. You can grow a selection of rocket, mizuna, baby spinach, lollo rosso and baby gem easily and for only a few pennies.

dannahaz

Hi Bluemonkey

I like the variety too, and also got fed up with bags of lettuce going manky on me.

So, a couple of years ago I got a packet of "mixed salad leaves" seeds and sowed these in compost in a couple of pots outside my back door. They are all "cut and come again" varieties, which means I go outside with a pair of scissors, snip off what I need and (as long as I don't cut right at the bottom) the remainder of each leaf carries on growing.

I would thoroughly recommend this method. Very easy, very tasty, and very good value. You should be able to pick up the seeds at any garden centre, or you can order online.

Hope that helps

Edited to add: if you like crispy things you could buy and shred a white and/or red cabbage and keep the shreds in an airtight container in the fridge. Then add them to your freshly cut salad.

I've also got more adventurous, and as well as the "mixed salad leaves" I grow corn salad (lamb's lettuce) and some edible flowers, calendula? Nasturtiums? Can't remember now, will have to dig out the packets.

All outside the back door.

nikibella

Hi
I have the tupperware container with the rack on the bottom to keep the salad separate from the moisture and it's really fabulous. It keeps salad fresh for many days. You have just to open the bag as soon as you arrive home and put it in the container in the fridge. It's rather expensive, but it's worth the money and they last ages, mine is over 10 years old.

blue_monkey_2

Hi everyone, thanks for all of your helpful advice. I think I'll give the growing a go as that sounds much better and cheaper. However, for this week I'll go with the storage ideas you have suggested. My fingers are not too green and I tend to kill everything with one touch but think I'll give it a try.

Thanks once again.

mae

Have any of you got suggestions as to what type of containers keep salad fresh for the longest? I have started chopping up everything in terms of salad as soon as I buy it so that its more convenient to use as sometimes I'd be too lazy to get out the celery etc and chop it. But I'd like to keep it fresher longer, at the moment I'm just putting it in ordinary plastic containers?
Thanks

nikibella

Hi
if you eat a lot of salad, like I do, it's worth investing in a Tupperware container that has a griddle on the bottom, so that the moisture goes down and does not ruin your salad. I have one for more than 10 years now and it keeps sald fresh for many days.

mae

Thanks for that were can I buy Tupperware now or do I have to wait til someone is having a party which I doubt will ever happen?

lynzpower

cutting it up will certainly reduce its "shelf life" as air will get to more "sides" of it and start the rotting process earlier.

My tips are
Make sure you buy produce from the UK if at all possible. its no wonder some of your stuff is rotting if its been shipped from the other side of the world most salad stuff is sprayed with chemicals to prevent browing, so if this bothers you buy organic- although it wont "last" as long. Anything in a organic veg box will be fine!


Have you thought about growing your own? I got a pack of mixed lettuce leaves from B&Q for 38p and they are going great guns, as is my spinach. You can grow these on a windowsill as well, just get a plastic box and a bit of compost and your away!

nikibella

Check the Tupperware website, they will certainly give you advice where you can buy in your area, or may be you can order online.

Pink.

Hi mae,

We have an older thread on keeping salad fresh so I have merged your thread with it to keep all the suggestions together.

Pink