Making Salad Last - Advice Please

MaddyWaddy

Hi,


As the title suggests I have problems making lettuce and cabbage last for salads ... I don't always fancy them daily but when I do come to want one it is rather sad looking - I am wanting it to last the week. I would love to just make a huge salad bowl and then eat it as and when but the lettuce starts going brown and the cucumber goes dry


I am not sure if my fridge is slightly too warm but I haven't had any problems with anything else.


Any ideas would be much appreciated. I hate wasting food.


Thank you


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maman

MaddyWaddy wrote: »

Hi,


As the title suggests I have problems making lettuce and cabbage last for salads ... I don't always fancy them daily but when I do come to want one it is rather sad looking - I am wanting it to last the week. I would love to just make a huge salad bowl and then eat it as and when but the lettuce starts going brown and the cucumber goes dry


I am not sure if my fridge is slightly too warm but I haven't had any problems with anything else.


Any ideas would be much appreciated. I hate wasting food.


Thank you

I find the best lettuce for keeping is little gem unless you like iceberg (which I find tasteless). Another alternative is to buy baby spinach for the leaves and then it can be used in other ways. Similarly, I never mind spending on peppers, spring onions or tomatoes as I can use those up cooked in other dishes.

trailingspouse

Iceberg lettuce lasts well. I buy a small bag of the fancy stuff sometimes, just to ring the changes, then I get irritated when it only lasts 5 minutes. Tomatoes keep well, cucumber isn't bad. Spring onions and beetroot also last well. Cress comes with it's own little patch of soil, so that's OK. Peppers keep well, white cabbage lasts at least a week, carrots are good.

From reading your post, I think what you want to be able to do is cut everything up and make a big bowl of salad which you can then dip in to for a few days. And I would agree with you - that doesn't work well. The best I've managed is to cover the bowl with cling film, but even then you only get a couple of days out of it.

Much better to make what you need when you need it.

sophieschoice

Lots of sites like these, google 'Salad in a Jar', there's also a youtube tutorial 'How to make salad in a jar that lasts a week'
http://kblog.lunchboxbunch.com/2012/06/vegan-salad-in-jar-make-ahead-bliss.html

squiggles

I buy mixed lettuce from asda which comes in a tray of soil for £1. Just trim off the amount needed for my meal. Stays fresh in the fridge until the last is used up.

RAS

Are you buying whole lettuce or salad leaves?

Whole cos lettuce tend to keep well if removed from their plastic wrapper.

Use the outside leaves first.

purple45

I don't use lettuce or cabbage. I open a can of sweetcorn, add cress, a diced cucumber, 3 mixed peppers chopped, a red onion, diced radishes. This is amazing stuff, I mix it all up and then split into 8 little plastic tubs which is 4 days worth of lunches for the two of us to go with a sandwich and some fruit. It is pretty good at lasting the 4 days. Its nice and crunchy, tasty and takes a while to eat so satisfying too.

Raksha

If your salad leaves are limp you can refresh in iced water

AnnieO1234

Iced water for twenty minutes for any veg should perk it right back up.

Take out of packet and put in your crisper drawer on a layer of kitchen roll, the roll absorbs the moisture.

If you don't like iceberg, morrisons do a iceberg crossed romaine, that has all the taste of romaine and shape, but the qualities of an iceberg.

You could try living leaves, or even adding so much other veg, fruit, nuts etc that you simply don't need or miss lettuce.

Xxx

MaddyWaddy

Thank you for everyones replies - I'm a tad fussy with salad as I don't like sweetcorn, tomatoes or radishes but find a lettuce or cabbage does look a bit sad by the end of the week

Yes I would love to make a salad bowl but as you say it doesn't keep. I will have to make do with doing one for a couple of days and refilling it.

Fingers crossed it'll last this week (it does tend to be when the items get smaller they look limp)

Thanks again x

gardener_ruth

The Stayfresh Longer Bags from Lakeland are amazing. In the fridge - salads keep fresh in them for about a week, vegetables up to three weeks. They may look expensive, but can be washed and reused several times.

I've been using them for years and very rarely throw any food away - they've saved me so much money.

http://www.lakeland.co.uk/1094/20-Stayfresh-Longer-Bags-25-x-38cm