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Say No to Bagged Salads
I wish I could say that I NEVER buy bagged salad greens, or any other variety of prepared salad greens but that would be a like. There are times when I'm in a hurry, and don't have the vegetables in the fridge (or garden) to whip up a coleslaw or a tossed salad. And those are the times I'll take a look at the fridge in the supermarket veggie section to find a marked down coleslaw or bag of mixed salad greens. Then, if I find one marked down, and it has a couple of days before expiry and looks crisp and fresh, I'll buy it.
But normally I won't touch bagged salads from the supermarket. Have you heard how often they are recalled due to contamination? And do you know how the veggies are treated to keep them fresh for days in a sealed bag? (They are washed in chlorinated water).
I don't buy them because they simply are not a frugal option. That $3 for a packet of coleslaw may seem cheap, but add it to the cost of your meal and it bumps up the price per serve considerably.
For example, a 300g bag of ice berg lettuce salad costs $3, or a whopping $10 per kilo. And what's in the bag? Ice berg lettuce, a few shards of grated carrot and a very little shredded red cabbage, with most of the bag being the ice berg lettuce.
I can buy a whole ice berg lettuce for $1.50. One carrot (way more than is in the bagged salad) costs 15 cents. Red cabbage costs $1.80 a half. For a total of $3.45 I have enough vegetables to make around1.3kg of salad! That equates to $2.65 per kilo - around 75% cheaper than the bagged lettuce salad.
If you can see the price benefit, but think you don't have the time to make a salad, think about this. Using a sharp knife, it takes around two minutes to core and chop a lettuce (although if you want to keep it, tear it with your clean, washed hands and it won't go brown). Using the same sharp knife it will take you roughly five minutes to finely shred the half cabbage. Grating the carrot will take maybe two minutes. All up, in under 10 minutes you have lots of lovely, fresh salad prepped.
If you use a mandolin to do the shredding and grating it will take under five minutes.
Now do you really think you don't have the time to whip up a lettuce salad?
Of course this will make a lot of salad. You'll either need to eat it all or store it properly in the fridge.
Over the years I've made lots of salads, and tried all manner of ways to store them so they stay fresh and crisp. Sealed Tupperware works well for up to four days. But my favourite way to store salads is in Fresh and Crisp bags. When I make a salad, it goes into a Fresh and Crisp bag, gets closed with a bag peg (from Ikea - Bevara bag clips, a pack of 30 costs $1.35) and put into the fridge.
Why the bags instead of Tupperware? It's not because I don't have plastic containers, I do. But the bags fit better in the fridge and the crisper drawers and they keep the salad fresh for at least a week. Yep - 7 days and the salad is still fresh, crisp and delicious.
During summer I make a coleslaw, a lettuce salad, a potato salad and a pasta salad every Sunday and store them in the fridge. Then when we need salads during the week, the only thing needed is the dressing just before serving.
Best of all, I can usually make all four salads for less than the price of one kilo of bagged lettuce from the supermarket - and I save even more if I use homegrown veggies.
So, while I do give into temptation and laziness occasionally, it's rare. I'd much rather keep the money in my grocery budget than hand it over for something that costs three or more times what I can make it for.
But normally I won't touch bagged salads from the supermarket. Have you heard how often they are recalled due to contamination? And do you know how the veggies are treated to keep them fresh for days in a sealed bag? (They are washed in chlorinated water).
I don't buy them because they simply are not a frugal option. That $3 for a packet of coleslaw may seem cheap, but add it to the cost of your meal and it bumps up the price per serve considerably.
For example, a 300g bag of ice berg lettuce salad costs $3, or a whopping $10 per kilo. And what's in the bag? Ice berg lettuce, a few shards of grated carrot and a very little shredded red cabbage, with most of the bag being the ice berg lettuce.
I can buy a whole ice berg lettuce for $1.50. One carrot (way more than is in the bagged salad) costs 15 cents. Red cabbage costs $1.80 a half. For a total of $3.45 I have enough vegetables to make around1.3kg of salad! That equates to $2.65 per kilo - around 75% cheaper than the bagged lettuce salad.
If you can see the price benefit, but think you don't have the time to make a salad, think about this. Using a sharp knife, it takes around two minutes to core and chop a lettuce (although if you want to keep it, tear it with your clean, washed hands and it won't go brown). Using the same sharp knife it will take you roughly five minutes to finely shred the half cabbage. Grating the carrot will take maybe two minutes. All up, in under 10 minutes you have lots of lovely, fresh salad prepped.
If you use a mandolin to do the shredding and grating it will take under five minutes.
Now do you really think you don't have the time to whip up a lettuce salad?
Of course this will make a lot of salad. You'll either need to eat it all or store it properly in the fridge.
Over the years I've made lots of salads, and tried all manner of ways to store them so they stay fresh and crisp. Sealed Tupperware works well for up to four days. But my favourite way to store salads is in Fresh and Crisp bags. When I make a salad, it goes into a Fresh and Crisp bag, gets closed with a bag peg (from Ikea - Bevara bag clips, a pack of 30 costs $1.35) and put into the fridge.
Why the bags instead of Tupperware? It's not because I don't have plastic containers, I do. But the bags fit better in the fridge and the crisper drawers and they keep the salad fresh for at least a week. Yep - 7 days and the salad is still fresh, crisp and delicious.
During summer I make a coleslaw, a lettuce salad, a potato salad and a pasta salad every Sunday and store them in the fridge. Then when we need salads during the week, the only thing needed is the dressing just before serving.
Best of all, I can usually make all four salads for less than the price of one kilo of bagged lettuce from the supermarket - and I save even more if I use homegrown veggies.
So, while I do give into temptation and laziness occasionally, it's rare. I'd much rather keep the money in my grocery budget than hand it over for something that costs three or more times what I can make it for.