Lettuce is a great summer staple in many people’s fridges as it can be added to burgers, salads or sandwiches.
However, often, many people don’t get to finish the lettuce because they can go off within a couple of days.
Whether purchasing romaine, iceberg or sweet gem, all lettuce has a very short shelf-life.
I decided to try out three storage hacks including keeping it in a fridge container designed for fruit and vegetables, a ziplock bag with some kitchen roll and simply leaving in the packet it came in.
Sometimes leaving fruit and vegetables in the packets they come in is convenient and quick, but it’s likely you’ll end up with a lot of food waste.
1. Leaving it in the packet
Lettuce’s worst enemy is moisture so leaving it in the packet which has potentially been opened allows moisture to seep in.
What’s more, this also enables bacteria to attack the lettuce, no matter if it is pre-cut lettuce or a whole head.
To test out this hack, I simply used one lettuce head and left the other in the bag in the fridge to see how it would last.
This lettuce went bad very quickly, with the edges turning brown within a day of leaving it in the fridge.
2. Fruit storage box
I purchased a few fruit fridge storage containers from Dunelm a couple of years ago and often use them for berries.
The container has a little basket inside with the idea that any moisture can seep to the bottom without disrupting the fruit.
It also has small air holes on the top to allow enough air inside without allowing the lettuce to turn mouldy.
It is also super easy to wash the berries in the basket, making it quick and easy to enjoy fresh fruit.
The lettuce stayed fresh for around five days in this container without being touched, but the container was quite bulky.
This was convenient for me as I had plenty of space in my fridge but if you have a small fridge, it may not be ideal.
3. Sandwich bag with kitchen roll
I wasn’t convinced this hack would work as I had seen many people try it out online without showing the results.
However, this hack turned out to work the best, keeping the lettuce fresh for more than one week.
To start with, I simply pulled the lettuce leaves apart so they would fit in the sandwich bag more easily.
I then placed some kitchen roll into the bag, placed the lettuce leaves on top and sealed the bag shut.
This lettuce stayed the freshest for longer and didn’t turn bad until eight days into the experiment.
The aim of the kitchen roll is to soak up any excess moisture which it did. I also reused the bag for the next lettuce too so there isn’t too much waste.
