Salads are a quick, easy and healthy addition to any meal....but with only two adults in our household, it's hard to use up fresh produce before it's no longer good. Every time I throw out spoiled produce...I feel like I'm just burning cash.
Pre-packaged lettuce helped a bit...but once the bag is opened...the lettuce is quickly turning brown. I still ended up wasting half of the lettuce I purchased. Often I would simply avoid buying lettuce because I was afraid it would go to waste.
Several months ago, I came across a post on Pinterest on how to extend the staying power of your salad greens. See the original post here: Salad-in-a-Jar
I didn't have space for several Mason jars of lettuce in my fridge, and I wasn't crazy about grabbing a GLASS jar for a meal on the run. Plus, I didn't want to invest in a lot of extra supplies to store in my already small, condo kitchen. I still thought it was a great idea, and just tucked it into the corner of my brain to simmer for a bit.
Not long after, I came across vacuum sealer machines at Walmart. Vacuum Food Saver Kit These package your food in heavy plastic, and then suck out all the air to help extend the freshness of your food. I did a bit of research on the machines, and, they work well. But once again, I came back to my already limited storage space, and didn't want to invest hundreds of dollars to save a few bucks on lettuce. The plastic could only be used once, and the replacement rolls of plastic were not cheap. Hmmmm...
First I tried regular Ziploc bags, removing the air with a straw. You can see a video of this method here by Dan, the Produce Man It works, and with little or no additional investment. This process did extend the life of my salad greens, but I didn't even come close to getting 2-3 weeks of extended life as promised in the video.
Then I discovered .Ziploc Vacuum Bags in one of my late-night Amazon crawls. The next time I went to my local Publix, I found both gallon and quart-sized bags, along with a hand-held pump. As luck would have it, Publix also had pre-packaged lettuce on sale: buy one bag, get one free!
Since using this method, I've had Romaine lettuce last up to 1 month past the original expiration date, and Spring Mix has lasted at least 2-3 weeks beyond the freshness date before I started seeing brown edges and the greens decompose into sludge.
I've also used this method to successfully store apple slices and peeled bananas. I've never tried keeping them longer than a day or two, but it allows me to prepare snacks ahead of time and take them to work with me. I'm an RN and work 12-hour shifts, so need lots of fuel to get me through the night!
The bags are heavier than regular Ziploc bags, and I've been able to re-use the bags by washing them out after use. And, since I've already pre-measured the greens into appropriate-sized servings, they're easy to grab & go. After two months, I'm still on my first two boxes of quart & gallon vacuum bags!
This is the Ziplock Vacuum kit with the included hand pump. My supplies ran me less than $10.
Next, I measured out the greens into serving bowls. I packaged 1 and 2 servings into bags, so I could use some for dinners at home and some to grab & go to work.
Place the greens into your vacuum bag, and close it tightly along the seal.
Every bag has instructions on the front of the bag, so you won't miss an important step in the process.
Once sealed, use the included pump to remove excess air from the bag. Keep pumping until the bag is compressed & looks like shrink-wrap. Don't worry...you're not going to hurt the greens.
The entire process goes very quickly, and soon you will be left with a small stack of bags that store easily in a drawer in the fridge!
Yes, this system is inexpensive, so the bags aren't perfect. I check them every few days, to make sure they're still holding the vacuum. If they're starting to leak, I firmly re-seal the bags and use the pump to once again draw out the excess air.
If I don't have time to separate a bag into individual servings, I simply put the entire bag of lettuce into a gallon-sized Ziploc vacuum bag. This process keeps the greens fresh until I have the time to measure it out.
It also works for fresh, loose greens. After washing them, be sure to dry them well before storing in vacuum bags as explained above.
Let me know if this system works for you!
