Here’s how you keep cleaned, chopped lettuce fresh in your fridge for at least a week!
I don’t know if you prefer to buy fresh heads of lettuce, or if you buy ready-to-go bags of cleaned and chopped lettuce, but either way, these tips are for you!
I rarely buy bags of pre-washed lettuce, because one bag doesn’t feed my whole crew, and where I live, we get beautiful heads of tasty lettuce for dirt-cheap (literally…the dirt comes with the lettuce). 😛
Salads are a part of almost every dinner at my table, so a time-saving thing like storing my ready-to-go, cleaned, chopped lettuce in a Ziploc bag in my fridge is extremely helpful! I clean and chop lettuce every week and am always happy when I can just pull some out of the bag for my lunch, or dump it into a big bowl to serve at dinner. Here’s how:
HOW TO STORE LETTUCE | TIP #1:
Don’t buy old, wilted lettuce – fresh and firm is best.
HOW TO STORE LETTUCE | TIP #2:
Wash your lettuce, but then be sure to dry it really well. I recommend using a salad spinner to get all that water off the leaves! Chop or tear your cleaned lettuce.
HOW TO STORE LETTUCE | TIP #3:
Line a Ziploc bag with a couple sheets of paper towel before you store your lettuce in it. (I take out the old paper towel and replace it with new every couple of days, if it is wet.)
The paper towel absorbs that extra moisture that normally ruins your lettuce – such an easy trick!
(By the way, store additional chopped vegetables to add to your salad in separate bags – the extra moisture from tomatoes or cucumbers will not help your lettuce last long!)
HOW TO STORE LETTUCE | TIP #4:
Press all the extra air out of the Ziploc bag, then seal it shut.
Try this tips with other greens as well! If you prefer to buy bagged lettuce, just transfer it to a Ziploc bag lined with paper towel, and it will last MUCH longer!
Once your lettuce is cleaned and chopped and ready to use, you’ll want to check out these delicious salad recipes we’ve compiled!
My husband takes a salad four days a week to work. i mainly use romaine for the base and already do the spinner and store with paper towels. My question concerns the red color along the cut lines on the ribs. Is there a way to keep the oxidation from happening? I store the cut lettuce in one of those plastic containers that four small heads of ‘artisan’ lettuce come in, paper towel on the bottom and loosely on the top. By day four, the edges are always red. Like brown spots in an avocado…I just can’t do it. lol.