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!
Does it work for all lettuce or just Romaine or Leaf lettuce? How about Iceburg? I usually buy Romaine or Leaf lettuce but was just wondering about other kinds.
Honestly, I’ve only ever tried it with romaine and leaf lettuces (because that’s what I buy too!). My mom used to keep her iceburg in the fridge, unwashed, wrapped in a towel, and it always lasted for ages!
So, I don’t know why it *wouldn’t* work with iceburg, but I wouldn’t guarantee it either. If you do end up trying it, come back and let me know how it went!
For iceberg I have found that this procedure works to prolong its life.
Use what you are going to use. Wrap the rest in a dry paper towel. Put it in a ziploc or other resealable container.
When you next use it, if the paper towel is too wet replace it. Otherwise just rewrap with the same paper towel.
Iceberg will usually go bad within a few days in my fridge if I don’t use a paper towel. With this procedure the lettuce will stay fresh at least a week.
Awesome Will! Thanks for the heads up!
Iceburg lettuce. Take the head an hit the root end on counter pretty hard to loosen the core then take fingers an give core a twist an discard then proceed with other saving tips
Not washing fresh produce before storing it works for many things, especially greens, spinach, collards, chard, mustard, etc. Just remember to wash it in diluted vinegar water and rinse thoroughly before preparing. I’ve been in the homemaking business for over 50 years and I have gained some wisdom in this department….trust me.
Thanks for sharing this great tip. It will be very valuable to me in the future.
You’re so welcome!
Aha!! This is great!! No more throwing out lettuce. Thanks for the awesome tip!!
It’s it wonderful? Love it! Thanks for stopping by!