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!
I used to have a large garden at a local park that rented spaces. Gave it up a few years ago because I had too much to do to maintain it properly. Always loved the fresh leaf lettuce. W ould pick the larger leaves and leave the rest to grow. Used to wash it, then spin it out in a lettuce spinner to get rid of the excess moisture. Stored it in vegetable drawer in fridge wrapped in dish towels but they got stained when lettuce got too soft. They are larger and more absorbant than paper towels and the lettuce lasted a long time until I got out to the garden to pick more. Most vegetables I buy in the store do not store well in my refrigerator. Can’t turn up the humidity because it makes the bottom of the freezer door drip so the top of the fridge door stays wet and gets moldy.
That’s how I’ve done mine for years! The head I’m going to use up today has been in the fridge for 6 weeks. I like to let the head breathe (like in a loosely closed bag or even the original packaging) so even though some of the outer leaves will not be as fresh, they protect the rest. I have never had success with coring lettuce. Seems like instant lettuce sabotage. :)
I made stir-fried lettuce with garlic, onion, ginger, Thai chiles, fresh cracked pepper, and a bit of fish sauce. Also, sesame oil. Mostly wilted but had a lot of crunch. Perfect way to use up this 6-week old head of lettuce.The ginger and Thai chiles, I lacto-fermented. Spicy but delicious. Since I bought this head, the amount of loss has probably been 6 outer leaves.
Oh man, that sounds delicious! We had something similar for dinner 2 nights ago. So good!
Really is good! The entire head survived 6 weeks with only a loss of 6 outer leaves. Needed to use it up and sometimes I’m “so over” salad. Had it with brown rice and a last-minute side of simmered farm-raised duck gizzards. I’m into nose-tail eating.
When you say the end of the lettuce are you talking about that circle hard thingy that the lettuce is on? Just want to make sure i understand.
Haha the core I was talking about!
Hey Gail, thank you for your question! Yes, you’re right, it’s the core I’m talking about! :-)
Nice job Victoria. Thanks for sharing your experience! I am an avid gardener and have been for 20+ years. The thing I am most excited about every spring after our long brutal northern Minnesota winters is fresh lettuce! With homemade ranch, (just talking about it makes me drool). I have found that if I plant my loose leaf lettuces in a copper pot or a pot with a copper band place on it I can keep it 100% slug free and than place those pots on the north side of my house in the shade I can cut from it all summer and into fall. No bolting and slug infestation. The rest of the year I buy my lettuce and will employ you tried and true method. ??
Great ideas going yo try them you veronica ireland
Thanks Veronica! I hope it goes well for you!