<p>I never notice a problem with keeping either Romaine or Red Leaf in the refrigerator for several days. Maybe my taste buds are different. I never buy bagged lettuce. To each his own.</p>
<p>I love lettuce. I will just sit and eat an entire head of lettuce in one sitting no problem. No dressing, just plain. Yum yum yum. My mom says I’m a rabbit. Is it easy to grow? </p>
<p>Now that I think about it, I think I actually cut my romaine with a knife before I throw it in the crisper and it doesn’t brown all week. I just tear the iceberg by hand. It’s been a while since we’ve had salad at home.</p>
<p>Ema - DH has an easier time growing lettuce than almost any other vegetable. I know he starts with seeds, but, since he’s the gardener in the family, I can’t tell you much more. Lettuce is a hardier plant; we’ve still had lettuce growing as late as Nov in CT.</p>
<p>The unbagged lettuce has a different texture which I prefer to the texture of the bagged stuff, plus it’s like half the price. </p>
<p>For HS science fair D1 compared surface bacterial contamination of lettuce leaves from bagged chopped lettuce and a the whole lettuce leaf. Let’s just say I no longer buy bagged chopped lettuce 
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<p>I go back and forth between fresh heads of romaine or romaine hearts in the bag. Most of the fresh romaine looks so sad, and by the time I strip away the wilted outer leaves, there is not much left. The bagged hearts do yield more. I love fresh escarole in a salad as well - it is slightly bitter and it’s a hearty green so it holds up well and lasts longer than any other green. I just recently started buying this:</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.freshexpress.com/product/harvest-originals/2-pack-harvest-originals.aspx”>http://www.freshexpress.com/product/harvest-originals/2-pack-harvest-originals.aspx</a></p>
<p>They are whole heads (the root remnant is still attached) of baby lettuce. It was on sale at my local market, so I gave it a try. All I’m buying right now - fresh tasting, pretty in the bowl, and delicious.</p>
<p>Anyone just get the lettuce on the salad bar? My mom does this to avoid the higher prices and gets just what she needs. Being older and living alone she was throwing too much out. She goes to her local whole foods, and she usually picks up something else too.</p>
<p>I don’t care for the taste of the bagged stuff. It’s “off” somehow or musty or something. Fresh romaine…we tear it up and soak it in ice water and spin it. Yum.</p>
<p>gourmetmom - they sell six packs of that type of lettuce at Costco. </p>
<p>Often times bagged greens are the only option, especially with arugula. Even if the bag states that the greens are washed and ready to eat, I’d still rinse them VERY thoroughly.
<a href=“Bagged salad mystery leaves diners uncertain: Wash or not?”>http://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/bagged-salad-mystery-leaves-diners-uncertain-wash-or-not-f6C10809608</a></p>
<p>Invest in a good salad spinner to dry the leaves quickly and easily. We just replaced our last one that we used for 15 years with this one-- it works great!
<a href=“http://www.williams-sonoma.com/products/oxo-salad-spinner/”>http://www.williams-sonoma.com/products/oxo-salad-spinner/</a>
Another upside to using the salad spinner is that when I let the leaves soak in water in the spinner bowl for a few minutes first before spinning them dry, it allow the leaves to soak up moisture and really perks them up and makes them crisper & fresher. It’s EASY, and I’m big on quick & easy.</p>
<p>I’m a tear-apart purist for romaine: no knife </p>
<p>I have the super giant sized Tim the Toolman Taylor salad spinner by Kitchen Aide. Takes a strong arm to make it sping, but it doesn’t break like every other salad spinner I’ve ever used:</p>
<p><a href=“http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/81MfJsHPRaL._SL1500_.jpg”>http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/81MfJsHPRaL._SL1500_.jpg</a></p>
<p>I put the lettuce in the bowl by itself, fill it with water, swish it around, and let the lettuce float to the top. Then, I grab it by the handful and transfer it to the basket. This lets all the sediment settle to the bottom bottom of the bowl and get discarded – a trick I learned washing cilantro. Dump the water, put the basket in the bowl and spin it dry. I use it every day. Don’t even put it in a cupboard. Keep it out on a shelf. If you rinse it after each use, it really doesn’t even have to be washed very often.</p>
<p>My kids eat salad and I buy them the bagged kind. I know they would never take the time to make a salad from whole heads of lettuce, shred the carrots, cut radishes, etc. When it is in the bag, they’ll grab some, add some grape tomatoes and dressing and they have a quick snack. </p>
<p>interested dad -Genius!!!
[quote]
I make my dressings right in bottom of the salad bowl. Add the stuff. Toss it with a big spoon [/quote} </p>
<p>That’s a beauty, GMT- and I like that it comes in a small size, too. Here’s the review from America’s Test Kitchen. <a href=“The Best Salad Spinners | America's Test Kitchen”>ATK Reviews | America's Test Kitchen;
<p>idad’s method works great! I learned that trick by watching the salad chefs at the Nordie’s cafe. 
Only one bowl to wash and so much less dressing is needed! </p>
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<p>Particularly when you eat it right out of the same bowl! Not very fancy, but big stainless steel mixing bowls work great for a lunch salad. Whenever I used to pour dressing on top, I always wanted to mix it all up with a fork and knife to coat the lettuce. Finally, it dawned on me, why not make it right in a big bowl with plenty of room to mix and stir and toss and coat without salad fixin’s flyng everywhere?</p>
<p>While my lettuce is soaking in the salad spinner, I dump all the ingredients for my dressing in the bowl, along with the blue cheese, and whisk it up before dumping in the lettuce. If I’m having parmegianno regianno instead of blue cheese, that gets grated and mixed in after the lettuce.</p>