As title says really,

I'm looking to eat more salad by having it with most of my meals, from sandwiches at lunch to a dish with dinner. Problem is when we buy the bags of mixed leaves etc we waste most of it due to it going off to quickly!We (GF and I) eat this stuff everyday but find we are going back to the shop to stock up. I was hoping I could at least make it last a week.

Any ideas?

Cheers
Scott

Buy a lettuce instead and use what you need each day

Not much nutrition in those, they've gone through the picker, washer and alsorts of quick cold stores to keep it fresh. Also I think they may add some sort of gas to the bag ( not sure about that though).

Fresh tomatos and cucumber will last a good few days, as will a red onion, peppar, radish etc.

Buy a whole lettuce, ( loads of lovely varieties to choose from), wash it yourself, just picking off the leaves you need for that day.

The most important thing is buy from a local green grocer as there is less travelling time, making it fresher.

Don't buy bags, buy real salad veg. Whole tomatoes, whole cucumber and whole lettuce will last much longer – in particular Little Gem lettuce will last best, but Cos (Romain) varieties last well too. You do need to rinse it ll though.

Also, how about avocado or tinned ingredients like atrichoke or mixed beans.

Do you know how to make a nice dressing?

You can also assemble your own coleslaw (cabbage/carrot/onion/apple + mayo, black pepper and maybe a drop of salad cream) from ingredients that all last well – miles cheaper and tastier than the readymade stuff.

Small leaves like watercress/rocket etc don't last well.

Tis all true.
The salad is washed, chlorinated to kill of all bacteria.
Dont tend to use gas flushing though.

From when picked it will be at least a couple of days old to get through the supply chain by time it is sold.

Best to buy whole veg/salad.

Cheers for the ideas,

The salad bags are spinach leaves then mixed with other items such as carrots, tomatoes etc, I'll try the lettuce idea, as I always thought they wouldn't last long at all.

Thanks again

S.

The bagged stuff is tempting but rubbish, our local fruit and veg place in chiswick is next door to a huge sainsburys and so much cheaper and has had a far shorter journey to get there.

for example

asparagus sainsburys £3 a bunch
stall £1

its exactly the same.

I'm trying to buy all my fruit and veg from the stall now, so much cheaper and just as good if not better.

get a big sealed tupperware box that will fit in your fridge
buy a salad spinner/ dryer thing

buy a whole lettuce, etc as above – wash and chop the lot – then store in your sealed box

salad kept this way in the fridge will easily keep the week without going off/ brown

grow your own, easy to do even indoors

Both you and your GF eat salad from a bag for lunch and dinner every day yet you have wastage?

Put more on your plate or buy smaller bags.

Right on with the grow your own. Pots tubs whatever container stuff grows real easy. It's amazing how long salads last you only take what you need (cut and come again). Rocket grows like a weed but cost shed loads to buy. You need little space and little time.

you can grow your own sprouting veg if you buy a sprouter for about a fiver from a health store , and some seeds such as alfalfa .that way you can have fresh veg all the time dead cheap n yummy

I think they seal the bags in a nitrogen environment or something similar.

Keeps it all nice & fresh until you open it and then it goes off really quick.

If you are eating lots of salad, then do as suggested & buy it all fresh, although as you say, stuff likes spinach leaves is very practical in packs.

Florette Crispy Salad, available from Sainsbury's, lasts me a good 5/6 days. It's yummy cos it's a mixture of different leaves 🙂

Life's too short to spend it in the kitchen 😉

It's yummy cos it's a mixture of different leaves

Sorry? Leaves? Yummy?

😉

Leaving stuff in plastic bags will mean it wont last as long, but ideally, as above, buy whole lettuces etc from your local greengrocer/market

have cheeseburgers inbetween

have cheeseburgers inbetween

That's more like it – with a nice chilli sauce splattered all over the place.

Ohh, and no leaves.

As greivoustim say's, prep and wash the lettuce use a salad spinner to get rid of the excess water and keep it in the salad spinner in the fridge, it will keep for more than a week this way.

naofreek, also live in chiswick!!!

have found the corn on the cob from that stall to be very bland and tasteless sainsburys stuff better