Author: Preserving lettuce is easy with this simple trick. Fresh from the store or the garden, this method keeps lettuce fresh for up to 5 weeks!
Trying to eat well is hard enough, trying to eat well on a budget can seem nearly impossible at times! But, with a few tricks and a little focus, you can eat great food on a tiny budget!
One of the ways we do that is to make sure that none of our food is going to waste either by going bad before we get to it, or by having a fridge so full that we forget about something. Of course, we keep our menu plans tight and stick to them rigidly. But in addition to that, we also make sure that we are storing our foods properly.
This goes for food we purchased at the store and food we grew ourselves! There’s nothing I hate more when trying to budget than seeing food spoil due to improper storage techniques… and lettuce is one of the worst offenders!
How to Store Lettuce
If you are growing your own lettuce, you can keep it in the ground for fresh lettuce everyday. However, once the weather gets too hot the lettuce will start to bolt and then you have to figure out a way to keep it fresh inside!
This is the very best method I’ve found for keeping lettuce crisp and green for long periods of time – whether from the garden or the grocery store!
Tip: If you’re using this tip on store bought lettuce, make sure the lettuce shows no signs of wilting when you buy it!
My beautiful lettuce from the garden this year, about to be picked because the weather was getting too darn hot!
>> Find out how we grew 1500 pounds of food with zero weeding or watering!
So after years of trying everything I finally discovered the Queen Mother of all lettuce tips! And BOY do I wish I could take credit for this. I really really do! But I stumbled upon this trick because I got a little lazy one day.
Anyway, I bought this lettuce, cut the end off and shoved it unwashed into a Ziploc back and put it in the bottom drawer of my fridge. That’s the lazy bit there; I usually wash it before putting it in the bag to make prep easier as the week goes on.
We had our sandwiches and salads that week and I honestly forgot about the remaining lettuce.
Don’t judge me here…
But it was WEEKS later that I remembered it and went to throw it out before it liquefied all over my drawers.
Much to my surprise I opened the drawer to find the lettuce completely in tact! We used the rest over the course of the next week and it never did go bad! So 5 full weeks after I put it in the bag it was still perfect!
I really thought it was a fluke, so I tried it several more times and it worked every time! Ok, here’s the secret to keeping lettuce fresh for over a month (which you may have already figured out)…
DON’T WASH THE LETTUCE.
That’s it. Cut the end off, put it in a bag and wash each leaf right before you need it. No more wasted money on putrefied lettuce!
This is information you need if you don’t use much lettuce each week, or you just found a great deal and want to stock up, or perhaps you are fighting the heat and need to get your hard earned heads of lettuce out of the ground!
Whatever the reason, this tip is an absolute must when it comes to keeping your lettuce fresh!
THIS IS AN AWESOME IDEA!!!! THANKS SO MUCH!!!!
Yay!!! You’re welcome!!
Victoria im going to write this but please do not get offended because I don’t have answers but for the past summer i noticed that my lettuces were lasting much longer than normal , i never wash my lettuces until Im ready to use them , also my strawberries lasted 3 weeks in the fridge and my strawberries same they lasted much much longer , now from my experience with fruit and veggies there is something different type of gasses they are using to keep fruit and veggies last a long time , thanks
Hey Nat, not offended at all! You’re exactly right, not washing lettuce until you’re ready to use it is the perfect way to keep it fresh! Enjoy!
I’m hoping you can help me. I buy shredded lettuce (bagged iceberg) for a variety of reasons, but I’m lucky if it lasts a few days, and it’s one of the few things that I can’t freeze to preserve it (or so I’ve read, let me know if I’m wrong). But this lettuce seems to come pre-washed? Is there any way to make this lettuce last several weeks? I’m on a diet and love small salads (lettuce, chic peas, kraft fat free shredded cheddar, Walden farms zero calorie dressing, balsamic vinegar) but don’t like eating the same thing every day.
I recently learned the mineral oil trick for preserving fresh eggs and I’m hoping there is some trick for bagged lettuce. Thank you for any help you can provide.
Hi Rich!
You’re right, that lettuce does come pre-washed. The only thing I can think to try is to immediately remove it from the bag when you get home, pat it dry with paper towels, then store it with a dry paper towel in the bag as well. So, pat it dry, lay a paper towel on the side of the ziploc, then fill with the dried lettuce and store paper towel side down in the fridge. That should help it last at least a week!
Ok I will be doing this!
Thanks for the tip!
I will be doing this.
Thanks for the tip.
You’re welcome Norma! Thank you so much for stopping by! :-)
I am sure going to try this. I have a head now that was bought only a few days ago. Sure hope it works because I love lettuce but I have just about quit buying it because of having to throw so much away. Thanks
I always felt the same way Betty! I’m so glad I stumbled across this amazing tip, I hope it works just as well for you! :-)
Wow! Thanks for the great tip.
You’re welcome Shelly! :-)