Here’s a very useful tip I learned from Antony (via his mom) about the best way to store your lettuce in the fridge to last all week.
Before I discovered this tip, here was my usual routine. I would go to the farmers market and buy all this beautiful produce with the intention of “eating healthy” all week. It would work for the first few days but by the end of the week, most of the lettuce would be slimy. I would end up throwing most if not all of it away. (Sigh.) What a waste of money and food!
Then Antony taught me this tip: store your lettuce in a large covered plastic container. It extends their shelf life up to a week, sometimes more! It has been a game changer. Plus, it works!
We use a 4 qt container that Antony bought from Target many years ago. The cost was around $10 (US). It easily holds 2 large lettuce heads. We couldn’t find the same container at our local Target but were able to locate them on Amazon. Any food-friendly plastic container will work as long as it is big enough to fit your greens.
We store different greens in the same container and always separate them with paper towel layers. The paper towels absorb the excess moisture in the container and help to maintain a controlled environment while protecting the greens from getting bruised.
The key is to wash and dry your lettuce leaves the same day after purchasing or at the very latest the next day. Lettuce doesn’t like very cold temperature. The sooner you can transfer them to the container, the better chance you have to prolong their shelf life.
Let’s face it. There’s nothing more frustrating than buying all this produce only to have them wilt or get slimy a few days later. Now you can now keep your greens in a container so that it will last a whole lot longer. Plus, there’s an added benefit of doing the upfront prep work of washing and storing your lettuce. It will help save you time and make life easier for you as you prepare meals during the week.
Here are great salad recipes to try: Herb Salad, Fattoush Salad
Best way to store your lettuce in the fridge to last all week
Instructions
- Wash and dry lettuce or other greens
- Line bottom of container with a paper towel
- Lay lettuce leaves in container until full.
- Line top of lettuce pile with a paper towel and close.