Longer lasting salad ingredients

Poppy1984

Hello
I'm trying to have more salad and give my son more salad so I'm trying to put side salads with most of our meals.
I find a lot of salad type veg goes off really quickly. So thought I'd ask on here for suggestions of longer lasting ingredients. I have bought a growing lettuce so I have that growing on my windowsill. I like carrots because I can just grate a bit over my salads and it lasts a while in the fridge. I bought jars of sun dried tomatoes and chargrilled peppers in oil thinking that they'd last longer but I found they even went mouldy after a week.
All suggestions welcome thank you

Farway

Buy little & often if possible?


I'm surprised to hear yours goes off quickly, I'm on my own, and a tomatoes last ages, as does lettuce, cucumber etc. At least a week. But I do pick & choose the ones I buy

s_glover

I'd agree with Farway, most of our salad ingredients will last a week or so.

How about including peppers, radishes, red cabbage?

We regularly add sweetcorn, we use frozen, that way you can use as much or a little as you like each time, just leave to defrost before using. Another recent discovery is edamame beans. We buy these frozen and simply boil for 3 minutes, leave them to cool and then add to salad.

joedenise

Make some extra new potatoes when your cooking some for an evening meal and then chop them up and mix with a bit of mayo for a potato salad. Should keep a few days in the fridge as long as you don't use too much mayo, alternatively just keep the potatoes in some cold water and make a bit at a time.

Another thing I occasionally make is something we often get given when in France - it's finally chopped mixed veg and mixed with some mayo. We buy tinned when in France and bring home and use that but have also done it with frozen mixed veg, cooked and left to cool.

Coleslaw made with white or red cabbage, raw onion & grated carrot mixed with mayo or yoghurt.

Chickpeas or mixed beans are good scattered over a salad.

I often add pickles to a salad - onions, beetroot, red cabbage, gherkins etc

Hope some of these might help. I know a lot of them involve mayo but you don't need much and there are plenty of Light versions around which are a bit healthier.

Fen1

Are you keeping the sun dried tomatoes and peppers in oil in the fridge? Are you using scrupulously clean spoons every single time you take out a portion?
Cross-contamination will rapidly lead to mould.
I keep whole lettuces, tomatoes, peppers etc in the fridge and they last well. I only keep a handful of tomatoes out of the fridge at any time, only enough to be used over a few days. They taste much better at room temperature, but also go off more quickly.
Bagged salads go off within a day of two. Hopeless.
You can grow salad herbs such as chives, parsley, basil, on the windowsill.

culpepper

For veg, keep in bottom of fridge and in a container if no salad drawer.
Lettuce keeps well if kept in cold water in the fridge.
Celery wrapped in foil lasts ages.
Mum always sliced cucumbers after the first use and kept in vinegar. Same with beetroot but if you dont like them vinegary, wrap really tightly to eliminate as much air as pos (cling film) after cutting.
Dont let the salad stuffs touch the back of the fridge as it can freeze them and then they will turn to mush really fast.

YorksLass

joedenise wrote: »

I know a lot of them involve mayo but you don't need much and there are plenty of Light versions around which are a bit healthier.

As a T2 diabetic, I use plain lf yogurt as a substitute for mayo and add just a smidgeon of garlic puree to pep it up a bit.

culpepper wrote: »

Mum always sliced cucumbers after the first use and kept in vinegar. Same with beetroot but if you dont like them vinegary, wrap really tightly to eliminate as much air as pos (cling film) after cutting.

I do this too and add thinly sliced onions.

Vac packed beetroots are another idea (long dates) and if they're on ys you can freeze them for later. An alternative is to do them marinated in balsamic vinegar; heat a little water and sugar until the sugar dissolves, add some balsamic vinegar and when cool pour over the thinly sliced beets/onions. Refrigerate for 2-4 hrs or keep in a screw-top jar in the fridge.

I prefer little gem lettuces and find they keep really well in the salad drawer, up to 2 weeks.

Beansprouts are also good on salads for a bit of extra crunch.

Spendless

I do a wad of kitchen roll as a layer at the bottom of my salad drawer and my salad/veg lasts ages. Wipe any moisture off of veg before placing in salad drawer. Check the kitchen roll lining after 4 days and if showing signs of being wet, replace.

I agree bagged salad leaves go off really quickly. You are better sticking to a whole lettuce in whatever variety you prefer.

Slinky

The rating of your fridge may also have something to do with it. We found that salad stuff lasts much longer in our new fridge than the old one.

downshifted

Have you seen Jamie’s recipe for grated courgette salad? As someone who grows them it’s another tasty way of using them up. I grate raw beetroot too

maman

Poppy1984 wrote: »

Hello
I'm trying to have more salad and give my son more salad so I'm trying to put side salads with most of our meals.
I find a lot of salad type veg goes off really quickly. So thought I'd ask on here for suggestions of longer lasting ingredients. I have bought a growing lettuce so I have that growing on my windowsill. I like carrots because I can just grate a bit over my salads and it lasts a while in the fridge. I bought jars of sun dried tomatoes and chargrilled peppers in oil thinking that they'd last longer but I found they even went mouldy after a week.
All suggestions welcome thank you

If you're looking for a lighter meal in the warm weather then that's fine but if you're trying to eat more healthily then things in oil aren't the best idea.

I buy spring onions, peppers and tomatoes and then if I don't use them for salads I can cook with them. Baby spinach instead of salad leaves works for this too. I eat lots of pickles especially beetroot, cornichons and red cabbage.

It's just as healthy to eat cooked veg though and, for example, stir fries are easy and very good for you.