Bag Lettuce Question

[Bluejays]

:confused: after opening a bag of lettuce salad, does anyone have an idea on how to keep the unused fresh ? It seems after a day it starts to turn brown...:eek:

[Mandy]

I usually just fold the bag down and put a clip on it to hold it closed. That usually keeps them for 3-4 days.

Maybe you could try those produce bags. I don't know much about them, but they claim to keep perishables fresher longer.

Also, I always check expiration dates before I buy. I reach toward the back of the shelf, and the expiration dates are always a few days longer then the ones in the front.

[SusanMac]

I find that keeping them closed/airtight makes it worse, but it typically takes me a week or so to go through a bag of salad or head of lettuce. I wrap all the loose leaves in a few paper towels, then put the whole thing in a plastic bag and leave it open. Someone recommended the paper towel trick to me long ago, can't remember where it came from or why it seems to help, but it works ok. I think the paper towels absorb any moisture that, if left on the leaves, would grow moldy/bad.

Sometimes I keep my spinach leaves in a salad spinner. Again, it's an open basket with holes (like a colander) that sits inside a larger bowl, so the moisture drips to the bottom instead of staying on the leaves. This works pretty well, too.

Sometimes I think you just get bad bags of those pre-made/prewashed lettuce leaves that go badly quicker than others.

[Melman]

I've had decent luck by doing the same thing as Mandy. I close my bags and clip them shut. I keep them in the produce section of my refrigerator. Before I got this refrigerator, I used to have things in that drawer go bad pretty quickly....this refrigerator seems to do much better.

(PS...it might not actually say "produce" on the drawer...but it's one that's specifically for fresh veggies, etc.)

I have also had a bag here or there that seemed to go bad very quickly too. I do the same thing as SusanMac with reaching for the back of the pile and looking carefully at the expiration date.