Wilted lettuce

[unicorn]

Whenever I put the lettuce mixes in my fridge, the leaves seem to wilt regardless of the "Best By" date. I have a box with lettuce with a "best by" date of 1/8/17 that I'm throwing out today, because the leaves are all soggy and wilted. Any secret to keeping lettuce lasting longer?

[MsAnn]

I keep lettuce in a lettuce crisper. A Tupperware container where you can squeeze a little air out.

I don't wash the lettuce. I wash only what I'm going to use. washing it early tends to wilt the lettuce faster.

I put a paper towel at the bottom of the crisper. That tends to absorb the extra moisture, and I change the towel every couple of days. It only takes a couple of seconds.

I keep the lettuce container in the vegetable bin in my fridge. 

I take out only what I need, wash it and use it. I put the lettuce container immediately back into the fridge.

All of that still only keeps the lettuce fresh less than 7 days. It does go bad fairly rapidly. But I tend to re-buy the lettuce once a week anyway, and yes, I throw a lot of it out, but I live alone, and I just can't eat a whole bag every week. It is what it is.

Trader Joe's used to carry small bags of lettuce. It was perfect, but my local store discontinued the small sizes...

 

Good luck...

[AdamSmith]

Everything BVB said. Also, on-the-head  lettuce keeps a lot longer than bagged lettuce or mesclun.

I live close enough to stores that buying loose mesclun only enough for that day's/night's use works fine for me and is not a nuisance. In fact fits ideally with my habit of drifting into one or another grocery store a few minutes each day to just roam around, and see what raw ingredients in each & any department look particularly good, and I know or can imagine something to do with them, and seem to call out to be that night's dinner.

[Suckrates]

I had the same problem with both bag and head lettuce.  Then I decided that the lettuce was only "filler", really had no nutritional value, so I stopped buying it.   I make very nice salads "without" lettuce, which really helps to feature the other ingredients and allows me to be more creative with my combinations. 

[flguy]

I think bagged lettuce freshness is directly related to how it is handled in transit.  It doesn't have to sit on a loading dock very long in FLorida in the summer to start the rotting process.  Use head or bunch lettuce, a little more work but will last longer.

 

[Guest Larstrup]

With suckrates sucking skills I'm sure 6 weeks is a shoe in! 

Quote

 

 

[MsAnn]

35 minutes ago, Larstrup said:

With suckrates sucking skills I'm sure 6 weeks is a shoe in! 

 

Brilliant...Mo better!!  

 

And God knows I've got plenty of straws lying around

[Suckrates]

Sucking air outta lettuce aint my idea of a party....  and BTW I tried it long ago and while it DID prolong life of the lettuce, the additional time wasnt worth all the sucking needed every time you opened the bag.   Giving up lettuce was easier, and I dont miss it. 

[BigK]

I wonder how long it would stay fresh if you just squeezed most of the air out of the ziplock.