XXL Silicone Bags, Set of 2
102oz each and see-through, so you can portion a whole week and still find it.
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Keep Salad Greens Fresh for Two Weeks
Most people throw away half the lettuce they buy, and the reason is almost always the same: the greens went into the fridge wet, or they went in sealed with no air at all. Greens are alive and still breathing after you buy them. They need to be bone dry and in something that holds a little air but not much moisture. Do this once on shopping day and two weeks later you still have salad, which is the difference between eating the bag and composting it.
What you need
- 2 heads romaine, butterhead or leaf lettuce, or 2 large clamshells of mixed greens
- Cold water and 1 tablespoon white vinegar, optional
- 1 salad spinner, or a clean kitchen towel
- 2 sheets paper towel
- 1 XXL Silicone Bag, clear
Method
- Separate the leaves and drop them into a sink of cold water. Add the vinegar if the greens came from a farm stand, since it knocks back the bacteria that start the slime.
- Swish, then lift the leaves out of the water rather than pouring the water off. Grit sinks, and pouring puts it straight back on the leaves.
- Spin the leaves dry in batches, no more than half a spinner at a time. Then spread them on a towel for 20 to 30 minutes. Dry is not a suggestion here. Any water left on a leaf is where the rot starts.
- Lay a sheet of paper towel flat in the bag, add the greens loosely, and lay the second sheet on top. The towel takes up the moisture the leaves keep giving off.
- Seal the bag with a small pocket of air still inside. Do not vacuum it flat. Greens respire, and squeezing all the air out suffocates them into brown patches.
- Store in the crisper drawer. Swap the paper towel if it feels damp after a week, which roughly doubles how long the greens hold.
Tips and notes
- Dry beats everything. A wet leaf in a sealed bag is slime in four days no matter what else you do.
- Leave air in the bag. This is the opposite of what you do with meat, and it is the step most people get backwards.
- Keep greens away from apples, bananas, pears and tomatoes. All of them give off ethylene and brown the leaves fast.
- Tear, do not cut, if you plan to store the leaves. A knife bruises the cut edge and it browns first.
- Limp but not slimy greens are not lost. Ten minutes in ice water brings them back.
The bag this recipe is built around
Two heads of lettuce need a big bag that seals but is not rigid, and you want to see whether the leaves are still good without opening it. The Clear XXL bags are 102oz and see-through, they hold a pocket of air instead of crushing the leaves like a stack of containers, and they come out of the dishwasher clean for the next shop.
See the Clear XXL Bags
Common questions
- How do you keep lettuce fresh longer in the fridge
- Wash it, dry it completely, then store it loosely in a sealed bag with a paper towel and a little air. Dryness and airflow are the two things that matter.
- Should you wash lettuce before storing it
- Yes, as long as you dry it thoroughly afterwards. Washed and properly dried greens keep longer than unwashed ones, because you have removed the field grit and bacteria.
- Why does my lettuce go slimy
- Water left on the leaves, or a bag with no air in it. Both let bacteria multiply on the surface. Dry the leaves and leave a pocket of air.
- Can you revive wilted lettuce
- Yes. Soak the leaves in ice water for 10 to 15 minutes and they crisp back up. This works on limp greens but not on slimy or browned ones.
More salad recipes
Keep the ones that work
Copy this one onto a 4x6 card. Title across the top, the five things you need down the left, the six steps down the right, and Keeps 14 days along the header. File it behind the Salads divider. Built to outlast the screenshot.
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